It was a fall day in Pennsylvania and the hospital staff was expecting a hurricane to come through the area later in the day. Dr. Cat Brown was preparing to do her rounds for her shift as an OB/GYN hospitalist when a nurse grabbed her saying the emergency room had called and that she was needed immediately.
Dr. Brown stopped what she was doing and ran quickly down to the ER. Another physician saw her running and went as well. When she got to the ER, she saw the emergency staff in the trauma bay doing CPR on a patient that was very visibly pregnant – in her third trimester.
The ER staff didn’t know the patient or her history. They were doing chest compressions to keep her heart beating at that point. The patient had come in feeling shortness of breath. Dr. Brown quickly tried to get the baby’s heartbeat to see if they could assess how the baby was doing. She couldn’t assess the heart rate because of the CPR and the mother. Dr. Brown had to make a swift decision.
Watch Dr. Brown’s account of this harrowing story and learn how she delivered life-saving care.