A Brooklyn woman died while giving birth at the Woodhull Medical Center on July 3, 2020. Shaasia Washington, 26, visited the medical center for a routine stress test. At the same time, she was pregnant and past her due date by a few days. 

According to the Insider report, the Latino woman had abnormally high blood pressure while at the hospital. The staff decided to keep her under observation and induce childbirth with the help of Pitocin, a drug used to stimulate uterine contractions. The medical staff reportedly asked Shaasia if she wanted an epidural, to which she hesitatingly agreed.

During the past five years, medical malpractice and negligence at NYC’s 11 public hospitals have caused 468 deaths. The NY Post’s analysis of the city comptroller data obtained through a Freedom of Information request found that the city has paid 56 families around $34 million since 2014. The city-wide compensations were given on account of settlements against wrongful death claims made by the victims’ families.

About 72 percent of the 106 wrongful-death lawsuits filed against HHC hospitals in 2014 are still awaiting verdicts. Out of all the hospitals operating under the NYC Health and Hospital Corporation, the King’s County Hospital had the highest number of wrongful-death claims, facing 91 lawsuits between 2014 and 2018. 

In 2008, Esmin Green, a 49-year-old Jamaican-born woman, died in the waiting room of King’s County Hospital Center right in front of the hospital staff who did nothing to help her. 

Ms. Green was admitted as a psychiatric patient and waited for medical attention in the waiting room for almost 24 hours until she collapsed on the floor. She died from a blood clot, which had remained untreated ever since she arrived at the hospital.