Saint Francis Hospital in Hartford, Conn., where Cheyenne Seymour allegedly waited nearly 20 hours for an emergency C-section to be performed on her (Google Maps).
A Connecticut woman lost her newborn after a hospital waited too long to perform an emergency C-section despite “multiple worrisome findings” on the mom-to-be“s medical exams, a lawsuit says.
Cheyenne Seymour was 35 weeks pregnant with twins when she arrived at Saint Francis Hospital in Hartford on the night of April 28, 2025, with complaints of “pelvic pain, pelvic pressure and fluid leakage,” according to a legal complaint she filed last week against the hospital and its operator, Trinity Health Medical Group.
Seymour, who arrived around 8:54 p.m. that night, was “improperly discharged” around 1:24 a.m. on April 29, 2025, and “instructed to use Tylenol, heating pads and a belly binder at home” after being seen by “resident physicians and evaluated by way of electronic fetal monitoring, ultrasound and physical examination,” her complaint says.
The hospital “failed to timely recognize the significance of the findings on the electronic fetal monitoring tracings” and refused to admit Seymour “despite multiple worrisome findings,” according to the complaint.
“At approximately 3:59 a.m., just two hours after being sent home, Cheyenne returned to the defendant hospital with complaints of heavy vaginal bleeding and ongoing pelvic pressure and discomfort,” the complaint alleges. “Shortly after her arrival on April 29, 2025, Cheyenne was diagnosed with a placental abruption and despite Cheyenne needing an emergent C-section, the decision to perform said C-section was not made until April 29 at approximately 10:41 p.m.”
Instead of ordering the C-section, hospital staff made the determination to “proceed to OR when available,” according to the complaint.
“On or about April 29, 2025, at 11:43 p.m., nearly 20 hours after Cheyenne’s arrival at defendant hospital, and nearly 27 hours after her first presentation on April 28, 2025, Matthias and his sister were born by way of C-Section,” the document says.
“Matthias weighed 5 pounds 6 ounces … with a tight body cord, no respiratory effort and no tone,” the complaint explains. “He required resuscitation and intubation, and extensive treatment for which he was transferred to the defendant hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).”
Matthias suffered from “respiratory distress syndrome, respiratory failure, hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, lactic acidemia, disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), pulmonary hemorrhage, newborn affected by placental abruption and metabolic acidosis” while in the NICU, per the complaint.
“Unfortunately, Matthias’ condition continued to progressively deteriorate to the extent that on or about May 1, 2025, at approximately 3:14 a.m., he became bradycardic requiring chest compressions, and despite multiple resuscitation attempts, he was pronounced dead at 5:04 a.m.,” the complaint says.
Seymour alleges that the “carelessness and negligence” of Saint Francis Hospital and its staff led to her son’s death. She says the hospital “failed to timely recognize” the significance of the findings on her medical tests, “improperly proceeded with induction” rather than directly to an emergency C-section, and “failed to timely perform an emergency C-section.”
In addition, the hospital “failed to follow rules, regulations and protocols pertaining to patients with placental abruption or suspected placental abruption with maternal and/or fetal indications of labor intolerance, and failed to provide [Seymour] with shared decisionmaking regarding the risks of continuing with an induction in the setting of placental abruption and fetal intolerance of labor.”
”The fatal injuries suffered by the infant-plaintiff decedent, Matthias Seymour-Payne, were caused by the failure of the defendant,” the complaint concludes.
A spokesperson for Saint Francis Hospital declined to comment when reached by CT Insider, citing the ongoing litigation.
