A new mother died when nurses told her to walk off aches and pains that turned out to be a fatal illness, her husband has said.
Ayesha Riaz was only 24 when she contracted an invasive strain of Group A streptococcus, three days giving birth to their son at a hospital in southern Ontario.
Her husband Saleem, 26, says their baby arrived so quickly that a nurse delivered Eesa, at the Markham Stouffville Hospital and though he was healthy, Ayesha soon began to feel unwell, CTVNews.ca, reported.
Ayesha Riaz was aged just 24 when when she contracted an invasive strain of Group A streptococcus
Her husband, pictured with their new son Eesa, said his wife was told to ‘walk it off’ after feeling unwell
‘She was complaining of pain in her tailbone, and felt overheated,’ he said.
With Eesa showing signs of jaundice, Riaz decided to stay overnight in hospital with her baby after the February 7 birth.
The next day, Saleem had to go into his and his wife texted him to say she had headaches and was feeling short of breath.
Saleem alleges the hospital nurses told his wife, a recent University of Toronto graduate, her complaints were likely due to the usual pains of childbirth.
By the following day, Saleem says his wife’s heart rate had gone up.
Instead, he says hospital staff told Riaz to ‘walk it off,’ or to do breathing exercises to help with her shortness of breath.
‘There was just a lack of care for three days as they completely dismissed her complaints,’ he said.
Over the following two days Ayesha’s health deteriorated and until on February 10th she went into cardiac arrest.
Ahmad Saleem and Ayesha Riaz on their wedding day in August 2016. She was the youngest of five children
Ayesha went into hospital to give birth to her son Eesa but developed an infection there and died
Ayesha pictured on a trip to London. Her husband described her as the most ‘charismatic person you could meet’
Saleem jumped onto the table to continue the CPR himself, desperate to bring his wife back.
‘I was crying obviously. I kept telling the doctor, “I told you not to do this! I told you not to do this!” Eventually the doctor said, “She’s not coming back”. And I lost it,’ he said.
Saleem is now in the process of hiring a lawyer so that he can launch legal action against the hospital.
‘It’s my whole life taken away in a few moments,’ Saleem told Global News.
‘I look at my son and it’s hard because he doesn’t know what he missed.
‘We just started out life, never could’ve expected to do this on my own… I hold him, love him, I play around with him, but it hurts me every second.
‘She was the most open-minded, sincere and honest and charismatic person you could meet. This is not something I am saying because I’m her husband, this is something whoever interacted with her can tell you.’
Saleem and his family have begun a GoFundMe crowdfunding page where they are seeking help with the legal fees.
The family says they hope their legal action can get them the answers they seek.
‘Although we will never be able to bring Ayesha back, the family wants to ensure that this never happens to anyone ever again,’ the crowdfunding page reads.
Markham-Stouffville Hospital’s vice-president of communications and public affairs, Lisa Joyce, said it would not comment on the specific case.
But she told CTVnews, two other patients at the hospital also became ill with Group A Strep at the same time as Riaz.
The hospital immediately brought in enhanced cleaning and disinfection measures and restricted visitors to the patient care unit.
Joyce added the hospital immediately began an internal review with members of its infection prevention and control team.