Lawsuit Alleges Docs Gave C-Section Without Anesthesia

A California mom says she was given a c-section without anesthesia. A lawsuit filed by Delphina Mota claims she was in labor last year when doctors at an Oceanside hospital were unable to detect a fetal heartbeat, forcing them to perform emergency surgery. However, the suit claims the anesthesiologist on call wasn't answering their pages, so the surgery went forward without him. Per the San Diego Tribune, Mota says she could feel a severe burning on her abdomen as the scalpel cut into her flesh, at which point she believes she passed out from the intense pain. Outside the OR, her fiancé says he heard Mota's "horrific screams."

Just before the surgery began, the suit claims Mota heard people in the operating room saying "page him, keep paging him" in reference to the on-call anesthesiologist. In a statement to NBC San Diego, Tri-City Medical Center responded to what it called the suit's "outrageous" claims. "The patient was administered anesthesia prior to the surgery. We are pleased that the baby is 'healthy' and 'happy'," the hospital said. A spokesperson for Anesthesia Service Medical Group also released a statement defending its member, the anesthesiologist. While the suit doesn't ask for monetary compensation of a set amount, the couple filed a claim with the hospital prior to filing that asked for over $5 million. (More C-section stories.)