She said that about 5:21 a.m., things took a turn for the worse when Mota’s blood pressure began to drop and Lopez couldn’t find a heartbeat for the baby. The doctor reportedly decided to call for an emergency C-section to save the baby’s life.
About nine minutes later, a second round of pages were reportedly sent, but Seif still did not respond.
Buzzfeed reported that while pages were being sent for the doctor, Lopez told nurses in the operating room, “strap her down.” Mota’s arms and legs were then strapped to the table and with no sign of Seif in sight, Lopez began to make her incision into Mota’s uterus.
According to Lopez’s “Operative Report,” which was featured in Buzzfeed’s reporting, she performed the surgery without anesthesia and separated Mota’s abdominal muscles to reach her uterus.
“Once I felt it, I was just screaming like, ‘Stop. I can feel it. I can feel it.’ And after that, I’m pretty sure I passed out from the pain,” Mota told NBC 7. “[It was] something like out of a horror movie. You can’t imagine. I would rather have delivered (Cali) vaginally, with no medicine, than being cut with a knife.”
Seif reportedly appeared in the operating room after Lopez had made her incisions. And although the lawsuit does note that Mota had been given an epidural the night before, “it had no effect on the surgical site for the C-section, which was located on her abdomen.” Not to mention that the American Pregnancy Association states that the effects of the drug only last up to one to two hours.
Speaking with NBC 7, Iheanachor recalled how terrible it was to be helpless and unable to comfort Mota. “If somebody put a knife in your stomach and cut you open, and had their hands on your insides, and ripped your baby out, you know. I just tried to put myself in her shoes,” he said. “Just tried to wrap my mind around how it would feel to basically be gutted like a fish.”
While the hospital has yet to respond to the story, a representative of the Anesthesia Service Medical Group (ASMG), of which Seif is a member, sent a press release to NBC 7. “The group, on behalf of Dr. Seif, is confident that anesthesia services would have been available, and were available," it stated. “Additionally, the group and Dr. Seif are confident that the care provided by Dr. Seif was appropriate under the circumstances.”
The couple are now suing Tri-City Medical Center, Lopez, and Seif for malpractice and are seeking $5.75 million in damages.
Since the news of this story broke on August 1, 2018, Mota and Iheanachor have received an outpouring of love from people who’ve read their story on the internet. But not everyone agrees that the couple should be taking legal action.
“What’s more terrifying than the article itself? All the women in this comment section who have gone through the same thing/were ignored by their doctor. Something needs to change,” another person added.
“The baby is perfect,” her dad said.
