Death in childbirth deemed accidental

MONTREAL • A beloved Montreal teacher who died after giving birth to twin daughters in December 2016, suffered an amniotic fluid embolism, according to the Quebec Coroner’s Office. Coroner Steeve Poisson ruled Fani Vlahova’s death accidental in his July 23 report.

Amniotic fluid embolism, an unpredictable, unpreventable and often-fatal complication of pregnancy, is so rare most medical professionals learn of it only in textbooks, according to the Amniotic Fluid Embolism Foundation.

Vlahova, who had turned 43 the week before, had been in the Mcgill University Health Centre for five weeks when she gave birth on Dec. 29 at 36 weeks.

She was followed closely throughout her pregnancy, the coroner wrote, because she had gestational diabetes and hypothyroidism and because she was carrying twins. A caesarean section had been scheduled because she had placenta praevia, where the placenta blocks the neck of the uterus partially or entirely.

Although amniotic fluid embolism cannot be predicted, the medical literature recognizes certain risk factors, such as multiple pregnancy, placenta praevia and advanced maternal age, Poisson observed in his report. “These risk factors were present in Madame Vlahova,” he noted.

According to Poisson’s report, Vlahova had complained of having difficulty breathing and, at noon, eight

THE DOCTOR WAS CRYING, TOO. SHE HAD LOTS OF TEARS.

minutes after the second twin had been delivered, she lost consciousness. Sustained efforts to revive her were unsuccessful and she was declared dead shortly before 3 p.m. Doctors told Latchezar Anguelov that his wife was gone, and that they suspected her death had been caused by an amniotic fluid embolism.

“The doctor was crying, too. She had lots of tears,” Anguelov said in an interview after the death.

The couple have a son Christian, who was 11 at the time.

Vlahova worked at a Jewish private school, Beth Rivkah Academy for girls, teaching French at the elementary-school level. A gofundme.com campaign for the family started after her death has raised $36,640.

Vlahova and Anguelov met in Montreal in 2001, not long after each had arrived from Bulgaria. They had tried to have more children, but the pregnancies ended in miscarriage. He said on the day of his wife’s funeral at the Bulgarian Orthodox Church in Ahuntsic that he had found some comfort in his religion.

“A woman who gives birth to twins and then dies is like an angel — more than an angel,” he said at the time.