Surgeons perform C-section and open-heart surgery to save mom and baby
In any emergency medical procedure, doctors are quick to make a plan and jump into action. But for the medical staff at one North Carolina hospital, a pregnant woman with a severe heart condition presented a never-before seen case. Danielle Gaither, 31, suffers from Marfan Syndrome, an inherited connective tissue disorder that can cause heart conditions. On February 21, Gaither was rushed to Carolinas Medical Center, a level one trauma center, with a severe tear in her aorta and her body was shutting down. "As soon as we got the call that she was a code dissection, meaning her aorta had split into two which deprives oxygen from the blood and all the main organs, it was an instantaneous decision to get her in the operating room," Dr. Joseph McGinn, chair of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Su...