Maternity ward to close as family calls for justice in death of Black mother
Centinela hospital in Inglewood, California, will close its maternity ward later this month after the family of a Black woman who died in labor sued.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. — April Valentine walked into the maternity ward at Centinela Hospital Medical Center in Inglewood, California, on Jan. 9 and never walked out.
She died the next day during labor. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner determined she died from a blood clot.
But her family and her partner, Nigha Robertson, claim in a wrongful death lawsuit filed last month in Los Angeles County Superior Court that negligence by the hospital and staff contributed to the death of the healthy 31-year-old woman.
“I wouldn’t take my dog to that hospital,” Robertson said in an interview after the lawsuit was filed on Aug. 29.
Her family also filed a complaint in February with the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, alleging “systemic and racist practices” at the hospital. The complaint prompted board members to call for a state inspection, which the California Department of Public Health conducted earlier this year.
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