A 23-year-old university student who died after being misdiagnosed with kidney disease, was actually seven months pregnant and carrying a stillborn child. Originally from Dengzhou, Nanyang, in Henan province, central China, the woman, given the pseudonym Lili, was a second-year student returning to her hometown to be with her parents for the Lunar New Year. Her mother and father noticed that their usually slim daughter had gained a significant amount of weight and was struggling with shortness of breath during everyday chores.
When she complained of abdominal pain, Lili’s father, surnamed Pang, took her to Dengzhou People’s Hospital. Medical records show that Lili was diagnosed with kidney disease and received extensive treatment that included hormone therapy and medication to treat an infection. However, her condition deteriorated, and on February 11, after experiencing severe breathing difficulties and losing consciousness, she was urgently transferred to Nanyang First People’s Hospital.
There, her families were aghast when Lili was found to be seven months pregnant with her baby no longer alive inside her. “The patient’s abdomen was distended, resembling late pregnancy, and an ultrasound suggested pregnancy,” it stated in her medical records. There was also a note that read: “The family denied the pregnancy.
” The diagnosis was updated to pregnancy, complicated by heart disease and intrauterine fetal death at 31 weeks. She was quickly moved to Nanyang Centra.
