Emergency bedside cesarean delivery: lessons learned in teamwork and patient safety

BACKGROUND: Maternal cardiovascular and pulmonary events during labor and delivery may result in adverse maternal and fetal outcome. Potential etiologies include primary cardiac events, pulmonary embolism, eclampsia, maternal hemorrhage, and adverse medication events. Remifentanil patient-controlled analgesia is an alternative when conventional neuraxial analgesia for labor is contraindicated. Although remifentanil is a commonly used analgesic, its use for labor analgesia is not clearly defined. CASE PRESENTATION: We present an unexpected and unique case of remifentanil toxicity resulting in the need for an emergent bedside cesarean delivery. A 30-year-old G3P2 woman receiving subcutaneous heparin anticoagulation due to a recent deep vein thrombosis developed cardiopulmonary arrest during labor induction due to remifentanil toxicity. CONCLUSION: A rapid discussion among the attending obstetric, anesthesia, and nursing teams resulted in consensus to perform an emergent bedside cesarean delivery resulting in an excellent fetal outcome. During maternal cardiopulmonary arrest, a prompt decision to perform a bedside cesarean delivery is essential to avoid significant maternal and fetal morbidity. Under these conditions, rapid collaboration among obstetric, anesthesia, and nursing personnel, and an extensive multi-layered safety process are integral components to optimize maternal and fetal outcomes.