Suit alleges NYC responders ignored pregnant woman who later died
Eutisha Rennix was in an Au Bon Pain in downtown Brooklyn this past December when she suffered an asthma attack
NEW YORK — The family of a woman who died of an asthma attack while two city medics looked on will sue the city, their lawyer announced today.
Famed attorney Sanford Rubenstein is representing the mother of Eutisha Rennix, as well as the father of her unborn baby.
Eutisha Rennix was in a Downtown Brooklyn Au Bon Pain restaurant last December when she began having an asthma attack.
Prosecutors are looking into allegations that two paramedics getting lunch ignored cries for help and may have even said "call 911," when asked for assistance.
Rubenstein further claims that when an ambulance from Long Island College Hospital arrived at Metro-Tech, it didn't have the equipment necessary to help Rennix, who was pregnant.
Her baby boy survived only a few hours.
“The combination of two wrongful acts, the first, the failure to act by two city medics when Eutisha Rennix was in acute medical distress and the failure of the ambulance dispatch from Long Island College Hospital to have proper medication and be equipped with the proper equipment caused this tragic death," said Rubenstein, who held a press conference in Brooklyn today officially announcing the suit.
Kate O'Brien Ahlers, a spokeswoman for the city Law Department said the city would look into the suit.
"This involved a very tragic incident, and the city will review the case thoroughly," said Ahlers.
The Brooklyn district attorney's office has been investigating the death, but no charges have been filed.
In July, Jason Green, one of the medics accused of ignoring Rennix, was shot dead on Varrick Street following an alleged squabble over a parking space.
Republished with permission of NBC New York
