Libbie Creger

On April 22, 1998, Elizabeth Ann Creger died at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City, Iowa. A 1992 graduate of the University of Iowa Law School, she was an attorney, employed with the city of Dubuque as Director of Human Rights.

Her death certificate lists her cause of death as amniotic fluid embolism. However, friends of the family say that an artery was accidentally nicked during an emergency cesarean section, the artery was repaired and then later ruptured.

In any case, labor was induced at 31 weeks after seven weeks of hospitalization intended to stall premature labor. The cesarean was performed because of two complications: blood loss and a significant drop in the baby's heart rate.

A 3 pound, 6 ounce girl was delivered at 3:40 a.m. Ms. Creger was taken to the recovery room following the surgery, but her blood pressure was not stable. According to an article in the Des Moines Register (July 15, 1998), doctors suspected that she was bleeding internally and took her back into surgery. She died at 9:48 a.m., six hours after her baby's birth.