A 32-year-old pregnant woman passed away of the coronavirus on Motzei Shabbos at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem after doctors exerted intensive efforts to save her. Sadly, although doctors delivered her 30-week-old baby via emergency C-section in an effort to save him, the baby died as well.

The nifteres, Osnat Ben-Shitrit, z’l, of the Har Shmuel neighborhood of Jerusalem,
was hospitalized last Tuesday due to respiratory distress caused by the coronavirus. Her condition quickly deteriorated and she suffered from multisystem organ failure.

“The staff of the coronavirus intensive care unit and the specialists who were called to treat the woman and baby are in emotional turmoil,” a statement from Hadassah Hospital stated.  “The rescue efforts involved many specialists from throughout the hospital who fought for the lives of the mother and baby. All of Hadassah shares in the deep grief of the family. The social services staff at the hospital is supporting the family in at this time of distress.”

The nifteres left behind a shocked and grieving family – her husband, an avreich, R’ Yehuda Ben-Shitrit, and four young children, the youngest of whom is only one year old, her parents and siblings.

“A terrible tragedy in the neighborhood,” wrote Chareidi media consultant Yarech Toker. “Osnat Ben-Shitrit, such a young woman, a tzadika who ran after chesed, a mother of four little ones with no preexisting health issues. The second incident this month in our tiny neighborhood of a young mother taken before their time.”

Yehi Zichra Baruch.

A FUND WAS SET UP TO HELP THE FAMILY – CLICK HERE TO DONATE

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)