Husband of woman who died after cesarean section opens up about black mother’s health while raising a son alone

Charles Johnson became a maternal health activist after his wife, Kira, who was in “excellent health,” died in childbirth: “There’s no reason why Kira shouldn’t be here today with her son.”

As Charles Johnson slept with his newborn son, Langston, in the hospital delivery room on April 12, 2016, he felt joy, shock, and sadness. His wife Kira, who gave birth to their second child hours earlier, died after a C-section.

Unfortunately, she is one of many couples who lose someone in childbirth. At least 861 women died of maternal causes in the United States in 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Also black women are nearly three times more likely to die in childbirth or have complications during childbirth than white women. In some communities, the difference is even more significant.

Johnson said he never expected to be part of a maternal health crisis.

His wife, Kyra Dixon Johnson, died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles at 39. He’s “not only in good health but also in excellent health,” Johnson said. Fluent in four languages, he races cars, runs marathons, has a pilot’s license, and started a hospitality consulting business.

The couple marry in 2015 and planned to have two children. Kira had a difficult birth with her first son, Charles, and she needed a C-section, so her doctor ordered a C-section for her second child. Holding the second baby, Johnson said: “We are thrilled that it is another boy, an innate best friend [to Charles].”

But something went wrong after giving birth. Johnson saw blood in the catheter. He alerted nurses and medical staff, who ordered blood tests and CT scans, which he said were never done. A few hours later, an ultrasound showed Kira’s stomach was full of fluid. He loses color, trembles, and is sensitive to touch. “There are obvious signs that she is bleeding internally,” she said at the 2018 March for Mothers activist rally in Washington, D.C.

“It’s eight o’clock, please . . . Still no scans,” he said. At 9 pm, Kira received a blood transfusion. “I kept asking and asking, ‘Do something – where’s the CT scan?’ I thought this should have happened hours ago,” he recalled. He says the staff told him Kira is not a priority. “It wasn’t until midnight that they finally brought Kira back to the operating room,” he said. The doctor says he will be back in 15 minutes.

“And that was the last time I saw my wife alive,” Johnson said.