Child bride dies of hemorrhage after birth in eastern Turkey

BİTLİS

Women hairdressers coming from Iran for professional education in Turkey's eastern province of Van hold banners reading: “No service to brides under 18 in this salon." AA photo

A 15-year-old woman who went into labor a week ago in a village in the Mutki district of the eastern province of Bitlis died on Oct. 13 in intensive care after she suffered a brain hemorrhage that it is believed to have stemmed from giving birth at an early age. 

Derya B., who was married in a religious wedding when she was 14 years old and gave birth a week ago, died of a brain hemorrhage upon her delivery at a private hospital in the southeastern province of Batman. 

The girl was taken to a hospital after her delivery with complaints of a serious headache, nausea and vomiting. After the problems that she was suffering from were diagnosed as a brain hemorrhage, the young woman was taken to a private hospital in Batman on Oct. 11. 

The patient died after receiving treatment in an intensive care unit for two days. The young woman’s body was sent to the Batman Regional Public Hospital for an autopsy. 

Prosecutors, meanwhile, launched a probe into her death, taking testimony from the woman’s father as a plaintiff and from the woman’s husband as a suspect. 

Gynecology expert Professor M.D. Aydan Biri said the death might have been related to delivery at an early age. Dividing mothers’ deaths into direct and indirect fatalities, Biri said Derya B.’s case was one of indirect death. But Biri added that she did not have enough information about the girl’s pregnancy to determine if it might have led to post-natal death.

“It is dangerous for a child bride to get pregnant. The mortality rate is higher in adolescent pregnancies. The risks of high blood pressure, early birth or an intervention in the birth are higher. The pregnancies of children who have not completed their physical development and whose organs have not yet completely developed often end in death,” said Biri.