Jeanette Passalaqua, 32, filed the suit against Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and Southern California Permanente Medical Group Inc. in San Bernardino County state court last week.
Court papers claim in June 2004 Passalaqua's husband, Steven Passalaqua, was asked by Kaiser staff to hold and steady his wife while an employee inserted an epidural needle into her back.
The sight of the needle caused Steven Passalaqua, 33, to faint and fall backward, striking his head on an aluminum cap molding at the base of the wall.
Jeanette Passalaqua delivered the couple's second child, a boy, later that day. The lawsuit claims Steven Passalaqua suffered a brain hemorrhage as a result of his fall and died two days later.
The suit seeks unspecified damages related to Steven Passalaqua's death and to Jeanette Passalaqua's emotional distress at being widowed with two young children.
Because Passalaqua was solicited by Kaiser to assist in the epidural, the lawsuit states, the hospital "owed him a duty to exercise reasonable care to prevent foreseeable injuries resulting from his participation."
A spokesman for Oakland, California-based Kaiser Permanente called the death "a tragic accident."
"Some of the allegations in the lawsuit are simply that - allegations. The legal process is under way and we should respect that," Kaiser spokesman Jim Anderson, told the Associated Press.
