Yes, it is tragic.
A cesarean hysterectomy is especially risky.
This is how one doctor described what it was like to face a cesarean hysterectomy with a JW patient:
...there was one patient I took care of several years ago who was especially worrisome. She was entering her third trimester with a pregnancy that had various complications related to her uterus and placenta that were going to necessitate a cesarean delivery, and quite likely a cesarean hysterectomy.
A cesarean hysterectomy is a difficult and frightening surgery. It’s daunting to try to take out the uterus of a pregnant woman right after a baby has left it: The blood vessels feeding it are bringing one-fifth of her blood volume to it every minute, and new blood vessels have formed in every direction, following no solid anatomical rules, because the pregnancy has strongly requested them since the day it set up shop. During the surgery, you clamp and tie off arteries that are the size of your pinky finger and sometimes your thumb; they bleed, you clamp and tie them again. Ultimately, the surgical saying goes, all bleeding stops. But we’d prefer it to be because we have a successful surgery and not because there’s no blood left.
For this patient, the plan for cesarean hysterectomy was made because, at this time, it was this patient’s only option. However, it is unusual to get through a cesarean hysterectomy safely without a blood transfusion. It was terrifying to me to have to consider not having the option.