Latest news with #ectopicpregnancy
Washington Post
2 hours ago
- Health
- Washington Post
Texas hospital that discharged woman with doomed pregnancy violated the law, a federal inquiry finds
WASHINGTON — A Texas hospital that repeatedly sent a woman who was bleeding and in pain home without ending her nonviable, life-threatening pregnancy violated the law, according to a newly released federal investigation. The government's findings, which have not been previously reported, were a small victory for 36-year-old Kyleigh Thurman, who ultimately lost part of her reproductive system after being discharged without any help from her hometown emergency room for her dangerous ectopic pregnancy. But a new policy the Trump administration announced on Tuesday has thrown into doubt the federal government's oversight of hospitals that deny women emergency abortions , even when they are at risk for serious infection, organ loss or severe hemorrhaging. Thurman had hoped the federal government's investigation, which issued a report in April after concluding its inquiry last year, would send a clear message to hospitals in Texas, which has one of the nation's strictest abortion bans. 'I didn't want anyone else to have to go through this,' Thurman said in an interview with the Associated Press from her Texas home this week. 'I put a lot of the responsibility on the state of Texas and policy makers and the legislators that set this chain of events off.' Women around the country have been denied emergency abortions for their life-threatening pregnancies after states swiftly enacted abortion restrictions in response to a 2022 ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court, which includes three appointees of President Donald Trump. The guidance issued by the Biden administration in 2022 was an effort to preserve access to emergency abortions for extreme cases in which women were experiencing medical emergencies. It directed hospitals — even ones in states with severe restrictions — to provide abortions in those emergency cases. If hospitals did not comply, they would be in violation of a federal law and risk losing some federal funds. On Tuesday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the federal agency responsible for enforcing the law and inspecting hospitals, announced it would revoke the Biden-era guidance. The Biden policy requiring doctors to provide emergency abortions was one of the few ways that Thurman was able to hold her local emergency room after she didn't receive any help from staff at Ascension Seton Williamson in Round Rock, Texas in February of 2023, a few months after Texas enacted its strict abortion ban. Emergency room staff observed that Thurman's hormone levels had dropped, a pregnancy was not visible in her uterus and a structure was blocking her fallopian tube — all telltale signs of an ectopic pregnancy, when a fetus implants outside of the uterus and has no room to grow. If left untreated, ectopic pregnancies can rupture, causing organ damage, hemorrhage or even death. Thurman, however, was sent home and given a pamphlet on miscarriage. She returned three days later, still bleeding, and was given an injected drug intended to end the pregnancy, but it was too late. Days later, she showed up again at the emergency room, bleeding out because the fertilized egg growing on Thurman's fallopian tube ruptured it. She underwent an emergency surgery that removed part of her reproductive system. CMS launched its investigation of how Ascension Seton Williamson handled Thurman's case late last year, shortly after she filed a complaint. Investigators concluded the hospital failed to give her a proper medical screening exam, including an evaluation with an OB-GYN. The hospital violated the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, which requires emergency rooms to provide stabilizing treatment to all patients. Thurman was 'at risk for deterioration of her health and wellbeing as a result of an untreated medical condition,' the investigation said in its report, which was publicly released last month. Ascension, a vast hospital system that has facilities across multiple states, did not respond to questions about Thurman's case, saying only that it is 'is committed to providing high-quality care to all who seek our services.' Doctors and legal experts have warned abortion restrictions like the one Texas enacted have discouraged emergency room staff from aborting dangerous and nonviable pregnancies, even when a woman's life is imperiled. The stakes are especially high in Texas, where doctors face up to 99 years in prison if convicted of performing an illegal abortion. Lawmakers in the state are weighing a law that would remove criminal penalties for doctors who provide abortions in certain medical emergencies. 'We see patients with miscarriages being denied care, bleeding out in parking lots. We see patients with nonviable pregnancies being told to continue those to term,' said Molly Duane, an attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights that represented Thurman. 'This is not, maybe, what some people thought abortion bans would look like, but this is the reality.' The Biden administration routinely warned hospitals that they need to provide abortions when a woman's health was in jeopardy, even suing Idaho over its state law that initially prohibited nearly all abortions, unless a woman's life was on the line. But CMS' announcement on Tuesday raises questions about whether such investigations will continue if hospitals do not provide abortions for women in medical emergencies. The agency said it will still enforce the law, 'including for identified emergency medical conditions that place the health of a pregnant woman or her unborn child in serious jeopardy.' While states like Texas have clarified that ectopic pregnancies can legally be treated with abortions, the laws do not provide for every complication that might arise during a pregnancy. Several women in Texas have sued the state for its law, which has prevented women from terminating pregnancies in cases where their fetuses had deadly fetal anomalies or they went into labor too early for the fetus to survive. Thurman worries pregnant patients with serious complications still won't be able to get the help they may need in Texas emergency rooms. 'You cannot predict the ways a pregnancy can go,' Thurman said. 'It can happen to anyone, still. There's still so many ways in which pregnancies that aren't ectopic can be deadly.'
News.com.au
13-05-2025
- Health
- News.com.au
‘Shouldn't have happened': Victorian mum's fallopian tubes removed during surgery
A Melbourne mum has taken legal action against a healthcare provider after waking from an emergency surgery to learn her fallopian tubes had been removed. In early 2022, Liz Darwish was 10 weeks pregnant with her and husband Mouhamad's fourth baby when she noticed she was bleeding. Doctors at Bacchus Marsh Hospital confirmed Ms Darwish had suffered a miscarriage. Five weeks later, however, she was rushed to Sunshine Hospital in St Albans, having collapsed while getting out of the shower due to a sudden drop in her blood pressure. Recounting the incident to 9 News, Ms Darwish said she was asked by staff at Sunshine Hospital if she was pregnant. 'I said no, I wasn't pregnant, I had a clean-out five to six weeks prior in Bacchus Marsh Hospital so there was no chance I was pregnant,' she told the program, referring to the D&C (dilatation and curettage) procedure that removes any remaining pregnancy tissue after miscarriage. The doctors then discovered that Ms Darwish was actually still pregnant, and that Bacchus Marsh had missed an ectopic pregnancy – when the fertilised egg stays inside the fallopian tube – that had then ruptured. 'I was bleeding internally and I just thought, 'I'm not going to make it, I'm not going to make it home',' Ms Darwish said. 'I just didn't think I would be able to see my kids again and I thought my daughter's going to grow up without her mum.' The fact that it was an ectopic pregnancy was something Ms Darwish said doctors did not convey to her. Instead, thinking she was dying, Ms Darwish told them to do whatever was necessary to keep her alive before they took her into surgery. When she woke up, she was informed both of her fallopian tubes had been removed – which Ms Darwish's lawyer, Maryse Andrinopoulos-Tsigolis, told 9News was 'not usual practice … when the ectopic pregnancy has only ruptured in one'. 'With appropriate care, Liz would not have lost either fallopian tube,' Ms Andrinopoulos-Tsigolis, from Shine Lawyers, said. 'This shouldn't have happened, it has had devastating consequences for Liz and is something that could've been solved through a simple laparoscopy.' Three years on, Ms Darwish said healthcare provider Western Health had still not given an explanation as to why the Sunshine Hospital doctors removed the organ. She and her husband are now pursuing legal action. In a statement provided to a spokesperson for Western Health said it is 'committed to providing patient-centred, high-quality care and safety and wellbeing of our patients is our top priority'. 'For privacy reasons we will not comment on individual patients in response to media inquiries.' The Darwish's said the hospital's actions had robbed them of growing their family. 'That choice and that decision was taken away and that's what's hard,' Ms Darwish said. 'Take accountability and fix what you've done. Fix it so it doesn't happen to anyone else.'
ABC News
12-05-2025
- Health
- ABC News
New Australian guidelines for miscarriage and early pregnancy loss released
Australia's first comprehensive national guidelines for the treatment of early pregnancy loss have been welcomed by women's health experts. The clinical guidelines, developed by the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (RANZCOG), are designed to provide a benchmark for best practice medical care. "We don't actually have a standard of care for miscarriage in Australia because every health service does something slightly different and every clinician probably does something slightly different," Nisha Khot, obstetrician and president-elect of RANZCOG, said. Early pregnancy loss is common in Australia; it's estimated up to one in four pregnancies end in miscarriage, and more than 100,000 couples are affected by miscarriage every year. The clinical guidelines, published in late April, provide recommendations for the treatment of miscarriage, recurrent miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy up to 14 weeks gestation. Ectopic pregnancy occurs when a fertilised egg implants and grows outside the uterus. Dr Khot said in addition to providing health professionals with up-to-date evidence on the medical and surgical management of pregnancy loss, the guidelines were about ensuring empathy was "central to all the care we provide". Among the recommendations is a new definition of recurrent miscarriage, which was previously defined as a woman having three consecutive miscarriages. "[The new guidelines] have very specifically said that it is two miscarriages and they don't need to be consecutive for women to be able to access further testing to find out the cause," Dr Khot said. Isy Oderberg, co-founder of the Early Pregnancy Loss Coalition, said the guidelines would go a long way to supporting women and families who experience early pregnancy loss. "The time to just tell patients to go home and try again is over," Ms Oderberg said. "We need to offer patients proper care, proper oversight, let them know they're not alone, and not compound any grief they are already feeling with substandard care or a lack of empathy." Ms Oderberg, who had seven miscarriages on her way to having two living children, said miscarriage care varied significantly across the country and often came down to luck. "There are times when you go and seek care and you have an incredible, empathetic, knowledgeable clinician who can give you the right guidance and treat you well, both from a medical point of view but also in terms of empathy," she said. "But there are many, many horror stories. "It varies wildly and it gets worse when the person is from a marginalised or minority group, or if they're in a regional or rural area." Culturally, there has long been a discomfort around early pregnancy loss, she said, which has contributed to poor understanding of patients' needs and how to best support them. "We've seen a lot of doctors be dismissive … because it's just seen as a natural part of the reproductive cycle, which to some extent it is, but that doesn't lessen the grief." A global review of evidence in 2021 found the impact and consequences of miscarriage were "underestimated". It called for a comprehensive overhaul of the medical care and advice offered to women who have miscarriages. The new Australian guidelines recommend that communication with patients is "clear, empathetic and respectful" and that health professionals take care with terminology and use of certain phrases when discussing early pregnancy loss. "If the patient refers to their loss as a baby, [doctors] have to take that lead and refer to it in the same way," Ms Oderberg said. "It compounds a patient's grief if they don't take that lead, and use words like 'spontaneous abortion', which is still commonly used by a lot of doctors." In 2024, the federal government committed $9.5 million to miscarriage support and research, including funding a scoping study for a national miscarriage data collection. Ms Oderberg said it was important to understand where early pregnancy loss occurred, who was most affected, and whether rates were increasing. "The reason we need miscarriage data is because you can't create any sort of health policy without knowing who you're creating it for, where they are, how many people need the service … it's a fundamental plank of any decent policy." The Early Pregnancy Loss Coalition is now hoping to develop a national miscarriage road map, similar to the National Stillbirth Action and Implementation Plan, in order to look long-term at patient pathways, quality of care, and research funding. "A lot of what happens in this space of early pregnancy loss is not well understood because it is not well researched," Dr Khot said. "That is because there hasn't been funding for research in this area." In addition to further research, she said more psychological support was needed for women and families experiencing early pregnancy loss. "Whether that be counselling or mental health support, these are things women should have access to without additional costs." Listen to the full story on Radio National and subscribe to the Health Report podcast for more.
Daily Mail
12-05-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
Melbourne mum wakes up in hospital with no fallopian tubes after two horror medical blunders
A mother who dreamed of having a large family was left with both her fallopian tubes removed after a hospital mistook her ectopic pregnancy for a miscarriage. Melbourne couple Liz and Mouhamad Darwish were thrilled when they found out they were expecting their fourth child in early 2022. Sadly, 10 weeks into the pregnancy, she began experiencing abnormal bleeding. The couple rushed to Bacchus Marsh Hospital, in the city's west, where they were told Ms Darwish had suffered a miscarriage. 'This is life and this is how it is and we have to be thankful for our blessing and sometimes things are out of our hand,' she told Nine News on Monday. While still coming to terms with the loss, Ms Darwish's health took a turn for the worst five weeks later. She recalled getting out of the shower and suddenly losing consciousness. Ms Darwish believes she fainted up to five times before her sons found her lying on the bathroom floor. The mother was rushed to Sunshine Hospital, also in Melbourne's west, where doctors asked if she was pregnant. 'I said no, I wasn't pregnant, I had a cleanout five to six weeks prior in Bacchus Marsh Hospital so there was no chance I was pregnant,' Ms Darwish said. However, it turned out she was still pregnant. The doctors at Bacchus Marsh five weeks earlier had missed an ectopic pregnancy in the fallopian tube, which had ruptured. Mr Darwish recalled facing the 'horrific' possibility he may become widower as his wife bled internally. Not understanding what was happening, Ms Darwish told doctors to do whatever it took to save her life. 'I just thought, 'I'm not going to make it, I'm not going to make it home',' she said. 'I just didn't think I would be able to see my kids again and I thought my daughter's going to grow up without her mum.' When she woke from surgery, both her fallopian tubes had been removed. Typically, only the affected fallopian tube would be removed in the case of a ruptured ectopic pregnancy. Three years on, Ms Darwish claims the staff at both hospitals 'got it wrong every step of the way'. The mother-of-three is also yet to receive an explanation as to why both fallopian tubes were removed. Ms Darwish is now taking legal action against Western Health, the owner of both Bacchus Marsh and Sunshine hospitals. She has opened up about the ordeal in the hope it doesn't happen to any other expectant mum. Maryse Andrinopoulos-Tsigolis from Shine Lawyers believes her client would not have lost either fallopian tube had she received appropriate care. 'This shouldn't have happened, it has had devastating consequences for Liz and is something that could've been solved through a simple laparoscopy,' Ms Andrinopoulos-Tsigolis said. The hardest part is the significant struggles the couple would face if they want to extend their family. 'That choice and that decision was taken away and that's what's hard,' Ms Darwish said. 'Take accountability and fix what you've done. Fix it so it doesn't happen to anyone else.' A spokesperson said that Western Health was 'committed to providing patient-centred, high-quality care and the safety and wellbeing of our patients is our top priority' but wouldn't comment on the individual matter, citing privacy reasons.
