The cases raise alarms about the state of emergency pregnancy care in the US, especially in states that enacted strict abortion laws after the overturning of Roe v Wade, sparking confusion around the treatment doctors can provide.
Complaints that pregnant women were turned away from US emergency rooms spiked in 2022 after the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade.
And in North Carolina, a woman gave birth in a car after an emergency room couldn't offer an ultrasound. The baby later died.The cases raised alarms about the state of emergency pregnancy care in the US, especially in states that enacted strict abortion laws and sparked confusion around the treatment doctors can provide.
"No woman should be denied the care she needs," Jennifer Klein, director of the White House Gender Policy Council, said in a statement. "The nursing staff informed the physician that we could test her for the presence of amniotic fluid. However, the physician adamantly recommended the patient drive to a Waco hospital."Investigators with the Centres for Medicare and Medicaid Services concluded Falls Community Hospital broke the law.The investigation was one of dozens the AP obtained from a Freedom of Information Act request filed in February 2023 that sought all pregnancy-related EMTALA complaints the previous year.
"She is bleeding a lot and had a miscarriage," the husband told first responders in his call, which was transcribed from Spanish in federal documents.Staff at Sacred Heart Emergency Centre in Texas refused to check in a pregnant woman who later miscarried in a bathroom in the lobby, documents reveal.Emergency crews, who arrived 20 minutes later and transferred the woman to a hospital, appeared confused over the staff's refusal to help the woman, according to 911 call transcripts.
Meanwhile, the staff at Person Memorial Hospital in Roxboro, North Carolina, told a pregnant woman, who was complaining of stomach pain, that they would not be able to provide her with an ultrasound. When the patient came back the next day, medical staff were unable to locate a fetal heartbeat. The centre declined to comment on the case.Emergency rooms are subject to hefty fines when they turn away patients, fail to stabilise them or transfer them to another hospital for treatment. Violations can also put hospitals' Medicare funding at risk.
"People are just going to keep providing substandard care or not providing care. The only way that changes is things like this."President Joe Biden and top US health official Xavier Becerra have both publicly vowed vigilance in enforcing the law.
Abortion Roe V Wade Texas Miscarriage Hospital Maternity Pregnancy EMTALA US Supreme Court
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