Texas women denied care for ectopic pregnancies proves exceptions are a "farce", experts say
Several days after Kelsie Norris-De La Cruz found out she was pregnant in Texas, she started to experience bleeding and cramping. When she went to the emergency room, she was told that she was likely having a miscarriage and to seek medical care if the symptoms continued.
Over the next several weeks, her symptoms worsened. She went to the emergency room at Texas Health Arlington Memorial Hospital, where staff noted she was showing signs of an ectopic pregnancy, which is when a fertilized egg implants and grows outside of the uterus in the abdomen, a female's cervix or more commonly, the fallopian tubes. An ectopic pregnancy is a life-threatening condition; there is no way that an ectopic pregnancy can become a full-term pregnancy.
But when Norris-De La Cruz spoke to the hospital’s on-call OB-GYN, the doctor said once again she was experiencing a miscarriage. After being denied care, and being told hospitals around the state were delaying treatment for ectopic pregnancies, Norris-De La Cruz explained her situation to a friend who was an OB-GYN. She showed the doctor a photo of her sonogram. Immediately, the OB-GYN friend brought her in for emergency surgery. However, it required the removal of most of her right fallopian tube.
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“Despite the fact that my life was clearly in danger, the hospital told me that they could not help me,” Norris-De La Cruz said in a media statement. “I ended up losing half of my fertility and if I was made to wait any longer, it’s very likely I would have died.”
This week, the Center for Reproductive Rights filed two complaints against two........
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