A Texas woman died after receiving improper treatment for a miscarriage, according to a new report in ProPublica. This is the fifth pregnant woman to die after receiving inadequate medical treatment or being denied a legal abortion since Roe v. Wade, the magazine found. .
In Texas, where nearly all abortions are banned, Porsha Gumezi, a 35-year-old mother of two, died in June 2023 after suffering a miscarriage, ProPublica reported on Monday. Ten weeks into her pregnancy, Gumezi began bleeding and went to Houston Methodist Sugar Land, part of the Houston Methodist hospital chain in the Houston metropolitan area. While in the hospital, Ngumezi continued to bleed for several hours. She received multiple blood transfusions.
Doctors who reviewed Ngmezi’s case told ProPublica that she should have been offered dilation and curettage (D&C), a common procedure used in miscarriages and abortions to remove tissue from the uterus. spoke. However, some doctors in states that ban abortions fear being punished for violating abortion bans, even in situations where the woman’s pregnancy has been terminated, as in Gumezi’s case. Doctors said they were hesitant to provide a D&C.
Instead of being offered a D&C, doctors administered misoprostol to Gumezi, ProPublica reported. Misoprostol is frequently used for miscarriages and abortions, but it can be dangerous to give to women who are bleeding profusely, like Gumeji.
However, in states where abortion is prohibited, doctors may feel more comfortable giving patients misoprostol than giving them a D&C. This is because D&C can attract too much attention.
“You have to convince everyone that it’s legal and doesn’t put them at risk,” Dr. Allison Golding, a Houston obstetrician-gynecologist, told ProPublica about the Doctrine and Covenant. Ta. “Many people may refuse to participate due to fear and misconceptions, even if it is due to a miscarriage.”
According to ProPublica, Gumezi began complaining of chest pains, but doctors treating him did not order further tests. A few hours after arriving at the hospital, Gumezi began having trouble breathing.
Her husband was in the hospital when Gumezi died.
The doctors and nurses who treated Ngumezi did not respond to ProPublica’s requests for comment. Houston Methodist also did not respond to questions from the press.
“All Houston Methodist hospitals follow all state laws, including abortion laws in place in Texas,” a hospital spokesperson told ProPublica.
ProPublica has previously reported four other cases of women dying after miscarriages due to delayed medical treatment or inability to obtain legal abortions. Two of the women, Josely Barnica and Nevaeh Crain, also lived in Texas. The other two, Amber Nicole Thurman and Candy Miller, lived in Georgia, which bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.
In reporting Thurman and Miller’s deaths, ProPublica obtained a report from a state commission that investigates maternal deaths in Georgia and issues recommendations on how to improve the state’s maternal mortality rate. Georgia has since fired all 32 members of the commission, ProPublica reported last week.
