WASHINGTON: Two hospitals in the Midwest of the United States (US) broke federal law by rejecting an emergency abortion for a woman who had gone into premature labour, putting her life in danger, according to government officials on Monday.
Hospital administrators were concerned that the termination would put them at legal risk, highlighting the confusion caused by the patchwork of state laws adopted since the Supreme Court removed federal abortion access protections last June.
Fortunately, this patient lived, said Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra in a statement ordering an investigation into the hospitals. But she should never have gone through the terrifying ordeal she did. He stated that we want her, and every other patient out there, to know that they will do everything they can to protect the lives and health of patients, as well as investigate and enforce the law to the full extent of our legal authority, in compliance with court orders.
Mylissa Farmer of Joplin, Missouri, was rejected an abortion by her hometown hospital and another 150 miles (240 km) away in Kansas City after her water broke at 17 weeks of pregnancy in August. Doctors decided that her pregnancy was no longer viable and that she was at risk of a life-threatening infection, but they could not perform an abortion since the foetus had a heartbeat. The National Women’s Law Centre filed a complaint with the Centres for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), an HHS agency that has the authority to investigate the hospitals that participate in government health insurance programmes.
Hospitals overrule doctors’ medical judgement
According to the legal advocacy group, Mylissa suffered tremendous agony, dread, and humiliation because these hospitals overruled their doctors’ medical judgement. They said that she was forced to drive for hours across three states, wracked with anguish and worry for her life, before receiving treatment three days later in Illinois. By the time she received the necessary care, she was in labour, in tremendous pain, most certainly infected.
Abortions are illegal in Missouri, but there are exceptions for circumstances where the mother’s life is in danger. While Kansas City is also in Missouri, the hospital is in a Kansas suburb, where abortion is legal until the 22nd week of pregnancy. Becerra said he wrote to hospitals around the country on Monday to remind them of their “professional and legal duty” under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labour Act (EMTALA) to provide abortions in medical crises regardless of state law.
