Texas Women Sue Hospitals For Denying Life-Saving Care In Ectopic Pregnancy Cases

Two women have filed complaints against two Texas hospitals after they allegedly denied them treatment for ectopic pregnancies, putting their lives at danger and permanently damaging their reproductive organs.

Kyleigh Thurman and Kelsie Norris-De La Cruz filed complaints to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. They allege that hospitals violated federal law by denying them emergency abortion for their ectopic pregnancies.

Ectopic pregnancies are never viable as the fertilized egg grows outside the uterus, occurring most often in a fallopian tube. Sometimes, the egg could break the tube, producing live-threatening bleedings and permanently damaging the reproductive organ.

According to the Washington Post, in her complaint, Thurman said that Ascension Seton Williamson Hospital in Round Rock discharged her without treating her ectopic pregnancy. She said the hospital denied her tretman even when she had vaginal bleeding.

Her fallopian tube broke because of the delay of treatment and her OB/GYN had to “plead” the hospital to provide necessary care.

“For weeks, I was in and out of emergency rooms trying to get the abortion that I needed to save my future fertility and life,” she said in a press release from the Center for Reproductive Rights, whose attorneys are representing both women.

Norris-De La Cruz said that Texas Health Arlington Memorial Hospital also denied her treatment for her ectopic pregnancy. She said she had to search for a second opinion and she was rushed into emergency surgery at a different facility.

Four OB/GYNs who reviewed the woman’s medical records, told the Washington Post that Norris-De La Cruz should have been offered emergency surgery from the beginning. They said Texas’ abortion ban could have discouraged doctors to offer the women appropriate care.

Texas has one of the most strict abortion bans in the U.S. Though the state allows doctors to perform abortions when the pregnant person’s life is in danger, some doctors have said the state is too vague in its guidelines of when to perform an abortion.

“Kelsie and Kyleigh’s experiences are not isolated,” the Center for Reproductive Rights said. “Across the country, pregnant people in states with abortion bans are being forced to either wait until they are near death to receive care or are turned away altogether, even for care that is technically legal under state law.”

The center added that both women “nearly died and suffered permanent damage to their reproductive organs” because of the delay in treatment.

“None of this should have happened to me, and I want to make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else,” Thurman said.