One Missouri The hospital is being investigated for denying a woman an abortion despite the fact that she is facing a medical emergency.
The Missouri Department of Health and Advanced Services has opened an investigation into Freeman West Hospital for allegedly refusing to help Mylissa Farmer.
On August 2, Farmer, 41, was rushed to the emergency room after her water broke at just 17 weeks and 5 days pregnant.
The child had no “Chance of Survival” but came 39 days after Roe V. Wade was toppled over
She had lost all her amniotic fluid, and the baby – whom she named Maeve – had no chance of survival, she told Springfield News-Leader.
Doctors told her that “waiting for a medical emergency may put her at greater risk of maternal death,” according to medical records. However, waiting to do so could also cause her to have a hysterectomy.
Unfortunately for Farmer, her medical emergency comes just 39 days after the state banned abortion after the Supreme Court overthrew Roe. v. Wading back in June.
Mylissa Farmer was forced to cross the state line after a hospital in her home state of Missouri refused to perform an emergency abortion.
Are extreme Republicans in promoting #AbortionBans, stories like this will only become more common. https://t.co/4QcCWz5MJx
– Take care of America’s health now! (@HCAN) November 2, 2022
Despite doctors’ warnings, they were unable to perform an abortion in Missouri because the fetus still had a heartbeat and her condition did not affect the state’s definition of a medical emergency, she said. .
“My doctors said it was an emergency, and I felt it was an emergency,” she told Kaiser Health News.
Doctors told her that Federal, State law overrides their medical opinion and can’t terminate a pregnancy
According to medical records from that day, the doctors told Farmer that federal and state laws override their medical opinions.
“Contrary to the most appropriate management (based on) my medical opinion, due to the legal language of the MO law, we are unable to proceed with induction of labor at this time,” the doctors said. doctor told her.
Farmer said that although the doctors were unable to terminate her pregnancy, “they told me to basically come out of this situation to get the care I needed”.
She was eventually able to have the procedure done out of state in Illinois, after a clinic there deemed her case “urgent.”
According to KHN, the investigation is the first to be confirmed under the federal Labor and Emergency Medical Treatment Act.
The poll, being conducted by the state, was commissioned by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the agency reports, citing officials.
Missouri Out of 13 countries that have fulfilled most abortion rights, doctors aren’t sure what constitutes a medical emergency
Since the Supreme Court overthrew Roe, 13 states, including Missouri, have eliminated most, if not all, abortion rights.
But the Biden administration has repeatedly warned health care providers that the procedure must be applied to pregnant women facing medical crises, as well as those who may develop into an emergency.
Those who fail to comply with federal law face civil penalties along with termination of Medicaid and Medicare programs.
Although Missouri’s abortion ban includes exceptions for such medical emergencies, hospitals and doctors still say they’re not sure exactly what that means, and What exactly constitutes a medical emergency.
In Farmer’s case, hospital spokeswoman Liz Syer said it did not comment on patient care and did not immediately return a request for comment on the investigation.
