The state of California has sued a Humboldt County hospital after a patient said she was denied an emergency abortion earlier this year even though her life was in danger due to the risk of miscarriage.
Anna Nusrok was 15 weeks pregnant with twins when her water broke too quickly and she was rushed to Providence St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka in February with pain and heavy bleeding, according to a California attorney. Gen. Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit against Catholic Hospital on Monday. The lawsuit accuses Providence Hospital of violating multiple California laws by denying Nusrok abortion care and seeks a court order to prevent other patients from being denied emergency abortions.
At the hospital, Nusrok said she was diagnosed with premature rupture of the amniotic membrane. This is a dangerous complication and abortion is the recommended treatment.
Doctors determined that one of the twins would not survive and the chances of the other twin being extremely low. They agreed that Nusrok needed to have an abortion as soon as possible to prevent infection and bleeding, according to the lawsuit.
However, Ms Nusrok said she was told that due to “hospital policy” she could not have an abortion because her life was not in sufficient danger and one of the twins still had a traceable “heartbeat”. Doctors advised her to take a helicopter to a hospital about 300 miles south of San Francisco, warning her that she would die if she tried to drive nearly five hours instead, she said.
According to the complaint, a nurse handed her a bucket of road towels to control the bleeding, and she eventually gave birth to one of the twins naturally, returning to California's rural North Coast. He ended up bleeding out at Mad River Community Hospital, 19 miles away.
“I'll never forget the tears streaming down my face, my heart breaking into a million pieces, just begging the doctors not to let me die,” Nusrok said at a news conference at the attorney general's office. Ta. Monday at the Sacramento office. “My daughters deserved better, and I deserved better.”
The case comes even after the U.S. Supreme Court stripped the federal government of its right to abortion procedures and introduced an abortion ban in 2022. exposing gaps in care. In California, access to abortion is enshrined in the state constitution. Republican-led states.
“Here in California, we're proud to be pioneers in reproductive justice, but we have hospital policies that are reminiscent of the heartbeat regulation laws of extremist red states,” Bonta said Monday. “Even California, a champion of reproductive freedom, is not immune to practices like the ones we are seeing today, and we will not stand by and watch it happen.”
Bonta said Providence Hospital violated the California Emergency Services Act, which mandates emergency room treatment regardless of ethical concerns from health care providers, as well as the Business Discrimination Act and the Unfair Commercial Practices Act. he claimed.
A Providence spokesperson said the company is reviewing the lawsuit's claims.
“Providence is deeply committed to the health of women and pregnant patients, and in accordance with state and federal law, provides emergency services to everyone who walks through our doors. We are heartbroken by the experience,” said National Communications Director Brian Kawasaki.
Religious hospitals Elective abortion cannot be forcedHowever, California law requires emergency medical providers to provide medical services to patients who are “at risk of loss of life or serious injury or illness.”
The law does not provide religious exceptions for abortion services if hospitals like the one Nusrok visited operate an emergency department.
Nasrock and her husband have been trying for years to have a baby, saying, “There's nothing in this world I want more than to be parents.'' They experienced multiple miscarriages. After finding out she was pregnant with twins, she said she became cautiously optimistic. They bought matching baby clothes. I dreamed of decorating the children's rooms and taking them to the pumpkin patch for holiday photos.
As she recovered from the rupture and emergency abortion, her grief turned to anger and she consulted the American Civil Liberties Union about what action could be taken to prevent other mothers from going through the same experience. The ACLU directed her to the Attorney General's Office.
“I'm here today for a simple reason: I don't want others in my community to go through the same life-threatening trauma that I went through.” After standing side by side behind the podium and taking a deep breath, Nusrok spoke. Bonta and the lawyer.
Bonta, who described Nusrok's case as “tragic and upsetting,” told the court that Mad River Community Hospital, where Nusrok ultimately underwent an abortion, plans to close its delivery room next month. We asked them to respond as soon as possible.
“The next person in Anna's situation will face a difficult choice: risk driving several hours to another hospital, or wait until death is near and Providence intervenes. That's going to happen,” Bonta said.
