EMTALA Complaints Against Texas Hospitals
Clients’ Stories
More about the Texas women denied abortion care for life-threatening ectopic pregnancies.
The Center for Reproductive Rights filed complaints against two Texas hospitals on behalf of two women who were turned away after seeking treatment for life-threatening ectopic pregnancies.
Here are the women’s stories:
Kelsie Norris-De La Cruz
Several days after finding out she was pregnant, Kelsie Norris-De La Cruz, of the Dallas-Fort Worth area, started to experience cramping and bleeding. When she visited the emergency room, Kelsie was told that she was likely having a miscarriage and to seek medical care if the cramping and bleeding continued.
Kelsie’s symptoms worsened over the next several weeks, and she visited the emergency room at Texas Health Arlington Memorial Hospital, where staff noted Kelsie was showing signs of an ectopic pregnancy. But when she spoke to the hospital’s on-call OB-GYN, the doctor began insisting Kelsie was suffering a miscarriage and should be discharged without treatment, writing in Kelsie’s records that Kelsie was “not a reliable historian as she is very angry and upset.” A second on-call OB-GYN also attempted to send her home, against the recommendation of the emergency room physician.
Realizing Texas Health Arlington would not provide Kelsie medical treatment, Kelsie and her mother then contacted a New Mexico clinic, where the staff told them treatment of an ectopic pregnancy is not illegal in Texas. The Houston hospitals they contacted, however, told them that hospitals around the state were delaying treatment for ectopic pregnancy and that Kelsie might face the same treatment there.
Luckily, Kelsie had explained her situation to a friend who happened to be at an OB-GYN appointment, and her friend showed her own OB-GYN a photo of Kelsie’s sonogram. Immediately, the OB-GYN brought Kelsie in and performed emergency surgery to save her life. By this time, however, the mass had grown so large that it necessitated the removal of most of Kelsie’s right fallopian tube. The damage to her reproductive organs will likely compromise her ability to have children in the future.
“Despite the fact that my life was clearly in danger, the hospital told me that they could not help me. I ended up losing half of my fertility and if I was made to wait any longer, it’s very likely I would have died,” said Kelsie. “The doctors knew I needed an abortion, but these bans are making it nearly impossible to get basic emergency healthcare. So, I’m filing this complaint because women like me deserve justice and accountability from those that hurt us. Texas state officials can’t keep ignoring us. We can’t let them.”
Kyleigh Thurman
Kyleigh Thurman, of Burnet, Texas, found out she was pregnant after she began experiencing an irregular period, cramping and dizziness. Suspecting an ectopic pregnancy due to Kyleigh’s symptoms, Kyleigh’s OB-GYN immediately advised her to go to her hometown emergency room, but staff there turned her away two separate times after being unable to locate an intrauterine pregnancy and measuring her pregnancy hormone levels.
Kyleigh’s OB-GYN then sent her to Ascension Seton Williamson Hospital, contacting the on-call physician to advise that she immediately receive a methotrexate injection to end the ectopic pregnancy. Instead, Kyleigh was denied treatment and sent home with instructions to return in two days. When she did, staff again refused to treat her.
Infuriated, Kyleigh’s OB-GYN traveled to Ascension Williamson to plead with the staff, who eventually agreed to give her the methotrexate injection to end the pregnancy. The injection, though, came too late.
Several days later, Kyleigh experienced sudden, blinding pain on her right side, began bleeding, and almost passed out—signs of a life-threatening ectopic pregnancy rupture. Kyleigh was rushed into surgery, where her right fallopian tube had to be removed. The damage to her reproductive organs will likely impact her ability to have children in the future.
“I never imagined I would find myself in the crosshairs of my home state’s extreme abortion bans. 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. This should have been an open and shut case. Yet, I was left completely in the dark without any information or options for the care I deserved,” said Kyleigh. “Pregnancy is not straightforward, and I now have to live with the consequences of these extreme laws every day. None of this should have happened to me, and I want to make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else.”
