Mary Wilson
Well-known member
Texas hospitals are putting pregnant patients at risk by denying care out of fear of abortion laws, medical group says
JULY 15, 2022
BY REESE OXNER AND MARÍA MÉNDEZ
The Texas Medical Association is asking state regulators to step in after it says several hospitals afraid of violating the state’s abortion ban have turned away pregnant patients or delayed care leading to complications, The Dallas Morning News reported.
In a letter to the Texas Medical Board — the state agency that regulates the practice of medicine — TMA officials on Wednesday said they have received complaints that hospital administrators and their legal teams are stopping doctors from providing medically appropriate care to patients with some pregnancy complications. They ask the board to “swiftly act to prevent any wrongful intrusion into the practice of medicine.”
TMA is a professional nonprofit that represents over 55,000 medical professionals in the state.
... According to the Morning News, the TMA included in its letter examples of some cases in which treatment was denied or delayed but did not name specific hospitals. In Central Texas, a physician was allegedly instructed to not treat an ectopic pregnancy until a rupture occurred, which puts patient health at serious risk, the letter says.
... The TMA letter also accused two other hospitals of telling doctors to turn away pregnant patients and send them home to “expel the fetus” if their water broke too soon, which can put them at risk of infection.
Not only are patients being put at risk of serious injury, but doctors could face lawsuits or the loss of their medical licenses for not providing adequate care, the TMA letter says. Failing to do so might violate the state’s prohibition on the corporate practice of medicine, which generally prohibits corporations or nonphysicians from practicing medicine.
... Without medical assistance during a miscarriage, especially later in the pregnancy, patients face risks such as deadly hemorrhaging and sepsis. Texas abortion laws make exceptions for the procedure if the mother’s life is in danger, but even that is fraught with uncertainty, doctors say.
Some medical providers say they’re forced to delay or reconsider what treatment options they can prescribe due to the laws, particularly in the cases of those with high-risk pregnancies.
https://www.texastribune.org/2022/07/15/texas-hospitals-abortion-laws/
JULY 15, 2022
BY REESE OXNER AND MARÍA MÉNDEZ
The Texas Medical Association is asking state regulators to step in after it says several hospitals afraid of violating the state’s abortion ban have turned away pregnant patients or delayed care leading to complications, The Dallas Morning News reported.
In a letter to the Texas Medical Board — the state agency that regulates the practice of medicine — TMA officials on Wednesday said they have received complaints that hospital administrators and their legal teams are stopping doctors from providing medically appropriate care to patients with some pregnancy complications. They ask the board to “swiftly act to prevent any wrongful intrusion into the practice of medicine.”
TMA is a professional nonprofit that represents over 55,000 medical professionals in the state.
... According to the Morning News, the TMA included in its letter examples of some cases in which treatment was denied or delayed but did not name specific hospitals. In Central Texas, a physician was allegedly instructed to not treat an ectopic pregnancy until a rupture occurred, which puts patient health at serious risk, the letter says.
... The TMA letter also accused two other hospitals of telling doctors to turn away pregnant patients and send them home to “expel the fetus” if their water broke too soon, which can put them at risk of infection.
Not only are patients being put at risk of serious injury, but doctors could face lawsuits or the loss of their medical licenses for not providing adequate care, the TMA letter says. Failing to do so might violate the state’s prohibition on the corporate practice of medicine, which generally prohibits corporations or nonphysicians from practicing medicine.
... Without medical assistance during a miscarriage, especially later in the pregnancy, patients face risks such as deadly hemorrhaging and sepsis. Texas abortion laws make exceptions for the procedure if the mother’s life is in danger, but even that is fraught with uncertainty, doctors say.
Some medical providers say they’re forced to delay or reconsider what treatment options they can prescribe due to the laws, particularly in the cases of those with high-risk pregnancies.
https://www.texastribune.org/2022/07/15/texas-hospitals-abortion-laws/