Abortion procedure caused death, lawsuit alleges
The Los Angeles Times is reporting on a lawsuit filed by Aletheia Meloncon, the mother of 21-year-old Edrica Goode. Additional information is available at Press-Enterprise and World Net Daily.
Edrica went to a Planned Parenthood in Riverside, California, on January 31, 2007, for a second-trimester abortion. She was a little over 14 weeks pregnant.
A nurse there inserted laminaria to dilate Edrica's cervx, although Edrica had "odiferous creamy-colored discharge", indicative of a vaginal infection, at the time. Laminaria are sticks of seaweed that absorb moisture and expand, so they would wick any bacteria or viruses from the vagina into the uterus.
Edrica, who had not told her family about the abortion, did not return to the facility to have the laminaria removed and the abortion completed because her mental state had deteriorated overnight. She had became feverish, her mother said. She became mentally "confused and disoriented," not knowing what day it was, and started acting aggressively. She also began vomiting.
Planned Parenthood's patient profile for Edrica said that they mailed Edrica two letters telling her that she had to return and have the laminaria removed, but Edrica's mother said that the letters never arrived. She does indicate that Planned Parenthood called, but that Edrica was too sick to take the calls.
Edrica's family took her to Riverside County Regoinal Medical Center on February 4. A blood test there revealed the pregnancy to the physicians, but the hospital did not perform a pelvic exam because at the time Edrica was unable to consent to the examination due to confusion and inappropriate speech.
Edrica was treated in the medical ward for five days, then transferred to a psychiatric unit, which promptly sent her back to the medical unit to have them check her for possible sepsis. There, her condition continued to deteriorate. After Edrica's boyfriend told her family about the visit to Planned Parenthood, staff at the hospital performed a pelvic examination and discovered the laminaria, along with some gauze. Edrica miscarried that day, and died the next day, Valentine's Day.
The coroner's report attributes Edrica's death to toxic shock syndrome, prolonged retention of laminaria, and pregnancy. Which means that her death will likely be counted as a pregnancy death by health statisticians, but not as an abortion death because no abortion actually took place.
Edrica had been a student at Riverside Community College. Her mother said that she enjoyed traveling and reading. Her mother commented, "My daughter made a choice, but she didn't choose to die." She added, "A lost dog gets more attention than my daughter did. This has really torn at my family."
Edrica is the third known death among Planned Parenthood patients in California in the last four years. Holly Patterson, 18, died of an infection after an RU-486 abortion in 2003. Diana Lopez, 25, bled to death in 2002 after her cervix was punctured during the procedure. Edrica's mother's lawyer indicates that Planned Parenthood did not report any of these deaths to the state, as required by law.
State records indicate that the clinic inquestion was last inspected in July of 2003. The inspection found 12 deficiencies, most involving recordkeeping and documentation problems that were to be corrected by Sept. 20, 2003. The file doesn't show if the corrections were made or not.
HT: Operation Rescue West
6 comments:
This breaks my heart and makes me weep. When I was 14 years-old, I watched helplessly as my mother bled almost to death from this very same procedure.
Hugs, anon. That must have been scary!
Both medical and surgical abortions are still far safer than most surgical procedures and prescription medications. Every death from a medical intervention is sad and horrible, but there are far, far fewer from abortions (especially from RU-486) than there are from boob jobs.
anon, airline travel is safer than driving. Does that mean we should shrug it off as "shit happens" if a negligent airline employee sends a plane crashing into a mountain? Or do we still hold people accountable when their wrongdoing costs lives?
Christina, do you know if the nurse that was responsible for inserting the laminaria into the Edrica of this story? The nurse practitioner that worked there was Nancy Spooner.
I sent a complaint to the Board of Registered Nursing (BRN) of California regarding Nancy Spooner last October and just now got a response from them saying:
"The registered nurse's actions did not reach the level where discipline could be pursued, and formal charges could be filed. The BRN did not have the authority to take action in this matter because the investigation did not sustain the allegations. Therefore, your complaint was closed without merit, as there was no evidence to substantiate a violation of the Nurse Practice Act."
Maybe it was a different nurse? I hope that we can find out so that either 1. the nurse can loose her license or 2. she gets convicted of a crime if indeed the story is accurate.
Thanks for all that you do!!! :)
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