September 28, 1971: "Maternal Indications" Kills Teen in Mental Institution

Joyce Teasley was a 15-year-old student and diagnosed with Marfan syndrome. This syndrome generally causes patients to be very tall and thin and affects connective tissues. One problem Marfan syndrome can cause is weakening of the aorta. Joyce had aortic valve disease, indicating that her Marfan syndrome had indeed cause a problem with her aorta. 

In September of 1971, doctors learned that Joyce was pregnant and performed an abortion at Dorothea Dix Hospital in Raleigh, North Carolina. Oddly, the death certificate says that a D&E abortion was performed, but also says that Joyce was only 4 weeks pregnant. 

It's highly unusual that a pregnancy would be diagnosed that early in 1971. She might have been 4 months pregnant rather than only 4 weeks. After all, a D&C or suction abortion, rather than a D&E, would have been performed very early in the pregnancy.

Regardless of how far advanced Joyce's pregnancy was, she suffered a likely pulmonary embolism, causing cardiopulmonary arrest. She died on September 28, 1971.

The location where Joyce died is also strange, since Dorothea Dix Hospital was a mental hospital, not a surgical, obstetric, or general hospital. Joyce was likely already a patient at the hospital when the pregnancy was discovered.

Since Joyce was black as well as young, unmarried, and disabled, it's possible that racism played a role in the decision to abort her baby.

Source: North Carolina Certificate of Death 33146