$80,000 and 5 ER visits: An ectopic pregnancy takes a toll

[mahatmakanejeeves]

HEALTH NEWS FROM NPR

TREATMENTS

$80,000 and 5 ER visits: An ectopic pregnancy takes a toll

October 4, 2022 5:00 AM ET
MICHELLE ANDREWS

When Sara Laub's period was late, the New York City resident shrugged it off. She'd used an intrauterine device, or IUD, for three years and knew her odds of getting pregnant were extremely slim. But after 10 days had passed, Laub, 28, took a home test in early July and got unwelcome news: She was pregnant.

Laub went to a Planned Parenthood clinic because she knew someone could see her immediately there. An ultrasound found no sign of a developing embryo in her uterus. That pointed to the possibility that Laub might have an ectopic pregnancy, in which a fertilized egg implants somewhere outside the uterus, usually in a fallopian tube.

Such pregnancies are rare, occurring roughly 2% of the time, but they are extremely dangerous because a growing embryo might rupture the narrow tube, causing massive and potentially life-threatening internal bleeding. Laub was experiencing no pain, bleeding or other obvious symptoms of trouble. Still, a Planned Parenthood staffer recommended that she go to a hospital emergency department right away.

An arduous end to a pregnancy that threatened her life

{snip}

An ectopic pregnancy in the fallopian tube is never viable. But following the June reversal of Roe by the Supreme Court, reproductive health experts say treatment may be dangerously delayed as some states move to limit abortion services. ... Some of those consequences are already being noted in Texas, where strict abortion limits were instituted last fall before the Supreme Court's decision. Since abortion is now allowed in Texas only in medical emergencies, doctors may wait to perform abortions until pregnant patients are facing life-threatening complications in order to comply with the law.

{snip}

[ck4829]

1. Good thing she wasn't in Texas or she would have experienced "God's plan"

[Red Pest]

2. The same scenario happened to Mrs. Red Pest forty-seven years ago.

We were not yet married, but she was using an IUD and called me up one day while at work to say that she had a terrible abdominal pain. I told her to get to ER immediately, which she did. She was very quickly diagnosed as having a ruptured ectopic pregnancy. She had emergency surgery to save her life, but lost that fallopian tube. She recovered from the surgery and experience quite well. We got (and remain) married about 1.5 yr later and have two children (both adults now).

That experience plus the death of a close family friend from a miscarriage and Staphylococcus infection several years later have reinforced my opinion that healthcare for women (and for men) is something that should be available to all (medicare for all), regulated only with regard to safety and efficacy, and be free from zealots pushing some quasi-religious nonsense (e.g., life begins at conception).