Kathleen Prieskorn (2011) – USA
Ms. Magazine, Spring 2011, by Molly M. Ginty
Treatment Denied
Kathleen Prieskorn of New Hampshire was three months pregnant when her amniotic sac ruptured. The nearest hospital had recently merged with a Catholic hospital, and because her doctor could still detect a fetal heartbeat, he wasn’t allowed to perform a uterine evacuation. Instead, she had to travel 80 miles in a taxi to the nearest hospital that would perform the procedure. Her doctor paid the $400 cab fare. “During that trip, which seemed endless, I was not only devastated, but terrified,” Prieskorn remembers. “I knew that if there were complications I could lose my uterus—and maybe even my life.”
The Ms. Magazine story also briefly describes two other incidents involving Catholic hospitals in Arizona and New York, which risked two women’s lives by refusing care. One was suffering a miscarriage and the other an ectopic pregnancy.
Read full article: Ms. Magazine