I call BS
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2:45 AM - Pager goes off.
"Yeah?"
"George I've got an ectopic in the ER. She's stable for now, but there's no question about blood in the belly. I want to take her to the OR ASAP. I've called the rest of the team."
"I'll be there in 15 minutes."
Yeah, this just doesn't sound right. An ectopic pregnancy is not a viable fetus (except, I suppose in VERY rare circumstances). It is a true surgical emergency and should be dealt with within a matter of hours.
Something is just wrong with this story.
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"The law that has prohibited abortions in Texas since Roe v. Wade was overturned now explicitly allows doctors to treat ectopic pregnancies. "
It's unclear as to whether the diagnosis of an ectopic was made at Texas Health Arlington Hospital.
First of all, the Post says, " Ectopic pregnancies in the fallopian tube, which never survive to term, can be hard to diagnose on an ultrasound with 100 percent certainty, several doctors said ..."
On Jan 14 she went to the ER: "Jan. 14, where doctors measured her pregnancy hormone levels, performed an ultrasound and told her to return in 48 hours. By her second appointment two days later, her pregnancy hormone levels had dropped precipitously, according to medical records — leading the doctors to suspect a “failed early pregnancy,” although they acknowledged in the records that they could not entirely rule out the possibility of an ectopic."
A "failed early pregnancy." Cramping, bleeding and dropping HCG levels all sounds about right - it could have been a spontaneous abortion and they sent her home in the hopes that she would pass the fetus and not require a D&C.
They could not rule the ectopic out, but they couldn't make the diagnosis either.
It was a month later that the diagnosis was made - and by that time, the ectopic was, presumably, large enough to visualize.
So, did the first docs hesitate because of the abortion law? Possible - there's a lot of "wink-and-nod" implication in the story, but without hearing from the docs, we'll never know. Did they miss an early ectopic? Also possible. But not as sensational.
So, the way I read it, here's the timeline.
Positive pregnancy test in "early January."
Jan 14: Cramping and bleeding a week later - visit to ER. Ultrasound done, but ectopic is not diagnosed. Told to return in 48 hours.
Jan 16: Falling HCG, probably fetal demise. Most likely explanation is spontaneous abortion.
Feb 12: More pain - ectopic diagnosed.A pregnancy that is 8 week old has a fetus that is 0.5 inches in size. With amniotic sac, probably an inch in diameter. I can see how an ultrasound might miss that. In this case, the pregnancy was not even 8 weeks on Jan 12.
