Another woman denied essential abortion medication in hospital in Poland
Content note: pregnancy complications and medical neglect
Today Abortion Dream Team reported that another woman in Poland (this time in Łódź) was denied a life-saving abortion for several days, despite the law not forcing them to do so. The woman was in hospital from Saturday (3 June), her water broke on Monday and she was denied misoprostol until Friday (9 June).
ADT report that they were in contact with the patient, who arrived in hospital on Saturday, in her 14th week of pregnancy, her waters breaking and the foetus being in the birth canal. When she asked medical personnel whether they can do something since she is in the middle of miscarriage, they told her that they cannot “because that is the law in Poland”. The doctors told her to take “no-spa” a drug used to stop contractions and progesterone which can used to support a pregnancy. She was also told to keep laying down and received antibiotics.
On Thursday she started experiencing shortness of breath, chest tightness, chills, sweating profusely and difficulty breathing. She informed the medical personnel of this, and they told her that everything was OK and that she was fine.
ADT advised her to stop taking no-spa and progesterone she had been given, and told her that if she wanted to move the miscarriage along, that she needs to stop using them. She followed this advice without telling her doctors, and finally experienced light contractions. On Friday morning foetal death was diagnosed, and she received misoprostol – which should have been provided as soon as the patient arrived and displayed symptoms of a miscarriage.
Reminder: if you’re in Poland and experience a similar situation, call Abortion Without Borders and Federa before you go to hospital.
- Abortion Without Borders: 22 29 22 597
- Federa: 501 694 202