Doctors Perform C-Section, Only to Find No Baby

[NewDCLGuy]

Often, when something sounds crazy, there's more to the story.

Just curious, what would happen if somebody walked into a hospital, claimed to be pregnant and about to deliver, but felt something was wrong. The doctors attempt to find a fetal heartbeat and don't hear one. What do they do? Tell her she's not pregnant and send her home? Schedule an ultrasound and other tests? Or perform emergency surgery?

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Often, when something sounds crazy, there's more to the story.

Just curious, what would happen if somebody walked into a hospital, claimed to be pregnant and about to deliver, but felt something was wrong. The doctors attempt to find a fetal heartbeat and don't hear one. What do they do? Tell her she's not pregnant and send her home? Schedule an ultrasound and other tests? Or perform emergency surgery?

Well, I'm no expert ...

But on the marathon run of "I didn't know I was pregnant"--in all cases, either the woman had the baby before they could do anything....OR....b/c of the complaints of the woman, they did U/S to confirm a baby (if they had time).

Additionally--this woman was INDUCED. Giving someone a drug to start labor is pretty pathetic if you haven't confirmed a baby. I have been induced and our hospital policy where I deliver is that they do 20 minutes of fetal monitoring prior to induction. (And if you present in labor, you have to do the 20 minutes and then they let you do whatever you need to do to labor.)

Pitocin isn't a friendly medication. How on earth you take a patients word with no physical symptoms other than amennorhea and getting "fat"--is beyond me.

If I show up to a hospital and complain of chest pains--they don't crack open my chest for triple bypass without trying to source the chest pains, do they?

What they did for this woman was nothing short of ignorant and wreckless.

Especially given that she was induced. No baby means there would be no fetal heart tones to detect and if she had a stillbirth--then they would have at least confirmed on U/S.

The story is swiss cheese.

ETA: There are portable U/S machines, very easily obtainable and they have them in E/R's and in L&D. So it isn't like they had to wait hours for an u/s. Given no baby--and no real labor--she was not experiencing a life threatening emergency that they couldn't spare a few extra minutes to do an U/S scan.

 

[luvmy3]

My sister in currently suing a NYS hospital for removing an ovary and fallopian tube after determining her pains were from an ectopic pregnancy without doing a pregnancy test or scan! Turns out she had a bleeding ulcer. Their reasoning is that she had an ect preg a few years ago, so this must be happening again. Uh, NOT!

That is awful, I hope she is awarded everything she is suing for

Often, when something sounds crazy, there's more to the story.

Just curious, what would happen if somebody walked into a hospital, claimed to be pregnant and about to deliver, but felt something was wrong. The doctors attempt to find a fetal heartbeat and don't hear one. What do they do? Tell her she's not pregnant and send her home? Schedule an ultrasound and other tests? Or perform emergency surgery?

I was thinking the same thing, maybe this woman said she was from out of town, or something to that effect. If this condition makes it appear you have all the sypmtoms of a pregnancy does that include the growing uterus and abdomen? If she appeared to be pregnant and they went looking for the heartbeat and found none, there would be no reason for them to schedule an ultrasound, they would be more concerned with getting the baby out and trying to save it ASAP. This whole story is just so bizarre.

 

[clarabelle]

Schedule the ultrasound and other tests.

 

[VillageMama]

If I show up to a hospital and complain of chest pains--they don't crack open my chest for triple bypass without trying to source the chest pains, do they?

This hospital might!

 

[HelenePA]

This whole story is whacked... When I was pregnant with my second dd I was in a car accident.. They asked if I was pregnant at the hospital I said YES... They checked for heart tones with the Doppler.. they still didn't believe me I was pregnant They got an ultrasound SAW the baby and still wanted to do a pregnancy test on me? It was very strange... But not nearly as strange as the story

 

[luvmy3]

Schedule the ultrasound and other tests.

Is that normal procedure for a pregnant woman when the baby is in distress? If not, there would be no reason for it.
Could you imagine if she had been pregnant, went in and they found no heartbeat and then took the time to take tests and do an untrasound and then the baby being born dead. You'd have peopls screaming that they should have just induced or done an emergency C-section. I'm not saying they weren't wrong here, but we hardly know all the facts of what happened on that hospital, or what that patient told them, or even looked like. At 9 months pregnant she wouldn't appear "fat" she would appear preg, and if this condition caused it to actual appear that way, how could the doc determine that this was those 1 in a million cases of a true false pregnancy and that they don't need to act fast to save the baby. Just like everything else, I'm sure there is more to the story. Delivering babies is so routine it happens every hour in this country, I find it hard to believe that they weren't follwing some procedure that they has been done a million times before. (Thats if the intern was using a doplar device looking for the heartbeat and not an ultrasound like it said in the article. If it was an ultrasound, then there is absolutely no excuse)

 

[DebbieB]

A friend of mine lost a baby at 30 weeks. She wasn't feeling movement and went to the doctor. They listened for a heartbeat and didn't hear one. So they immediately did an ultrasound to confirm the baby had no heartbeat and had died. They then sent her to the hospital to induce labor so that she could deliver the baby.

I've never had a baby but isn't it normal that the doctor would do an exam to detect the position of the baby? Head up or head down? I've heard women say that the doctor said their baby was "in position" for birth. I would think they would need to know the baby's position before cutting her open.

 

[CaliforniaDreamin]

I have never heard of a false pregnancy that lasted as long as the normal gestational period. So....how did this woman know she was in "labor"? Did she have contractions? Did anyone do a pelvic exam to see if she had dilated? There are so many ways to determine if a woman is in labor, I cannot fathom how they missed that the woman was not even pregnant.

 

[HelenePA]

Is that normal procedure for a pregnant woman when the baby is in distress? If not, there would be no reason for it.
Could you imagine if she had been pregnant, went in and they found no heartbeat and then took the time to take tests and do an untrasound and then the baby being born dead. You'd have peopls screaming that they should have just induced or done an emergency C-section. I'm not saying they weren't wrong here, but we hardly know all the facts of what happened on that hospital, or what that patient told them, or even looked like. At 9 months pregnant she wouldn't appear "fat" she would appear preg, and if this condition caused it to actual appear that way, how could the doc determine that this was those 1 in a million cases of a true false pregnancy and that they don't need to act fast to save the baby. Just like everything else, I'm sure there is more to the story. Delivering babies is so routine it happens every hour in this country, I find it hard to believe that they weren't follwing some procedure that they has been done a million times before. (Thats if the intern was using a doplar device looking for the heartbeat and not an ultrasound like it said in the article. If it was an ultrasound, then there is absolutely no excuse)

Eh to do an ultrasound shouldn't have taken anymore time than have one person go get the portable ultrasound machine while they are preping her for the c-section. They could have/should have avoided this whole thing

 

[clarabelle]

She got induced first. So there really is no excuse. I am usually very tolerant about these things (nurse married to a doctor) but -really this was a real goof.
Sounds like the intern was in way over his/her head.
I don't understand what the nurses were doing either.

Ultra sounds are really quick. There would be portable Ultrasound that you could do in a matter of minutes.

Lets suppose the worse. She came in with no heart rate and you thought there was something really wrong. You would still look - I could be twins, It could be a placenta abruption, placenta previa -lots of things.

 

[luvmy3]

Eh to do an ultrasound shouldn't have taken anymore time than have one person go get the portable ultrasound machine while they are preping her for the c-section. They could have/should have avoided this whole thing

She got induced first. So there really is no excuse. I am usually very tolerant about these things (nurse married to a doctor) but -really this was a real goof.
Sounds like the intern was in way over his/her head.
I don't understand what the nurses were doing either.

Ultra sounds are really quick. There would be portable Ultrasound that you could do in a matter of minutes.

Lets suppose the worse. She came in with no heart rate and you thought there was something really wrong. You would still look - I could be twins, It could be a placenta abruption, placenta previa -lots of things.

Thats why I asked, luckily I have never had to go through anything like that. My dd's heart rate was dropping during labor but she was being delivered by my OB/GYN and he knew for sure I was pregnant
I just don't know what to think based on some article that surely does not have all the facts in it, thats all.

 

[clarabelle]

I understand -I am sure we don't have all the facts. But it is hard to paint this one with a favorable brush.

 

[shortbun]

Was her name Ashley Abbott Newman, lol!?

 

[clarabelle]

What a coincidence. Wonder if her mom watched Y&R

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

That is awful, I hope she is awarded everything she is suing for



I was thinking the same thing, maybe this woman said she was from out of town, or something to that effect. If this condition makes it appear you have all the sypmtoms of a pregnancy does that include the growing uterus and abdomen? If she appeared to be pregnant and they went looking for the heartbeat and found none, there would be no reason for them to schedule an ultrasound, they would be more concerned with getting the baby out and trying to save it ASAP. This whole story is just so bizarre.

I believe it can produce all symptoms except the actual baby.

She was INDUCED--which is getting overlooked. That tells me she didn't present as a full scale emergency. B/c if they had to get the baby out right away--pitocin or cervical pill is not the best way to go.

 

[luvmy3]

I believe it can produce all symptoms except the actual baby.

She was INDUCED--which is getting overlooked. That tells me she didn't present as a full scale emergency. B/c if they had to get the baby out right away--pitocin or cervical pill is not the best way to go.

Its so strange, it says that the patient convinced them to induce her. Did they have an idea that she wasn't really pregnant and thats why the no heartbeat wasn't considered an emergency? It is just so bizarre, on so many levels.

 

[creativeamanda]

All I have to say is I live near that hospital.

If I get sick, there are three hospitals I would expect the ambulance to drive by getting to a better place. This is one of the three.

eta: Better yet, just have them take me to Florence, SC to McLeod or Carolinas.

 

[Mrs. Charming]

That's just craziness to me. When I had my c/s, I was monitored to high heck, and I had an ultrasound to find the position of the baby. This sounds WAY too fishy.

 

[Mrs. Charming]

My sister in currently suing a NYS hospital for removing an ovary and fallopian tube after determining her pains were from an ectopic pregnancy without doing a pregnancy test or scan! Turns out she had a bleeding ulcer. Their reasoning is that she had an ect preg a few years ago, so this must be happening again. Uh, NOT!

What the....!!!!