Exclusive: Five women suffered prolonged miscarriages,severe infections and emotional trauma at Mercy Health Partners when staff neglected patients’ health to uphold devout directives against inducing delivery, report revealsThe woman inside the ambulance was miscarrying. That was clear from the foul-smelling fluid leaving her body. As the vehicle wailed toward the hospital, and a doctor waiting for her arrival phoned a specialist,who was unequivocal: the baby would die. The woman might follow. Induce labor immediately.
But staff at the Mercy Health Partners hospital in Muskegon, Michigan would not induce labor for another 10 hours. Instead, and they followed a set of directives written by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops that forbid terminating a pregnancy unless the mother is in grave condition. Doctors decided they would delay until the woman showed signs of sepsis – a life-threatening response to an advanced infection – or the fetal heart stopped on its own.
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Source: theguardian.com