How the deaths of Nevaeh Crain & Josseli Barnica two pregnant women with complications highlight the shortcomings of Texas no abortion bans and the tragic loss of life, not just that of the unborn child, but of the mothers themselves.
A pregnant Texas teen died from sepsis after doctors refused to abort her fetus despite signs she had begun to miscarry.
Nevaeh Crain, 18, who died in October, 2023 along with another Texas woman, Josseli Barnica, 28, who died in 2021 after medics failed to give her appropriate care during her miscarriage has highlighted the shortcomings of Texas’ no abortion ban in a new report.
Crain visited the ER three times and had to wait 20 hours before she was admitted.
Instead of treating women with pregnancy complications doctors are sizing up the potential of litigation
The expectant mom had woken up on the day of her baby shower with nausea and vomiting, which turned out to be a deadly infection.
Instead of getting the necessary immediate attention, the Texas teen had to wrangle that state’s precocious no abortion ban, with doctors waiting to perform two ultrasounds to confirm her fetus had no heartbeat before they would intervene. The delay would end up leading to the loss of not only the 18 year old’s life but her unborn child’s as well.
The delay comes as health care providers are reluctant to participate in treatment that could attract a prosecutor, preferring in some instances to send the patient to another medical entity or simply sending the patient home.
In some cases, medical teams are wasting precious time debating legalities and creating documentation, preparing for the possibility that they’ll need to explain their actions to a jury and judge albeit with the potential for a patient to end up dying instead.
Nevaeh Crain is one of at least two pregnant women who have died after doctors delayed treating miscarriages due to Texas’ strict abortion laws, according to a report by ProPublica.
Experts told the publication that there was ‘no medical reason’ to make Crain wait for two ultrasounds before taking action to save her.
They identified several missed opportunities, which began when she arrived at the first hospital and was misdiagnosed with strep.
It would take 3 emergency visits and two ultra-sounds but by then it was too late
When she went to another hospital she screened positive for sepsis, but as her fetus still had a heartbeat, doctors decided aborting the fetus and the 18 year old was instead discharged. Twenty hours later Crain would be dead.
Experts said that if the sepsis was in Crain’s uterus, it was likely that she would need an abortion to prevent the spread.
Instead, Crain was forced to return despite being so weak she could not walk.
Hours later, Crain began to panic when she went to the bathroom and found her underwear covered in blood.
She and her mom raced back to Christus Southeast Texas St. Elizabeth hospital along with her boyfriend and fetus’ father, Randall Broussard.
By this point Crain was weak, her blood pressure plummeting and her lips drained of all color. An ultra sound by the obstetrician on duty Dr. Marcelo Totorica confirmed Crain’s worst fears – her fetus, had no heart beat.
While standard protocol would be to prepare for delivery, nurses were given instructions not to move Crain, according to medical notes.
Totorica ordered a second ultra sound which again confirmed the absence of a fetal heartbeat.
‘She was bleeding,’ Crain’s mom Candace Fails told ProPublica. ‘Why didn’t they do anything to help it along instead of wait for another ultrasound to confirm the baby is dead?’
By this point Crain was too weak to sign her own release form and Fails had to fill out the paperwork permitting doctors to abort.
The move came almost two and half hours after her daughter was admitted and more than 20 since she first sought help.
Preventable deaths
But tragically, it was too late and doctors deemed it too risky to operate. Crain died in ‘extreme pain’ with blood gushing from her nostrils and mouth.
Fails argues by the time her daughter had returned to hospital for the third time, there was no medical reason to make her wait for two ultrasounds before taking necessary action to save her.
‘This is how these restrictions kill women,’ said Dr. Dara Kass, a former regional director at the Department of Health and Human Services and an emergency room physician in New York. ‘It is never just one decision, it’s never just one doctor, it’s never just one nurse.’
Crains’ mother has tried and failed to get her daughter’s case taken up by medical negligence lawyers, even though Totorica was previously disciplined for missing infections in other patients.
Responding to Crain’s tragic death, the hospital issued a statement saying, ‘CHRISTUS St. Elizabeth believes that the care provided to this patient was at all times appropriate and compassionate.’
‘However, due to HIPAA and privacy, we cannot comment further.’
Texas abortion laws forbid doctors from carrying out abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, unless the life of the mother is in danger.
Along with murky wording surrounding the legislation and Texas legislators’ adamant stance against no abortion has led to some medics delaying care for fear of being prosecuted, fined or having their license revoked.
Women’s rights activists point to the death of women such as Crain as evidence that the law is harming mothers.
It comes after it emerged a pregnant Texas mom Josseli Barnica died in 2021 after doctors failed to provide her appropriate care during her miscarriage at 17 weeks.
Notes ProChoice: ‘Josseli was a mother who died an entirely preventable death because of an extreme and dangerous abortion ban that denies people essential, emergency care and criminalizes providers just for doing their jobs. Josseli’s doctors knew she was miscarrying and that the fetus was no longer viable, but because of the state’s medically unnecessary abortion ban and fears for their futures, her providers felt their hands were tied and waited precious hours to give her care. Texas’ cruel abortion ban has made pregnancy and miscarriage a matter of life or death.’
The tragedy in Crain’s case is that her death could have been prevented, and along with an emergency forced delivery, it may have been possible to save both the teenager and her fetus if she had been admitted earlier for close monitoring and continuous treatment. Or at the very least the 20 year old would still be alive and fetus aborted given the very real risks and dangers to the expectant mother.
Medics are increasingly calling for action to lift Texas no abortion ban, but that too might be a moot point given the politically charged tensions between pro life ‘religious groups who argue abortion goes against their faith and pro abortion groups who maintain a woman’s choice to give birth or not should always reside with the individual and not the state, church or institution.
