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MISSION, Kan. (AP) — A woman who was denied an abortion at a Kansas hospital because of pregnancy complications faces the risk of sepsis and even death, her attorney said, in a case that has led to a federal court investigation.
Milisha Farmer of Joplin, Missouri, filed a lawsuit in federal court on Tuesday against the University of Kansas Health System and the public oversight agency that manages its operations.
Federal law requires emergency services to treat or stabilize patients in active labor and to transfer care to another hospital if there are no staff or resources to treat the patient. Medical centers must comply with the law if they accept Medicare funds.
But Farmer’s lawsuit alleges the Kansas City, Kansas, hospital violated that law and state anti-discrimination laws. A hospital spokesman said lawyers are studying the lawsuit and may issue a statement later.
According to the complaint, Farmer was “very happy” to be pregnant before her water broke on Aug. 2, 2022. She had less than 18 weeks left in her pregnancy.
Farmer’s case comes amid the most adverse of circumstances: the ruling in Roe v. Wade was overturned five weeks ago and on the same day that Kansas voted on a bill that would allow the Republican-controlled Congress to tighten restrictions on abortion or ban the procedure altogether.
When Farmer went to the University of Kansas Hospital, the vote had just taken place and the measure had been defeated. That same day, he had gone to Freeman Health System in Joplin, Missouri. But the abortion ban had just taken effect in Missouri. The ban provides exceptions for medical emergencies and when necessary to save the mother’s life, but doctors in the summer were still trying to understand what circumstances would qualify as exceptions.
A federal investigation found that doctors at both hospitals told Farmer that her fetus was not viable, that her amniotic fluid had been drained and that she was at risk of severe infection or losing her uterus. But the investigation concluded that neither hospital would terminate the pregnancy because the fetus’ heartbeat was still detectable.
According to the lawsuit, Freeman’s doctors are alleging a statewide abortion ban.
Initially, a doctor at the University of Kansas recommended that she end the pregnancy by inducing labor so she could have a chance to hug and say goodbye to her daughter, whom she and her now-husband had named Maeve. But according to the lawsuit, the doctor later came back and said his medical judgment had been overturned and he could not induce labor because it was too “risky” in the “tense” “political” environment.
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