Texas man describes confusion over how to treat wife's miscarriage: "Doctors feel scared"

welcome back to CBS mornings we continue our look at one family story of a miscarriage and how they say abortion laws in Texas made their burden heavier Ryan Hamilton told us how One hospital refused to help his wife after the initial treatment failed and part two he explains what happened when they were denied a procedure at a second Hospital you want to panic but you can't at this point you're just thinking get my wife safe yeah what are we going to do leave the baby inside her she can get an infection get sepsis that can kill her after leaving the surepoint Emergency Center Hamilton immediately drove his wife along with her 9-month-old daughter to another hospital an hour away where she was treated for 4 hours and doctors confirmed again there was no fetal heartbeat Hamilton asked CBS News not to name the hospital what do you think the delay is I think the delay is their confusion on what they're allowed to do that's what it feels like they feel scared the doctors feel scared according to Texas law abortions are illegal once a fetal heartbeat is detected with exceptions for medical emergencies did the doctor say she was okay this is what the doctor said they said it was not enough of an emergency to perform a DNC they told us we could have the procedure done maybe we could schedule it for a week or two later DNC stands for dilation and Cur a surgical procedure to remove fetal tissue it's used for both miscarriages and abortions the law does not requireed there to be a medical emergency to perform a DNC if there is no cardiac activity like in the Hamilton's case in a statement the hospital told CBS News it follows Texas and federal laws in accordance with national standards of care so it's no longer medical it's legal that's what it feels like and the conversation is not what's best for my wife the conversation is on the hospital side what should we do doctors opted to give her a higher dose of medication and sent her home for a third time I was in the living room playing with our daughter and I had a misted call on my phone from her I go into our bedroom and then into the bathroom and she is on the bathroom floor there's blood where she fell from the toilet to the floor she's unconscious and her phone is still ringing to call me so I picked her her up I put her back on the toilet I had to dress her and my only goal in that moment was to get her to the emergency room got to the hospital ran inside told them what was happening and they took her in and you know what they said thank God you brought her did you think at any point then you were going to lose your wife yes yeah so what happens next at that point we're able to verify that the baby's no longer with her oh it's hard cuz you know where the baby went the baby had come out I don't even know the words the medicine did what it was supposed to do yeah so so the baby's no longer there then it's just a matter of getting her to the point where she could go home did you feel that she would be okay at home no she's still bleeding when she gets home still bleeding right now what do you want people to know about your experience I want people to know that this really happens my fear is that stories like ours will continue to get told and not believed everything in her life right now that she's having to do to get better is not just a reminder of the baby that we lost it's a reminder of what they put her through and she has to do it every day Hamilton tells CBS News he does not plan to sue any of the hospitals involved but that he hopes his story can help other families in the future and he says he and his wife will now be focusing on each other on healing and therapy uh all right Omar you're sticking around as we all try to compose ourselves after this story to help us understand what happened let's bring in CBS News medical contributor Dr Seline Gander um Dr Gander good morning I'm trying to understand this I think all of us are uh Hamilton's wife took one one of two medications often prescribed to complete a miscarriage what is unusual about her case good morning vad and um to your the point you're making really in your question is one of two medications uh she was given misoprostol very often two medications are given mistone and misoprostol mistone helps uh shed the uterine lining and the placenta misoprostol uh results in uterine contractions she was only given misoprostol one of the two medications we know that the combination of both medications is more effective in these situations secondly she was quite late in her first trimester and uh using medications like these to help her pass the miscarriage is somewhat unusual this late in the first trimester something I want to add here too that Ryan told us is that when he got the medicine for his wife there was no instructions as far as what to expect it's not take two pills Orly and call me in the morning it's not administered that way I don't want to get too too graphic but he says they were in the dark they didn't know how to do it correctly and what to expect and that itself in that situation scary what we should say is that the the medicine had to be inserted I think people should understand it because I didn't even know that that was part of the story yeah I think it adds something to it it does let's bring Dr gounder back in at the second Hospital Hamilton says uh his wife has denied a procedure called a d and c because they were told that this wasn't a medical emergency what do you make of that well I think they're confusing care for a woman who wants an abortion with care for a woman who has a frankly dead fetus uh there was no fetal heartbeat uh you do not need to have a medical emergency to undergo a DNC when the baby is dead uh and it really should be guided one by how far a woman is into pregnancy and also what her personal preferences are uh that would be the way most of these situations really should be managed I don't know so if not having a a dead fetus inside you isn't a medical emergency that's what I can't wrap my brain around that they go and the doctors acknowledge that this baby is not there is no heartbeat and yet there's nothing that they can do so if people find themselves how unusual is this situation number one number two if you find yourself in a situation like this what should you do to Ryan's point he just wants people to know that this could happen to you depending on where you live yeah and I think people are not aware of how common miscarriages are one out of every five pregnancies end in miscarriage this is a common experience for women uh and and so it's really scary that here you have a woman going through something that's actually quite common and having such a frustrating time getting the care that she wanted needed uh there are uh ways to report situations not just for uh care for a miscarriage but really for any emergency care any care in the emergency room where you feel like you're not getting appropriate care where you're not being stable Iz prior to discharge that can be reported to the government and investigated and one last thing Ryan just said he wanted everybody to know that it can happen anywhere to anyone he wants people to speak up and personally he just wants the oldfashioned thing people to put him on his prayer list in his community bring food over when a loved one dies similar things like that just to help them heal he's not sure if he's going to get that his community I'm very touched by him though that he tells the story so articulately yeah oh incredible Omar V franka thank you appreciate you Dr SL Gander thank you as well

Channel: CBS Mornings

Views: 94,951

Keywords: CBS Mornings Clips, CBS Village Women, CBS Mornings Health, U.S.

Id: _3MUc2Ibpjk

Length: 9min 34sec (574 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 04 2024