The Ohio woman who faced a felony charge after she miscarried her baby in her own home talked about her hospital experiences that took place just days before her miscarriage, including during a visit in which she was supposed to be induced.
Brittany Watts, 34, became nationally known after she was bizarrely charged with abuse of a corpse days after suffering a miscarriage on a toilet in her home. As the country still contends with the end of Roe v. Wade’s abortion protections and the drastic changes to women’s reproductive rights, Watts’ story served as an example to many who have increased concerns about criminalizing abortions and cases like Watts.
Watts was admitted twice to the hospital last September before her miscarriage after experiencing severe cramping and bleeding. However, after having to wait hours in a hospital room for medical care during those visits, she left.
On the day of her first hospital visit, Watts first visited her OB-GYN after she started experiencing bleeding. Her doctor told her that her fetus wasn’t viable and called an ambulance to send her directly to Mercy Health St. Joseph Warren Hospital for treatment. She spent eight hours there, asking nurses for updates on her vitals and requesting to see the doctor, but she became fed up with the long wait time and left.
“I felt frustrated,” Watts told CBS Mornings. “I felt ignored.”
A hospital report notes she left “against medical advice” and was warned that she was at risk of complications, including hemorrhage, sepsis, and even death, due to her condition at the time.
She came back to the hospital a day later, where a doctor said she needed immediate treatment. She expected to be induced into labor, but after waiting 11 hours, she decided to leave and never received the procedure. She miscarried two days after that visit.
What Watts didn’t know was that the hospital referred her case to the Mercy Health ethics committee after Watts…
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