Timeline, Planned Parenthood website point to negligence in death of Tonya Reaves
Kudos to CBS Chicago for investigating the death of Tonya Reaves after her abortion at a Chicago Planned Parenthood (pictured right) on July 20.
The timeline, according to documents the news organization obtained:
11:00a: Reaves had a D&E, or dilation and evacuation abortion procedure, wherein her baby’s body was removed piece by piece
4:30p: Reaves was taken by ambulance to Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
5:30p: After an ultrasound, Reaves got another dilation and evacuation abortion at Northwestern for an unspecified reason, likely for either an incomplete abortion or to try to stop the bleeding.
Sometime later: “More problems, and pain” warrant another ultrasound, when a “perforation,” i.e., puncture, apparently of the uterus, was discovered.
10:12p: Reaves was taken back to the operating room, where “an uncontrollable bleed was discovered.”
11:20p: Reaves was pronounced dead in the O.R.
Now, according to Planned Parenthood’s website, two germane items: D&Es take 10-20 minutes, and recovery is “about one hour”…
This means Reaves was kept at Planned Parenthood three to four hours longer than the norm.
This will all come out in court – if Reaves’ family indeed sues, or if they don’t settle out of court and allow documents to be sealed – but it appears obvious Reaves exhibited complications that kept her at the clinic, and Planned Parenthood tried to contain the damage until it got out of control.
I expect that since they both did D&Es, Planned Parenthood and Northwestern will accuse each other of being the ones that perforated Reaves’ uterus, particularly since Northwestern didn’t discover the perforation until after its own D&E.
Northwestern also should anticipate being sued for what looks like a lot of lag time, lax treatment, and a potential missed diagnosis on its part.
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
Hi Jill,
Do you think the “uncontrollable bleed” could have been DIC?
The second D&E could well have been for retained tissue, which I think would likely be the first course of treatment taken. Remove the retained tissue and hopefully stop the bleeding. We have done this successfully with women hemorrhaging post miscarriage.
It would be expected she would have some bleeding and pain post operatively and this may not have sounded any alarm bells until much later when it became more intense.
When the perforation was discovered she was taken to surgery. This is where I suspect DIC Jill, i.e. the “uncontrollable bleeding”. I have experienced the horror of watching a young mother die of it.
If nothing else they could have performed an emergency hysterectomy for a bleeding perforation, which is what they may have been doing when she died in surgery.
Personally I can see no fault on the hospital’s part. The “missed diagnosis” may just not have been visible on the ultrasound because of retained fetal and placental parts obscuring it or the perforation may have been small and easily obscured, and immediately post surgical she may have been stable.
This of course is speculation and more info would have to be available.
Hi Mary these are all possibilities and you are right we need more info. Hopefully the truth will come out but I think they probably fooled around too long at PP because they did not want to call the ambulance because it “looks bad”. What a crock! Now tragically 2 dead.
Hi PLL,
Always good to see you. I just don’t think the perforation in and of itself would result in uncontrolled bleeding. I suspect she went into DIC, she was certainly a candidate.
I agree keeping this woman at PP 5 hours with a botched abortion and bleeding, as well as a possible perforated uterus, could well have started the physiological chain of events rolling for DIC.
Hi PLL,
In fact I was involved in a situation where a young mother was brought to the OR for a post partum bleed. Routine, right? I’ve cared for a few and they were pretty routine. It turned out this young mother had full blown DIC which no one even suspected. Tragically we lost her despite every effort. That’s why I am convinced this may well have been the same situation here, and the hospital staff did not suspect DIC, and could not save Tonya despite their best efforts. Again, speculation.
removing an unborn baby from the womb is so backwards, (we all get it on this site) a baby is meant to be born, not this awful stuff. when will women question the lies of abortion being simple?
I just keep thinking about her little boy who had his mommy and sibling stolen from him. UGH. It just breaks my heart!
Hi Mary, if it was DIC her being transfered to Northwestern probably one the best places to treat her but they would have had to get her early enough to treat her bleeding out. The few post-partum hemmoraghes I recovered or I had on the pp unit didn’t turn into DIC thank God but if the EBL was too high our protocol was to call in the ob/gyn while we worked on the patient (fundal massage, IV, other meds). At night if they needed a “kick in the butt” have the supervisor call them. When the rest of the team from OR, anesthesia, ICU showed up they usually took over from the staff nurses. I wonder how long it took and how much EBL she had lost by the time PP worked up the courage to call an ambulance to get her transferred no matter how ‘bad it looked” to have an ambulance show up. I bet it was a bloody mess in that room. God help this family. What a tragic mess for just getting a “safe, legal procedure. (NOT)
Hi PPL,
You’re absolutely right, had PP immediately transferred this woman she might well be alive today. I also wonder what they were doing in those 5 hours. The longer she retained what was left of her fetus and the placenta, the greater the risk of DIC. Believe me PPL, its an experience you never want to go through.
The pp bleeds I have been involved in have all done well, except for this woman and there was no warning, just sudden totally uncontrollable hemorrhage. The OB was totally devasted by the experience and quit his/her practice.
I have to tell you that when I worked ICU years ago, we got many pre eclamptic patients on Mg drips. I think those poor OB nurses came to reassure us more than the patients! They were wonderful and helpful. Nothing put the fear of the Almighty in us like a pregnant patiient! I called OB out of concern for the patient’s high urine output. The OB nurse replied “that’s great Mary, its exactly what we want”. Whew! I’m sure she was rolling her eyes the whole time!
Wow Mary i know that had to be a very traumatic experience for you and the ob involved. My hope and prayer is that PP will be more exposed by this tragedy. i wonder what Tonya had to pay up front for this D & E, just curious. Anyway I’m going to bed now have a great weekend prolifers.
There should always be a high index of suspicion for DIC with any intractable postabortive bleeding. I once listened to a very ghoulish but interesting argument between Warren Hern and Mildred Hanson at a National Abortion Federation Risk Management Seminar: Hern was touting his “calvarium show” method for making sure that the thing you’ve grabbed really is the fetal skull: squeeze it and look to see if the baby’s brains ooze out through the mother’s cervix. If you see brains, you’ve got the skull, and you can crush it up and pull it out.
Hanson didn’t think this was a good idea, because of all fetal tissue, brain tissue carries the highest risk of triggering DIC if it enters the maternal circulation. Hanson advocated evacuating the brain tissue with suction before crushing the skull to ensure that no brain tissue is in the area when the sharp edges of the broken pieces of skull are scraping the cervix.
In short, there is NO WAY a competent abortionist would not be aware of the high risk of DIC, and no abortionist who gives a rat’s ass about the patient would perform a second-tri witihout being prepared to quickly identify and treat DIC.
So even if it turns out to have been DIC, PP’s far from off the hook. They ought to have been expecting it.
As for straightforward hemorrhage, back in 1983, when medicine was even less advanced than it is now, the CDC published a very measured expression of bewilderment (and dare I say, disgust) that women were continuing to bleed to death from legal abortions. Here’s the abstract:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6314567
The article itself is not available for free online. It includes more details such as specific cases.
The authors noted:
“Deaths from hemorrhage associated with legal induced abortion should not occur. Yet hemorrhage was the third most frequent cause of death from legal abortion in the United States ….”
“Deaths from hemorrhage can be eliminated by preventing uterine trauma during abortion and by rapidly diagnosing and treating hemorrhage if it occurs.”
“Lack of adequate postoperative monitoring or treatment of hemorrhagic shock was common to all [reviewed hemorrhage] deaths.”
We saw plenty of evidence of inadequate postoperative monitoring as well as delay in diagnosis and treatment of the underlying cause of the bleeding. PP screwed the pooch in that she wasn’t in the hospital as soon as the first attempt to treat the bleeding didn’t work.
So, how many people will have died in this PP debacle, one or two? I can guess PP’s answer.
Hey everybody. For those of you that question why PP held her for so long, I think you may want to read Abby Johnsons book unPlanned. In it, she talks about the “recover process” a little bit. They don’t care about the girl once she’s killed her baby and paid, so if she was complaining of pain or bleeding in excess, they would have just left her alone until she quit whining, to kick her out. The fact that they even sent her to Northwestern at all is a miracle, seeing how many have reported being sent home with complications.
I think the best course of action is obviously to rush to judgments and conclusions before we know all the facts, and try to exploit this death for everything it is worth.
Ex-GOP, we have been given enough information
Hi Christina,
An excellent and informative post. Thank you. Leaving a woman lying bleeding and retaining tissue not only left her at risk for DIC, but deadly infection too. Did this woman even have an IV line in when the paramedics arrived? Post partum and post D&C we do expect some bleeding, but the patient is closely monitored and if she is sent home, she is advised of when to seek medical help.
I must admit I gave little thought to DIC over the years, either in ER or surgery.
From what I have read, I don’t fault the hospital. Having worked ER, I know that we start from scratch. X-rays, CAT scans, MRIs etc. We avoid assumptions. Even with car accidents or any trauma, you treat the obvious but you go from head to toe for the not so obvious. I think this is what the ER and medical staff did here. You may think the trauma patient has been stabilized then discover another complication when his condition starts going downhill.
Hi Ryan 1:05am
Makes you wonder what serious condition she must have been in if they called paramedics.
EGV 8:09am
Leaving this woman bleeding for 5 hours cannot be justified EGV. This started the chain of events that led to this woman’s death.
I just wonder if those carnival barkers Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson plan to lead a protest. No wait, PP is a contributor to the Democrat Party and a supporter of Obama. Silly me.
Maybe that explains why Obama hasn’t said that if he had a third daughter, she would look like Tonya.
Sarah – thanks – I was concerned that a congressional inquiry or something was needed – if we have all the info though, we can spare the taxpayer expense.
Mary – I never said it was justified. I said that I hope people aren’t being to hasty to jump to the conclusions before learning all of the information. You made up the rest of it.
EGV,
You said not to rush to judgments and conclusions. I’m pointing out the documented facts are no rush to judgment and that leaving a woman to suffer complications for 5 hours before calling the paramedics cannot be justified. I did not say you said it was.
I wouldn’t worry about a congressional inquiry. Tonya doesn’t look enough like a daughter of Obama.
I think the best course of action is obviously to rush to judgments and conclusions before we know all the facts, and try to exploit this death for everything it is worth.
Got a mouse in your pocket, Ex-RINO?
This was most likely the result of the placenta being ripped from the uterus before it was ready to do so leaving the uterus wound open and bleeding and not scabbing over. This is a sad story. And I dont know this womans story or cause any judgement, but use “planned” parent hood for its purpose, planning a pregnancy or preventing an unwanted one.
Exactly how do you explain to a little boy that his mother died while aborting his brother or sister? How do you prevent his asking the question, if only to himself, what if it was me? Did mommy really want me? And now, he will never hear the answer from her own lips…..poor little boy, praying for him….
Hey Mary you made me think of something when you posted about how traumatized you and the ob were after losing a patient to DIC (who later left practicing ob) snd then Ryan posted about Abby Johnson writing in her book unPlanned about once the money is collected and the baby is dead they are just trying to get the post-abortive woman out of the clinic and may not have payed her much attention until it was too late.
Christian Prolifers we should pray that all the people including the doc at this PP will come out of the abortion business. I believe many (I didn’t say all) of those who worked on Tanya that day and even some who did not but were working at PP that day are totally in shock and traumatized by this young woman’s horrible death. Like I said earlier that room had to have been a bloody mess when she left. May God help them. God can change hearts just like he did Abby Johnson’s, Carol Everett’s and even Dr. Nathanson’s. God heals and forgives although there still needs to be consequences from this young womans’s death.
Hi PLL,
A good point. We lost a great OB/GYN over that tragedy, which was not his/her fault, so it seems only right an abortionist would either quit or be forced out of the business. Who knows what went on. Was there an angry staff person who begged for something to be done sooner? Is there much recrimination among staff members now? I know the entire surgical staff that was present when we lost that young mother was devastated and in shock. I mean, we don’t lose women to pregnancy and childbirth anymore, right?
That is why PPL, I get very frustrated and angry when people treat a pregancy, especially a high risk pregnancy like its a spectator sport or day at the Kentucky derby.
I can imagine that Cecile Richards must be about ready to throw in the towel after all the scandals and now this. Well Cecile, it looks like a lot of employees haven’t gotten your memos concerning PP’s “high standards” and commitment to following the law.
The barbaric Vikings eliminated unwanted children to death by exposure, much more humane than this current barbaric method aka death by abortion!! Is the USA the most barbaric country on this planet now going straight to hell.
We’ve recently learned from 911 records (through the Freedom of Information Act) that Planned Parenthood did not call 911 for an emergency transport for Tonya Reaves (although transportation was arranged 5 hrs later)