(IntegrityTimes.com) – Laws regarding abortion vary state by state in America, but they also vary widely all over the world. In Prague, abortion is legal at any point in a pregnancy in cases of fetal abnormality, legal up to 24 weeks for any kind of valid medical concern, and for any reason up to 12 weeks. However, in any of these cases, consent of the pregnant woman is still necessary. In a recent mix-up at the Bulovka University Hospital in Prague medical professionals accidentally performed an abortion procedure on a woman who did not wish to terminate her pregnancy.
The unnamed pregnant woman is being referred to as a foreigner of Asian descent, although it is not clear is she is a resident of Prague or was merely visiting. When she went to the hospital on March 25 at four months pregnant, she was just expecting a routine check-up. However, an anonymous source has said that neither she nor the patient she was mistaken for are very fluent in Czech which may have made it difficult for them to understand what was happening.
It is believed that the woman whose pregnancy was accidentally ended responded when she thought her name was called and then signed paperwork that she did not understand. When she was given an anesthetic, she may have believed she was receiving a vitamin infusion as she expected to receive nutritional supplements during her well visit. The procedure that was used is called curettage, sometimes referred to as scraping, and is used for various gynecological concerns involving removing tissue from the uterus, including abortions. The woman later miscarried as a result.
The hospital staff involved in the incident have been placed on leave for the duration of the internal investigation. Vice-chairman of the Czech Medical Chamber Jan Přáda placed the lion’s share of the blame on the language barrier commenting that a Czech-speaking patient would have “actively resisted” any medical procedures that they did not understand. The woman who lost her baby has been offered an apology and may be offered some sort of compensation. David Marx, chair of the Czech Society for Quality in Healthcare has stated that a fully analysis must be done to identify the exact causes of the tragic mishap, and process need to be put in place to prevent it from every happening again.
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