2 weeks Ago
TEXAS, USA — A pregnant 18-year-old Texas woman died after trying to get care in three visits to emergency rooms, according to a new report co-published by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune . Earlier this week, the publications told the story of Joselli Barnica , a 28-year-old mother who died of sepsis in 2021 after she was denied an abortion and contracted an infection after suffering a miscarriage at 17 weeks. Now journalists are telling the story of Neveah Crain, an 18-year-old who suffered a miscarriage on the day of her baby shower in 2023, developed sepsis and then was denied emergency care at multiple hospitals before her death.
The report states that on Oct. 29, 2023, Crain was in pain, too weak to walk, feverish and vomiting, having gone to two different emergency rooms within 12 hours. The first hospital diagnosed her with strep throat without investigating her abdominal cramps.
At the second, she screened positive for sepsis, but doctors said her six-month fetus had a heartbeat and that Crain "was fine to leave." According to the report, on Crain's third hospital visit, an obstetrician insisted on two ultrasounds to "confirm fetal demise," before moving her to intensive care. "By then, more than two hours after her arrival, Crain’s blood pressure had plummeted and a nurse had noted that her lips were 'blue and dusky.
' Her organs began failing." the report states. "Hours later, she was dead.
" Crain's mother, Candace Fails, told ProPublica that she still can't understand why her daughter's emergency wasn't treated as one. But doctors and lawyers have told the publication that's the reality many pregnant women are now facing in states with strict abortion bans, including Texas . ProPublica reports that, "In states with abortion bans, such patients are sometimes bounced between hospitals like 'hot potatoes,' with health care providers reluctant to participate in treatment that could attract a prosecutor .
.. In some cases, medical teams are wasting precious time debating legalities and creating documentation, preparing for the possibility that they’ll need to explain their actions to a jury and judge.
" Fails told ProPublica that she and her daughter both believed abortion was wrong, with Crain saying she could only support it in the context of rape or life-threatening illnesses. The women said their Christian faith guided their own actions, and both were looking forward to meeting Crain's daughter, Lillian. "But when her daughter got sick, Fails expected that doctors had an obligation to do everything in their power to stave off a potentially deadly emergency, even if that meant losing Lillian," the report states.
"In her view, they were more concerned with checking the fetal heartbeat than attending to Crain." “I know it sounds selfish, and God knows I would rather have both of them, but if I had to choose,” Fails told ProPublica, “I would have chosen my daughter.” To learn more about Crain's story, read ProPublica's full report .
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