Hospital carries out abortion on wrong woman in horror mix up

A woman was mistakenly sedated and given an abortion when she should have been having a routine check-up, it has been reported.

The healthy woman, who was four months pregnant, was anaesthetised and given a kind of uterus surgery called a curettage which led to her miscarrying.

It was intended for another woman, who was also scheduled on March 25 at the Bulovka Hospital in Prague, a major teaching hospital in the capital of Czech Republic.

Hospital spokeswoman Eva Stolejda Libigerová told CNN Prima: ‘An adverse event occurred at our Gynecology and Obstetrics Clinic.

‘According to the findings so far, as a result of serious violations and non-compliance with internal regulations by the employees concerned, an operation was started on an incorrectly identified patient.’

The spokeswoman added to Prahain.cz, which broke the story: ‘We expressed our deep regret and apology to the patient and her entire family for this unfortunate event and assured her that we will do everything to mitigate the damage as much as possible and also compensate her.

‘As an accredited teaching hospital, we have clearly defined rules and procedures that our medical staff is obliged to follow without exception. The affected staff of the clinic is placed off duty pending a full evaluation of the adverse event, with the understanding that, in the event of a violation of binding work procedures as part of the current internal investigation, specific individuals will be held personally liable.’

Both women were reportedly foreign nationals of Asian heritage and did not speak Cezch well.

The procedure given, cutterage, can be used to induce a miscarriage or may also be unrelated to pregnancy such as due to health problems with the uterus.

Shadow Health Minister Kamal Farhan said that if misconduct is proven, the mother given the abortion should be compensated.

‘However, no one can replace the loss that the mother experienced with financial means,’ he added.

Jan Přáda, gynecologist and vice-chairman of the Czech Medical Chamber, told Czech newspaper Seznam Zpravy that it was not only the doctor to blame but all staff involved.

‘The main problem is that she even got to the operating table,’ he said.

Theorising why the mistake happened, he said: ‘If she could not speak Czech or a known international language well, it could play a role. Translators are sometimes on the phone, which can also complicate communication.

‘This is not to say that doctors should not deal with it, just that the risk of misunderstanding increases.

‘A Czech-speaking patient would probably actively resist the fact that she is going to undergo a procedure that she does not understand’.

He said there should have been a process of checking ID and the procedure being undergone throughout the woman’s hospital stay.

Abortion in the Czech Republic is legal until 12 weeks for any reason, for medical reasons up to 24 weeks and at any point due to grave abnormalities with the fetus.

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