KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A federal investigation claims a Kansas City-area hospital, and another hospital in Missouri, put a pregnant woman’s life at risk when doctors refused to provide an emergency abortion.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid issued formal notices to University of Kansas Health, in Kansas City, Kansas, and Freeman Health System in Joplin, Missouri.
The investigation is in response to a complaint filed by Mylissa Farmer, of Joplin, in November 2022.
According to Health and Human Services, Farmer went to both hospitals for treatment after experiencing complications nearly 18 weeks into her pregnancy.
After consulting with doctors at each hospital Farmer and her boyfriend said they wanted to end the pregnancy and save Farmer’s life.
Freeman Health referred her to the University of Kansas Health System, saying it was a larger hospital and would be able to help her.
Farmer claims that after driving to Kansas City the hospital told her they couldn’t provide the abortion because of Kansas abortion law. However, in Kansas, abortion is legal but strictly limited after 22 weeks.
After a vote on the “Value Them Both” amendment failed in August 2022, the Kansas state constitution continues to recognize the right to an abortion.
She said the doctor told her, due to the political climate, they couldn’t treat her, even though the Biden Administration issued guidance saying federal law preempts state abortion bans when needed for emergency care.
“It is absolutely heartbreaking to hear about this story, and it’s especially upsetting to think that this woman was denied at the same time that Kansans were voting to protect her rights,” said Rachel Sweet with Kansans for Constitutional Freedom, which urged residents to vote no on “Value Them Both.”
Farmer survived and eventually traveled to an abortion clinic in Illinois, according to the Associated Press.
“If a hospital is willing to deny patients access to emergency medical care because they are worried about the political consequences, that shows our leaders have created a climate that is hostile to women’s reproductive health,” Sweet said.
Farmer said she didn’t receive care at either the University of Kansas Health System or Freeman Health System.
“During her visits to two different hospitals, the patient was not offered the care that her doctors determined was necessary to stabilize those emergency medical conditions — not because of the clinical judgment of her providers, but because the hospital policies would not allow an abortion to be performed,” said Xavier Becerra, Health and Human Services Director.
Health and Human Services said both hospitals have taken steps toward coming into compliance, but the government said the issue is not closed at this point.
The University of Kansas Health System issued the following statement about the notice:
The care provided to the patient was reviewed by the hospital and found to be in accordance with hospital policy. It met the standard of care based upon the facts known at the time, and complied with all applicable law. There is a process with CMS for this complaint and we respect that process. The University of Kansas Health System follows federal and Kansas law in providing appropriate, stabilizing, and quality care to all of its patients, including obstetric patients.
Statement from the University of Kansas Health System
Freeman Health System has not commented on the claim.
The federal report doesn’t stop there. It details how a 73-year-old man who came to the hospital via ambulance died in the emergency waiting room.
The report says he came to the emergency room at 10:38 p.m. with a cough and was found unresponsive around 12:34 a.m. He was declared deceased minutes later.
But it wasn’t hospital staff who found him unresponsive. It was another person in the waiting room who discovered the man.
In a separate statement about the man’s death, KU Health System told FOX4: “This is a separate matter, and we’re working through a process with CMS on it.”
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services has not announced fines or other penalties against the two hospitals, according to the Associated Press.
