A woman was amputated of 4 limbs after having contracted a sepsis at the Bordeaux University Hospital during an abortion. Complications in these procedures are very rare.
While severe complications are extremely rare during voluntary terminations of pregnancy, it is an unprecedented story that the French press tells this Friday.
That of Priscilla, 36, who after an abortion in 2011 was the victim of an infection. She criticizes Bordeaux University Hospital (Gironde) for not having prescribed antibiotics early enough.
Sepsis diagnosed too late
It all started here in the summer of 2011, when the 30-something fell pregnant shortly after the birth of her third child. She decides to have an abortion. The operation goes smoothly. But the day after the operation, one Saturday, Priscilla returned to the maternity ward, suffering from a high fever and pain. Samples are then taken.
After these exams, the young woman is however sent home and her condition worsens very quickly, explains South West.
In the end, the symptoms of sepsis are diagnosed on Sunday morning by the doctor on call. The patient is more precisely a carrier of type A pyogenic streptococcus, a bacterium that destroys the flesh.
The management of the CHU does not wish to comment on the case
The first antibiotics are then administered at the end of the afternoon to the patient, whose condition had not been considered worrying, according to the regional daily. Too late, she says, to prevent infection and slow tissue necrosis. As a result, she had to have both feet, right forearm and left hand amputated.
The management of the CHU refuses to comment on the case: legal information and expert opinions are still in progress.
A conciliation was organized following the tragedy with the establishment, it would have gone very badly, the head of the department where the incident took place declining all responsibility of the healthcare team.
However, it should be remembered that accidents of this type during an abortion are extremely rare. According to a study carried out in 2006 in France, the overall rate during a surgical abortion of immediate complications (hemorrhages, uterine perforations, cervical tears) oscillates between 0.01 and 1.16%. Complications are not more numerous than with medical abortion.
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