California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) this week announced a lawsuit against Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center, alleging the hospital refused to provide an abortion to a woman despite her pregnancy presenting an immediate threat to her life and no longer being viable.
Bonta’s complaint cited the case of Anna Nusslock, who was 15 weeks pregnant with twins when her water broke after experiencing a week of pain and bleeding. After going to the emergency department at Providence Saint Joseph in Eureka, Calif., Nusslock was diagnosed with previable preterm premature rupture of membranes and informed her twins would not make it.
The California attorney general’s suit states that Nusslock needed a dilation and evacuation (D&E) in order to prevent complications resulting from her diagnosis and pregnancy that was no longer viable.
“Instead of providing the emergency medical care she needed, Providence Hospital offered her a bucket and towels,” the complaint reads.
The doctors at Providence allegedly told Nusslock that hospital policy prevented them from providing a D&E as long as her twins had detectable heart tones. One of the doctors is alleged to have told Nusslock she would hemorrhage and die if she attempted to drive to another hospital, in this case the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center.
She was ultimately instructed to drive to another hospital roughly 20 minutes away, being given a bucket by hospital staff before she left. Nusslock was “actively hemorrhaging” by the time she arrived at the next facility.
Bonta is accusing Providence of violating California’s Emergency Services Act as well as the Unruh Civil Rights Act, which prohibits businesses from discriminating against people on the basis on age, race, sex, disability, national origin and other factors.
“California is the beacon of hope for so many Americans across this country trying to access abortion services since the Dobbs decision. It is damning that here in California, where abortion care is a constitutional right, we have a hospital implementing a policy that’s reminiscent of heartbeat laws in extremist red states,” Bonta said in a statement.
“With today’s lawsuit, I want to make this clear for all Californians: abortion care is healthcare. You have the right to access timely and safe abortion services,” he added. “At the California Department of Justice, we will use the full force of this office to hold accountable those who, like Providence, are breaking the law.”
With 51 hospitals across seven states including Alaska, California, Montana, Texas and Washington state, Providence is among the largest hospital systems in the U.S. Having been founded by Catholic nuns in the 1850s, the organization bills itself as a “faith-based” health care provider.
“We are currently reviewing the filings to understand what is being alleged. Because this case is in active litigation and due to patient confidentiality, we cannot comment on the matter,” a Providence spokesperson said in a statement to The Hill. “As part of our pledge to delivering safe, high-quality care, we review every event that may not have met our patient needs or expectations to understand what happened and take appropriate steps to meet those needs and expectations for every patient we encounter.”
According to the spokesperson, Monday morning was the first time that Providence was aware of the lawsuit from Bonta.
Providence Northern California Service Area Chief Executive Garry Olney addressed the lawsuit in an email to employees on Tuesday.
“This was a tragic situation that did not meet our high standards for safe, quality, compassionate care. We are immediately re-visiting our training, education and escalation processes in emergency medical situations to ensure that this does not happen again and to ensure that our care teams have the training and support they need to deliver the best possible care for each patient we serve.” said Olney, adding that the hospital had reached out to Nusslock on Tuesday to “express our profound apologies.”
—Updated at 6:14 p.m.