November 17, 2023.
A woman in her mid-30’s who was 23 weeks pregnant received devastating news: her fetus had a lethal diagnosis. Her pregnancy was not viable and would end in stillbirth. Her physician recommended dilation and evacuation, a type of abortion. The patient didn’t speak English and needed a translator. The translator explained the diagnosis but would not translate the recommended treatment because they objected to it. Two other translators also declined to do so. Despite the medical necessity of the abortion, it was delayed and rescheduled twice that day because individual anesthesiologists, technicians, and nurses did not want to be involved in, what several called, “this kind of procedure.”
After the procedure and still sedated, the patient was turned away by the post-surgical nurse on duty because she “doesn’t work with abortion patients.” The patient was wheeled around in a hospital bed for 30 minutes while we—medical students– desperately tried to find another nurse.