Kind of can't believe this. Doctors cannot treat ectopic pregnancies now

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12. I watched a friend nearly die

A young woman I worked with was ectopically pregnant but did not know it. She had had an abortion some weeks previous but, because it was tubal, the D&C missed removing the fertilized egg. However, she believed herself to be no longer pregnant.

I knew nothing of her abortion at that time as it was her private business. Her desk was next to mine and we chatted each morning over coffee as we got revved up for the workday. Not long into one morning, she stood up very abruptly holding her abdomen and the desk to steady herself. I knew from her ashen gray face that something was seriously off. She said, "There's something REALLY wrong with me. All of a sudden I feel really strange." She asked for water which I gave her, but she rapidly felt worse not better.

We had no way to know it then, but at that moment she was hemorrhaging internally. Her tubal pregnancy had grown to the point that her fallopian tube could no longer accommodate the fertilized egg and it ruptured her tube.

I was so scared for her as she initially rejected me calling 911. But as she seemed only to be getting worse I called anyway. While we waited for the ambulance she laid down on the floor of our office and asked me to hold her hand... she said she felt like she was dying. When the ambulance arrived her blood pressure was so low they couldn't transport her without first stabilizing her BP. They worked on her a long while and finally got her into the ambulance. She didn't want to let go of my hand, so I went along into the ambulance. Once there, all of a sudden her BP started crashing again and I was very alarmed they would lose her! One of the EMTs ordered me to the front passenger seat of the ambulance and strapped me in, told me do not move!!

Meanwhile, I craned my neck to anxiously watch them in the rear as we still could not get on our way to the hospital due to her unstable BP. I could tell by their urgent movements they were very concerned for her as well. At that point, they put a pair of rubber pants on her which were then inflated. They later explained this was to keep her heart pumping and force oxygen to her brain. Finally, she was stable enough and they raced to the hospital.

My friend survived her ruptured tubal pregnancy, but just barely. It was a terrifying, life-or-death experience and one that awaits EVERY ectopically pregnant woman who does not receive appropriate intervention in time. Women MUST be able to access appropriate care as ectopics are non-viable and life threatening EVERY time. No exceptions!!

P.S. Besides my friend's story, i myself had two ectopic pregnancies and lost a tube and ovary to the first one. Because of the skill and miraculous talent of my wonderful doctor who saved my only remaining tube and ovary, I was able to have two normal pregnancies later on. I have two college age sons today because of the excellent care I received.