KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A woman claims she was denied an abortion at the University of Kansas Health System because of politics. Now she’s suing the hospital in federal court.
Several law firms filed the suit on behalf of Mylissa Farmer.
Farmer, who lived near Joplin, Missouri at the time, was experiencing pregnancy complications on August 2, 2022. After calling her doctor, she was advised to go to the emergency room.
Doctors at the local ER determined she was having a miscarriage but, due to Missouri laws, would not perform an abortion. The lawsuit says Farmer was advised to seek care at an out-of-state emergency department, so she and her husband drove three hours to the University of Kansas Health System’s Main Campus.
She was admitted to KU Hospital that night, which was the same night Kansas voters rejected the “Value Them Both” abortion referendum.
The lawsuit says the obstetrician on duty that evening would not perform procedures or give further treatment, saying it would “be too risky in the heated political environment”. The hospital discharged her in the early morning hours of August 3.
“When she got there she assumed because this is what the law requires, she would get the basic health care she needed. But instead after two hours they discharged her without providing any treatment whatsoever,” Michelle Banker, senior director of litigation for reproductive rights and health at National Women’s Law Center, said.
A year later the secretary of Health and Human Services sent a letter to hospitals across the country saying it had launched an investigation into what happened at the University of Kansas Hospital and reminding all hospitals that it’s a health care provider’s professional and legal duty to offer necessary stabilizing medical treatment to a patient who presents to a covered emergency department.
“That night they just decided to send pregnant patients home at risk of possibly dying and that is unconscionable. That is sex discrimination that is against the law,” Banker said.
Farmer ultimately got in at a clinic that would admit her in Illinois two days later. She was already a few days into her miscarriage. Farmer alleges she also suffered an infection due to the delay in care, causing her to have a longer recovery.
In the year since, Farmer filed a complaint with the Human Rights Commission. But after more than 300 days with no response, they’ve now filed a lawsuit. It is one of the first filed under the federal Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act since the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
It says the doctor initially advised inducing labor but then was overridden telling Farmer it would be too risky in the heated political environment
Farmer released a statement saying in part “she endured a horror no one should ever have to face.” She went on to say she hopes to achieve justice and help others.
“Instead they sent her home at risk of becoming septic of hemorrhaging of losing her fertility or even dying,” Banker said.
FOX4 reached out to the University of Kansas Health System who said they have not seen the lawsuit and therefore at this time, will not comment on it.
In May of 2023, when Secretary Becerra announced the investigation into the University of Kansas Health System, KU provided FOX4 the following statement.
“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.“
