Woman Sues Hospital Saying Mistake Led to Abortion

Woman says a faulty pre-surgery pregnancy test forced her to have an abortion.

ByABC News
April 11, 2008, 12:58 PM

Apr. 11, 2008— -- DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - A woman has filed a lawsuit against IowaMethodist Medical Center claiming a medical mistake led her to havean abortion.

Kristy Oswald claims in the lawsuit, filed this week in PolkCounty District Court, that hospital employees failed to tell her atest showed she was pregnant. The test was done shortly before shehad a heart procedure done in 2006 to treat abnormal heart rhythms.

Oswald's attorney, Guy Cook, said the procedure and theanesthesia raised serious risks to Oswald's fetus.

Oswald, 47, a longtime nurse at the hospital, generally opposesabortion but decided to end the pregnancy because of the likelihoodthe fetus had been damaged, Cook said.

"It's a nightmarish, sad, sad situation," Cook said.

Oswald, who was about five weeks pregnant at the time, learnedof the error in the recovery room, the lawsuit states.

Hospital officials released a statement on Thursday expressingregret.

"Protecting and improving the well-being of our patients is oursingle goal and even the suggestion that somewhere, somehow asingle safeguard may have failed, is unacceptable to us," thestatement read.

"It is our hope to reach an acceptable resolution with thepatient and her family as quickly as possible. During thisdifficult time, the last thing we want to do would be to subjectthe family to any more pain by prolonging a legal proceeding."

Oswald continues to work as a nurse at the hospital, caring forbabies.

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Information from: The Des Moines Register,http://www.desmoinesregister.com

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)