Miscarrying patient was passed around 'like a hot potato' due to Idaho abortion ban, doctor testifies

A woman experiencing dangerous bleeding was not admitted by doctors at an Idaho hospital until her fourth emergency room visit in one week, due to fear and confusion over the state's abortion ban, an Idaho doctor said in testimony on Tuesday.

The "heavily bleeding" patient was told the pregnancy would not survive, but she had not been counseled on abortion, Dr. Julie Lyons, a family physician in Idaho and plaintiff in a lawsuit over the state's abortion bans, said on the stand.

"My colleagues are so scared and confused to even mention the word, it's like a hot potato -- pass the patient around and hopefully something will happen and declare itself," Lyons said.

"This patient had developed a massive subchorionic hemorrhage -- that's where the placenta rips off the side of the uterus -- and she had developed this earlier in the week, and had been into the emergency room several times," Lyons said.

Lyons said she was on call when the 14-week pregnant patient returned to the ER, sometime in the last year.

"This patient had become increasingly anemic. She had incurred three visits to our ER, multiple lab tests," Lyons said.

"I was working with some amazing nurses and we decided as a team that we were going to break our hospital's rules and admit her, even though she wasn't 20 weeks pregnant because I just couldn't send her home again and hope for the best," Lyons said.

"We admitted this patient to our labor and delivery floor and a few hours later she aborted her fetus, and she hemorrhaged and required a blood transfusion," Lyons said.

The testimony came as part of an ongoing lawsuit brought by four Idaho women and two physicians over the state's abortion bans. Idaho has a total abortion ban, with an exception to prevent the death of a pregnant mother, and a six-week gestational ban, prohibiting abortions after fetal cardiac activity can be detected.

Four women took the stand last week, tearfully recounting their personal experiences being denied care for fatal fetal anomalies that posed risks to their health.

Another physician who is a plaintiff in the lawsuit also described transferring women who need abortion care to other states by plane, with the fastest transfer done taking eight hours.