California Sues Catholic Hospital for Denying an Emergency Abortion
California Attorney General Rob Bonta is suing the owners of Providence St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka, CA, for denying a patient an emergency abortion, in violation of multiple state laws, including California’s Emergency Services Law, the state equivalent of the federal Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act (EMTALA).
The lawsuit concerns the denial of emergency care to a patient whose waters broke when she was 15 weeks pregnant with twins on February 23, 2024. According to AG Bonta, the patient, Anna Nusslock, presented at the hospital and despite there being an immediate threat to her life and health, she was denied an emergency abortion even though she was severely bleeding and the pregnancy was no longer viable.
A doctor at Providence St. Joseph Hospital diagnosed Nusslock with previable premature pre-labor rupture of membranes (Previable-PPROM) and confirmed that the twins would not survive. The patient was at an increased risk of permanent harm or death, and while abortion is a standard treatment for Previable-PPROM at such an early stage of the pregnancy, that treatment was refused because it was hospital policy not to provide that treatment if one of the twins had a detectable heartbeat unless there was an immediate risk to a patient’s life. The patient was discharged with instructions to drive to Mad River Community Hospital, a small critical access hospital 12 miles away. According to the lawsuit, she was provided with a bucket and towels as a precaution “in case something happens in the car.”
The New York Times reported that Nusslock’s husband drove the 20 minutes to Mad River Community Hospital in Arcata where “she expelled one fetus and was rushed into the operating room so the other fetus could be removed.” While Nusslock has physically recovered, she has experienced “tremendous anxiety, grief, and depression ever since.” The New York Times reported that the doctor who treated Nusslock said other patients had been denied abortions at Providence St. Joseph Hospital in similar circumstances and had been told to travel to Mad River Community Hospital for treatment.
AG Bonta said the hospital’s policy prevents doctors from providing life-saving or stabilizing emergency treatment if that treatment involves an abortion, which violates state laws and discriminates against pregnant patients. AG Bonta alleges the policy violates California’s Emergency Services Law, the Unruh Civil Rights Act, and the Unfair Competition Law. AG Bonta is seeking a preliminary injunction to ensure that Providence St. Joseph Hospital provides necessary emergency care to patients in the future, including abortion if medically necessary.
AG Bonta said the injunction is especially important as Mad River Community Hospital will be closing its labor and delivery unit this October. “The next person in Anna’s situation will face an agonizing choice of risking a multi-hour drive to another hospital or waiting until they are close enough to death for Providence to intervene,” said Bonta.
