University of Kansas Sued for Alleged Denial of Emergency Abortion Care
The National Women’s Law Center and Mylissa Farmer have filed a lawsuit against the University of Kansas Health System and the University of Kansas Hospital Authority for failing to provide an emergency abortion, in violation of the Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act (EMTALA).
EMTALA, part of the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, was passed in 1986 and requires hospitals that accept payment from the HHS Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) under the Medicare program to provide an appropriate medical screening examination (MSE) for anyone seeking treatment for a medical condition regardless of their citizenship, legal status, or ability to pay. EMTALA prohibits patients requiring emergency medical treatment from being transferred or discharged without their consent or stabilization unless the patient must be transferred to a facility better equipped to provide the required treatment, and compliance is mandatory.
The lawsuit relates to an August 2, 2022, visit to an emergency room by plaintiff Mylissa Farmer, who was denied any care at the University of Kansas Hospital (UKH), despite having an emergency medical condition. Farmer was 18 weeks pregnant and experienced preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM). Her water had broken far too early, and when she arrived at the hospital, she had lost all of her amniotic fluid and her pregnancy was no longer viable. She required emergency treatment to prevent serious injuries, including severe blood loss, sepsis, loss of fertility, and potentially death. While doctors determined that an emergency abortion was required, that care was denied because fetal cardiac activity was still detectable and the patient was stable at the time. Earlier that day, Farmer had visited a Freeman Health System hospital in Missouri, which is not named in the lawsuit, to receive the care she needed, and that care was also not provided.
The same day that the patient arrived at the hospital, the state of Kansas was voting on whether to amend its constitution to make abortion illegal. According to the lawsuit, the defendants chose to deviate from their own clinical standards because providing an abortion would be considered too risky in the heated political environment. “[The hospital’s] illegal and discriminatory treatment of Ms. Farmer compounded the trauma of her pregnancy loss and denied her the ability to mourn that loss on her own terms. She continues to suffer physical, emotional, and financial harm resulting from [the hospital’s] unlawful actions.” The lawsuit seeks a declaration that the hospital violated federal and Kansas law by denying abortion care and financial compensation for the harm Farmer suffered. In June, the Supreme Court issued a decision that temporarily reinstated a lower court ruling that requires hospitals to perform emergency abortions when they are necessary to protect the health of a pregnant person under EMTALA.
“What happened to me should never happen to anyone. Denying me care not only put my life at risk but inflicted irreparable trauma, physical and mental suffering, and financial hardship on me and my husband,” said Farmer. “I endured a horror no one should ever have to face. Through this lawsuit, I hope to achieve justice and help prevent others from suffering the same experience.” The lawsuit follows an investigation by the CMS last year which found that the hospitals in Missouri and Kansas violated EMTALA by failing to provide emergency abortion care, which was the stabilizing treatment the patient required.
