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Saturday, September 20, 2003Monty Patterson said his daughter Holly Patterson had visited Planned Parenthood in Hayward last Wednesday and on Saturday had begun taking drugs prescribed to end her pregnancy. Patterson's daughter lived with him in Livermore and did not tell him about the pregnancy, he said. "On Sunday, she was crying and crying, and she told me she was having cramps, that she had a bad period," said Patterson, a home builder who said he had learned of the pregnancy only hours before his daughter died. Between Sunday and Wednesday, Holly Patterson was bleeding severely, in acute pain and unable to walk, her father said. Her boyfriend rushed her late Sunday to Valley Care Medical Center in Pleasanton, Patterson said. She was given painkillers and released, Patterson said. "She went back into the hospital in the middle of the night Wednesday, and she died at 2 p.m.," Patterson said. "The doctor told me that she hadn't aborted all of the fetus, and she had fragments left in her, and she had a massive systemic infection and went into septic shock." She isn’t the first: Last year, the Washington Times reported that the deaths of two women who took RU-486 had prompted the FDA to issue warning letters to physicians. Three women who took RU-486 later suffered bleeding caused by a ruptured ectopic pregnancy, the Washington Times reported. One woman died from a hemorrhage. Two other women suffered severe systemic bacterial infections after taking the drugs, and one died. That RU-486 can kill shouldn’t be surprising. One of the major physiological changes in the uterus in early pregnancy is the formation of new arteries that communicate with the developing placenta. These arteries, designed to bring nutrients to the developing embryo, are characterized by high volumes of blood flow with very little low resistance. Mifepristone makes the tissue around those arteries (and the tissue composing those arteries) die and fall away. When that happens, the blood in those arteries pumps unimpeded into the uterine cavity. When things go right, the uterine muscle clamps down enough around them to slow the flow. When things go wrong- well, the blood just flows and flows. This can happen in spontaneous abortions, and it’s a known complication of mifepristone; which is why the FDA made a point of requiring that doctors who prescribe it be able to provide emergency surgery to their patients if needed. It was needed in this case, but not given. Planned Parenthood clinics rarely have 24 hour emergency coverage. Their clinics in my neck of the woods (there are four) only take phone calls during specified hours. Clearly, mifepristone shouldn't be dispensed so nonchalantly. More to the point, it’s a drug that shouldn’t be dispensed at all. As the FDA itself helpfully explains: Patients should also understand that safe does not mean risk free; FDA will approve a drug if it determines that the benefits exceed the risks for the approved use. But, in the case of mifepristone, it isn’t at all clear that the benefits exceed the risks. There’s already a safer alternative to the drug. It’s called surgical abortion (complication rate less than one percent in the first trimester compared to 4 to 8% for mifepristone). Imagine if there was a drug that could treat gallstones, but 4-8% of users required surgery to treat its complications, which include death. Is there any doubt that the FDA would deny it approval? They would correctly point out that gallbladder surgery is a safer alternative. But then, there is no National Right to Life Without Gallstones to pressure the FDA for approval. posted by Sydney on 9/20/2003 08:36:00 PM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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