Texas woman dies after waiting 40 hours for emergency care during miscarriage: report

AUSTIN (NEXSTAR) – A new report released Wednesday details the story of a 28-year-old Texas woman who died of an infection after doctors allegedly delayed treatment for her miscarriage for about 40 hours, again raising concerns about the state’s strict abortion laws.

According to the nonprofit investigative bureau ProPublica, Josseli Barnica was admitted to a hospital in Houston on September 2, 2021, in the 17th week of pregnancy due to severe cramping and bleeding. The next day, an ultrasound confirmed that there had been a miscarriage.

However, Barnica reportedly told her husband that doctors could not intervene.

“They had to wait until the heart stopped beating,” the husband, whose name was not released, told ProPublica in Spanish. “It would be a crime to have an abortion.”

According to the website, while she waited, Barnica’s cervix remained open, which left her uterus exposed to bacteria. When a fetal heartbeat was no longer detected, she delivered the fetus with medical assistance and was discharged later that day.

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On September 7, as her condition worsened, Barnica’s husband brought her back to the hospital, where she died of a sepsis infection.

Barnica’s story has renewed concerns that Texas’ abortion ban does not give doctors enough autonomy to treat pregnancy complications.

Rep. Colin Allred, the Democratic U.S. Senate candidate who made abortion access a central theme of his campaign, was quick to use Barnica’s story as a critique of Sen. Ted Cruz’s anti-abortion stance.

“Josseli Barnica should be alive today, but because of Ted Cruz’s cruel abortion ban, Texas women were denied vital life-saving health care,” Allred wrote on social media.

Cruz called the story “heartbreaking” but said Texas law couldn’t be blamed.

“I have read this story and the facts of this case seem painful. That this woman lost her life is truly a tragedy,” Cruz told reporters after a rally in Georgetown on Wednesday.

“Texas law clearly states that any procedure necessary to save the mother’s life can and should be performed,” Cruz added. “We don’t know all the details of what happened here, but it is extremely important that we do everything necessary to save the mothers’ lives and mourn with their families the tragedy that happened here.”

Texas law prohibits abortion in almost all casesno exceptions for rape and incest. Doctors can face six-figure fines, loss of their medical license and prison time for performing abortions.

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Abortion is permitted under the law if, “based on a reasonable medical assessment,” a pregnant woman has a life-threatening condition, caused by or aggravated by the pregnancy, that creates a risk of death or serious impairment of a major bodily function, making the abortion permissible. abortion necessary.

The doctors sued, arguing that the language was too vague, arguing that the “reasonable medical judgment” standard was too subjective to allow them to act freely without fear of their own liability.

In May, the Texas Supreme Court rejected these concerns, ruled that exceptions to the abortion ban are permissible and allow abortion before impending emergencies.

“The law does not require a woman to give up her life or suffer serious bodily harm before an abortion can be performed,” the court said.

According to an October poll by the Texas Politics Project, 7% of likely Texas voters say abortion/women’s rights is the most important issue on their ballot, behind the economy, immigration/border security and inflation/cost of living.

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