The Texas Medical Board has sanctioned three doctors whom ProPublica had previously investigated, after their patients died from delayed or improper pregnancy treatment due to the state’s stringent abortion ban. The board determined that two of the doctors neglected to adequately intervene when a pregnant teenager repeatedly sought care for life-threatening complications. The third case involved a doctor who did not perform a dilation and curettage to empty the uterus of a miscarrying patient, leading to her fatal bleeding. As ProPublica probed those preventable deaths and five others spanning three states in recent years, reporters discovered that abortion bans have shaped doctors’ and hospitals’ responses to pregnancy complications. Fearing prison sentences and career destruction, physicians have postponed essential procedures until confirming a fetus’s heart has stopped beating or verifying that the situation fits a strict legal exemption. Some doctors report that their peers are discharging or transferring pregnant patients rather than assuming responsibility for their treatment. Physicians and attorneys have raised concerns about why medical boards—responsible for licensing doctors and probing inadequate care—haven’t taken a stronger role in advising practitioners on maintaining medical standards while complying with legal limits. In 2015, when ProPublica asked the Texas Medical Board president what options miscarrying patients had if a doctor refused them essential care, he replied that the board had no authority over criminal law, but patients could submit a complaint and “vote with their feet” by going to a different doctor. Since then, Texas’s board has been more proactive than those in other states, issuing guidance this year with case studies on how physicians can legally perform abortions for patients with specific medical conditions. The state legislature directed the board to develop the training materials under the Life of the Mother Act, enacted following ProPublica’s reporting, which introduced minor changes to Georgia’s abortion restrictions to avert further maternal deaths. In Georgia, where Amber Thurman died after doctors delayed emptying her septic uterus for 20 hours, the state has neither reviewed its ban nor sanctioned the involved physicians. Maternal health experts warn that providers will keep hesitating to deliver routine care while bans impose severe criminal penalties—like Texas’s statute, which can imprison a doctor for up to 99 years. However, those who spoke with ProPublica say medical board sanctions are among the few tools that can serve as a counterbalance, compelling hospitals and doctors to deliver standard care amid uncertainty from ambiguously worded laws. Michelle Maloney, who is representing the families of both Texas patients in malpractice suits, said she was pleasantly surprised by the board’s recent actions. Throughout my career, I’ve encountered numerous horrific, horrific death cases.
