A mother who underwent abortion in 2013 sued her doctor after a bone fragment of the foetus was left in her body that resulted in her being unable to have children for life.
Jennifer DeBuhr and husband Jason filed the lawsuit before a U.S. District Court of Colorado against abortionist Dr. Warren Hern and his Boulder Abortion Clinic for negligence. They are seeking at least $75,000 in damages for each of the four claims, Christian News Network reports.
In early 2013, Jennifer conceived a baby but an MRI test in November that year revealed that the baby boy in her womb had severe cerebral abnormalities that would reduce the baby's life expectancy to less than a year if he is born.
The couple were told by the doctor that she would have to abort the baby to protect her health.
Jennifer was nearly in her third trimester and could not have an abortion in Nebraska, prompting her to go to the Boulder Abortion Clinic in Colorado, the nearest abortion clinic where she could have the procedure.
She started undergoing abortion on Dec. 3, 2013.
"At this time, Dr. Hern used an ultrasound to find the location of the foetus' heart. Dr. Hern then inserted a syringe containing medication into Jennifer's belly and into the foetus' heart in order to stop the heart," according to the lawsuit.
The following day, laminarias, or rods of dried kelp, were inserted into Jennifer to help dilate the uterine cervix.
Jennifer awoke with stomach cramp and discomfort on Dec. 6 and she began vomiting and the packing and laminaria started to fall out of place.
During the last procedure, the clinic staff was unable to get Jennifer to dilate to more than one to two centimetres but despite this, Dr. Hern proceeded with dilation and evacuation (D&E) procedure of the foetus.
"During the D&E procedure, although numbing cream had been placed along her cervix, Jennifer could feel a lot of pulling from the lower half of her body all the way up to her chest. Jennifer experienced intense pain, and as a result of this pain, at some point during the procedure, she blacked out," the lawsuit read.
Following her release, she began experiencing bleeding in spring of 2014.
Dr. Mark Carlson, a gynaecologist, ordered an ultrasound on Jennifer, which revealed an object of about four centimetres in length that was cutting into her uterine wall that caused her to bleed.
During a surgery, Carlson tried but failed to remove the object and she ordered her to undergo hysterectomy.
"The object was tested and it was determined to be a fragment of bone, the shape of which was consistent with the curved portion of a foetus skull," according to the lawsuit.
As a result of the abortion, the lawsuit says, Jennifer suffered severe and permanent physical and mental injuries including vaginal bleeding, surgery to remove her uterus, and, severe pain, stress, and anxiety.
"As a direct and proximate result of those injuries, Plaintiff Jennifer DeBuhr has suffered damages including permanent injury, disability or impairment to Plaintiff's body; loss of her ability to conceive children; and physical pain and mental suffering endured in the past and reasonably certain to be experienced in the future," it added.
