United States: The family of Georgian patient Amber Thurman, who died from sepsis following a failed chemical abortion, has decided to file a lawsuit against the hospital where she was treated.
The family claims that medical staff at Piedmont Henry Hospital in Stockbridge failed to intervene promptly enough to save Thurman’s life.
They made her wait twenty hours before doing surgery to remove the chemical abortion’s leftovers, according to reports.
In 2022, Thurman had a side effect from an abortion drug that caused embryonic tissue to remain within her body. Thurman went to the hospital needing a dilation and curettage, or D&C, to remove the remaining tissue.
Still, the physicians allegedly delayed operating on her for almost a whole day. She passed away in the operating room.
According to the story, as the doctors waited, the sepsis infection progressed, spreading to other parts of her body and causing her organs to fail. Her family stated that before the surgery, she was vomiting and turning blue.
Vice President Kamala Harris has used the issue as a talking point to advocate for access to abortions.
She argues that, in Georgia, pro-life policies, not the doctors, should be held accountable for the woman’s death.
However, lawyer Benjamin Crump blamed the doctors, not the law, for Thurman’s untimely death. “Even under Georgia law, the doctors had a duty to act to save Amber,” Crump said in a press conference.
“She had taken the abortion pills, and there were tissues left. There was no viable fetus or anything that would have prevented them from saving her life while she suffered,” according to Spectrum News, as per reports.
“You have a duty to stabilize her and then give her the option to go to another hospital facility,” Crump added. “But you cannot let her suffer and die on your hospital bed when the death is preventable.”
As Thurman’s family waited in the hospital for her to emerge from surgery, they claimed that doctors also failed to inform them about her health.
Thurman’s mother, Shanette Williams, stated that they would have taken appropriate action if they had been fully informed.
“We would have done anything had we known, but we didn’t. We didn’t have the opportunity to know,” she said.” It is so disheartening. It is heartbreaking. It is upsetting. Every emotion that you could think that a mother would have, I had.”
Reportedly, Thurman left behind a 6-year-old son when she died in 2022.
Should the hospital and the abortion industry be held accountable for Amber Thurman’s death?