When Anna Nusslock showed up at her local hospital 15 weeks pregnant and in severe pain earlier this year, she said, a doctor delivered devastating news: The twins she and her husband had so desperately wanted were not viable. Further, her own health was in danger, and she needed an emergency abortion to prevent hemorrhaging and infection. Providence St.
Joseph Hospital, in the small Northern California coastal city of Eureka, refused to provide the care she required because doctors could detect fetal "heart tones," Nusslock said at a news conference Monday. California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit against the Catholic hospital detailing Nusslock's dangerous experience and alleging the hospital violated multiple state laws when it discharged Nusslock — with an offer of a bucket and towels — to go elsewhere for what he described as standard medical care. Bonta also filed a motion for a preliminary injunction in Humboldt County Superior Court, asking that it require Providence to treat anyone with an emergency medical condition.
"The need for immediate relief is about to intensify," the motion said. That's because Mad River Community Hospital, where Nusslock ultimately got care 12 miles up the road, is slated to close its birth center this month. Providence will be the only hospital within about 85 miles to offer labor and delivery, according to a KFF Health News analysis.
When care is more than an hour away, academic researchers typically define the area as a .
