TEXAS, USA — A pregnant 18-year-old Texas woman died after trying to get care in three visits to emergency rooms, according to a new report co-published by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune . Earlier this week, the publications told the story of Joselli Barnica , a 28-year-old mother who died of sepsis in 2021 after she was denied an abortion and contracted an infection after suffering a miscarriage at 17 weeks. Now journalists are telling the story of Neveah Crain, an 18-year-old who suffered a miscarriage on the day of her baby shower in 2023, developed sepsis and then was denied emergency care at multiple hospitals before her death.
The report states that on Oct. 29, 2023, Crain was in pain, too weak to walk, feverish and vomiting, having gone to two different emergency rooms within 12 hours. The first hospital diagnosed her with strep throat without investigating her abdominal cramps.
At the second, she screened positive for sepsis, but doctors said her six-month fetus had a heartbeat and that Crain "was fine to leave." According to the report, on Crain's third hospital visit, an obstetrician insisted on two ultrasounds to "confirm fetal demise," before moving her to intensive care. "By then, more than two hours after her arrival, Crain’s blood pressure had plummeted and a nurse had noted that her lips were 'blue and dusky.
' Her organs began failing." the report states. "Hours later, she was dead.
" Crain's mother, Candace Fails, told ProPublica that she still can't und.
