Class Action Lawsuit Filed After Massachusetts Crisis Center Failed to Diagnose an Ectopic Pregnancy
A new lawsuit accuses a crisis pregnancy center in Massachusetts of deceptive advertising which resulted in the failure to diagnose an ectopic pregnancy and created a life-threatening emergency for the center’s patient.
The lawsuit was filed in Worcester Superior Court last Thursday against the anti-abortion Clearway Clinic in Worcester, Massachusetts. The lawsuit was filed by a Worcester resident who is referred to as “Jane Doe” in the lawsuit. The complaint accuses the crisis pregnancy center of engaging in false advertising that's designed to convince women to avoid abortions instead of "providing them with the range of medically appropriate options."
Unlike an abortion clinic, a crisis pregnancy center is designed to encourage women to continue with their pregnancy. They do this by providing women with resources like STD testing, baby clothes, and diapers. According to the Crisis Pregnancy Center map, over 2,500 centers operate in the United States with 29 facilities located in Massachusetts alone. In Massachusetts, it is still legal to abort a pregnancy up to 24 weeks.
According to the patient's lawyer, Shannon Liss-Riordan, in October, the woman came to the clinic where a nurse performed an ultrasound and determined she was pregnant. However, a month later, the woman was rushed to the hospital where she was told the excruciating pain she was experiencing was ectopic pregnancy that had ruptured. Ectopic pregnancies are pregnancies that occur outside of the uterus, with over 90% growing in a fallopian tube. Ectopic pregnancies are not viable and can cause life-threatening circumstances if not terminated. As an ectopic pregnancy continues to grow in the fallopian tube, the mounting pressure can cause the tube to rupture and result in internal bleeding.
When the woman came to the Clearway Clinic seeking support, she claims that she was misled into believing the facility was there to support her and instead had the mission of dissuading pregnant women from aborting their pregnancies.
The woman shares she found the clinic during an online search after she determined they would be able to provide her with ultrasound services from a board-certified doctor. Instead, when she arrived at the clinic, the nurse who examined her told her that she had a viable pregnancy, and failed to diagnose her with what she actually had — an ectopic pregnancy. After her ultrasound, she was given a form that was signed by a medical doctor, even though a medical doctor did not examine the woman during her appointment.
Liss-Riordan details that even after the patient left the crisis center, staffers continued to get in touch with her encouraging her to continue with the pregnancy.
The clinic’s CEO, Jill Jorgensen, has shared with local outlet MassLive that because of patient privacy laws, the clinic could not discuss the patient's case. Jorgensen adds that the clinic "has served more than 10,000 women and their families in the Worcester area for the past 22 years at no cost and have never had a complaint like this in the past."
The lawsuit has been filed as a class action lawsuit to allow other potentially impacted patients to join in on the complaint.
