Texas sanctions physicians after 2 pregnant women died from delayed care

The Texas Medical Board has sanctioned three physicians on allegations of delayed care for two pregnant women who died, ProPublica reported April 17.

In one case, a pregnant 18-year-old sought care for life-threatening complications multiple times, and two physicians — emergency medicine physician Ali Osman, MD, and OB-GYN William Hawkins, MD — failed to treat clear signs of an infection. On separate emergency department visits on the same day, Dr. Osman and Dr. Hawkins discharged the patient without properly treating her; the patient and fetus died during a third ED visit later that day.

“This delay in care ultimately resulted in the death of both the patient and her unborn child due to complications of pregnancy,” the Texas Medical Board said. The board sanctioned Dr. Osman in late March and Dr. Hawkings in October, according to ProPublica.

In another case, OB-GYN Andrew Davis, MD, gave a miscarrying patient misoprostol, a medication for low-risk miscarriages, although her miscarriage was high risk; failed to quantify the volume of blood loss; and admitted the patient to a medical-surgical unit for monitoring instead of an operating room for emergency evacuation of her uterus, ProPublica reported.

The state’s medical board said Dr. Davis did not meet standard of care, leading “to the patient’s death from vaginal hemorrhage, spontaneous abortion and first trimester intrauterine pregnancy,” according to the order.

The medical board ordered each physician to take eight hours of continuing education courses — including four hours on risk management and four on emergency obstetrics practice and risk factors — within one year. They must also notify their employers of the board’s findings.

Read more here.

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