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Atascadero woman loses baby after doctor mistakenly prescribe abortion pill

January 9, 2019

A San Luis Obispo doctor mistakenly prescribed an abortion pill, an Atascadero Rite Aid filled the prescription and a woman took the medication, killing her fetus, according to a lawsuit filed on Monday. [Cal Coast Times]

Lorena Anderson of Atascadero alleges in the suit filed in San Luis Obispo Superior Court that a doctor at Bishop’s Peak Women’s Health Center wrongfully prescribed her the abortion pill and then tried to cancel the prescription. But, Rite Aid did not cancel the prescription, and pharmacists gave Anderson the medication without informing her of the effects of the drug, including that her fetus would be aborted, the lawsuit states.

Anderson is suing Dignity Health, which operates Bishop’s Peak Women’s Health Center, as well as Rite Aid. The lawsuit also names Dr. Maria Rasul, who allegedly wrote the prescription.

Suspecting she was pregnant, Anderson visited Rasul on March 20, 2018, according to the suit. Rasul performed a pregnancy test and ultrasound and confirmed Anderson was pregnant.

Rasul then carelessly and negligently prescribed a 200 mcg oral tablet of misoprostol, which is also known by the brand name Cytotec and is commonly referred to as the abortion pill, the suit alleges.

Rasul did not inform Anderson that she had prescribed her misoprostol. Upon attempting to cancel the prescription, Rasul and Dignity Health did not inform Anderson she should not take the drug in the case the prescription was filled.

The Rite Aid located at 7025 El Camino Real carelessly and negligently filled the prescription, according to the suit. When Anderson retrieved the prescription from the pharmacy, Rite Aid pharmacists neglected to inform her the nature and effects of the drug, and pharmacists neglected to ask whether Anderson was pregnant.

Anderson took one 200 mcg tablet of misoprostol. In addition to ending her pregnancy, the drug caused Anderson to suffer injury to her body and shock and injury to her nervous system, as well as physical and emotional distress, according to the lawsuit.

The Atascadero woman is continuing to incur medical expenses from the incident, her lawsuit says. She is seeking a jury trial.


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And another crazy piece of puzzle, aye-caramba, is Dignity Health prohibits abortion by its doctors, so the pill surely wasn’t prescribed for that. Also, Rite-Aid provides a ton of paper with their prescriptions that describe in great detail what a drug is for and what it does, so she must not have bothered to read that or this would not have happened. A very messy story — she has been hurt but by whom is a good question.


11

Prescribing pills that result in the fetus “aborting” is not equal to a doctor performing an abortion.


Many doctors prescribed these meds. Most doctors do not perform abortions.

Not the same.


-2

Abortion pills are prescribed by the vast majority of women’s healthcare providers, for a variety of reasons.


Abortions are performed by a small minority of those doctors.


Prescribing this pill is not the same as performing an abortion.


You can ask Dignity Health if you’re not sure.


-1

So much about this does not make any sense at all. Did the plaintiff initially request to terminate pregnancy and then change her mind? WHY did the plaintiff go to the pharmacy in the first place and WHAT medicine was she thinking she was taking? There is SOME personal responsibility in all this. Was she offered pharmacy med counseling and declined it at the window ( most people picking up prescriptions do that, in fact)? Without knowing more of the facts, I think there are HUGE pieces of this puzzle missing before we rush to judgement. Yes, mistakes happen, but there are some basic questions not being asked or answered here.


19

And why wait 10 months? What has she been doing for all that time? If she wanted to keep the child she would have been hysterical about it as soon as she found out she was given the wrong drug.


4

Sounds like you’ll be spending some time in court watching every single minute of the proceedings, huh?


-7

Why has no one been arrested for manslaughter?…


-4

That’s going to leave a mark.


-3

Why has no one been arrested for manslaughter?…


-4

“In addition to ending her pregnancy, the drug caused Anderson to suffer injury to her body and shock and injury to her nervous system…”


It’s nice to see the plaintiff pointed out the damage done to her own body in addition to killing her child. Just imagine a mother ingesting something so highly toxic that it actually kills her baby in the womb. Grim side effects to her own body are an expected side-effect.


-4

Please look up the drug online before drawing conclusions about killing baby in her body and “grim side effects.” It induces labor. In other words, a miscarriage.


3

You need to take your own advice. If you think that such chemicals are toxic only to the baby and not the mother as well, you’re ignorant about the subject.


-4

https://youtu.be/aFRz16L9-58?t=126


-4

Here’s another excellent article on this subject: https://tinyurl.com/y7yrnmgy


-3

Every pharmacy I’ve ever used has had me sign that I understood the effects of the medication and select yes or no to speak with a pharmacist. Something’s off here.


28

At first I wondered how Rite Aid bore any responsibility however, as the story is laid out it dawns on me how 1) Responsible Rite Aid really is. How dare the pharmacists prescribe a bill that extinguishes a life without consulting with the patient. Heck, my doctor increased my BP meds and the cashier asked if I’d like to talk to the pharmacist about the change and 2) Why couldn’t the arrogant ass doctor pick up the phone and call his patient and openly admit her error?


-7

Help me out here. What’d I say to earn negative votes?


-8

The pharmacist did not PRESCRIBE anything. The MD did.


9

well, your question is easily answered…. pharmacies dispense and dont “prescribe” and you do not really know about the “arrogant” physicians efforts made to communicate with this plaintiff. My guess is there may be some substantial plaintiff embellishments being made here for $$$. I was interested in validity until the extra “falling down trauma” was added. Plus, the plaintiffs FB page is truly fascinating. Jury trial? good luck with that. And another good and needed young physician will be damaged also. Tragedy ( if true) all around.


7