Second Confirmed Abortion Related Death in Georgia
According to the Unites States Senate Judiciary Committee, a Georgia medical committee has just confirmed the second, preventable abortion-related death in that state, since the Dobbs ruling. Candi Miller was found dead in her bed on the morning of November 12, 2022, when her husband saw she was unresponsive with her 3-year-old daughter at her side. An autopsy later confirmed that un-expelled fetal tissue created complications after an attempted medication abortion. Candi Miller’s system also had a lethal combination of painkillers, including the dangerous opioid fentanyl.
The first abortion related death determination was reported earlier this week. Amber Nicole Thurman died in August of 2022, from a fatal infection that her suburban Atlanta hospital was perfectly able and equipped to treat. After taking abortion pills, Thurman was hospitalized for a rare complication that caused the fetal tissue to not be properly expelled from her body. A simple procedure, called a dilation and curettage, or D&C, which is routinely and safely performed, would have immediately resolved the issue.
In the Summer of 2022, following the reversal of Roe v. Wade, the State of Georgia made it a felony crime to perform the basic D&C procedure. The law allows for only a few exceptions: in the event of a medical emergency; or if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest and an official police report has been filed. Under this law, any doctor who violates the law faces an uncertain future that could include being prosecuted and a decade in prison.
The medical team who treated Thurman were unsure how to proceed under the new regulations, and determined that legally they had to wait to operate until her status could be designated a “medical emergency. Amber Thurman waited, in excruciating pain in a hospital bed, as doctors watched while the infection quickly spread, her blood pressure dropped and her organs began to fail.
The total time it took doctors to surgically treat their patient was 20 hours, which was long enough for Amber to worry excessively about the prospect of dying, and fear that her 6 year-old child would be motherless. Candi Miller lay in her bed for days, while she slowly died and moaned in terrible pain. She had refused to visit a doctor “due to the current legislation on pregnancies and abortions.”
Instead of Ms. Miller seeking routine medical treatment, she was forced to order abortion pills online, and to treat herself at home. Candi Miller, who was 41, had lupus, diabetes, and hypertension and doctors had previously warned her that carrying another fetus could kill her. Knowing there were no exceptions in Georgia’s Abortion Ban Law to account for her fragile medical state, and the imminent danger that waited, Candi Miller moved quickly to try and save herself.
The following is another excerpt from ProPublica on Candi Miller’s autopsy and what had transpired:
“An autopsy found unexpelled fetal tissue, confirming that the abortion had not fully completed. It also found a lethal combination of painkillers, including the dangerous opioid fentanyl. Miller had no history of drug use, the medical records state; her family has no idea how she obtained them or what was going through her mind — whether she was trying to quell the pain, complete the abortion or end her life. A medical examiner was unable to determine the manner of death.”
Imagine being in such pain that you are forced to procure a dangerous and possibly lethal painkiller, as you lie helpless in a bed, with no other options for treatment. Candi Miller’s teenage son was with her the entire time and saw his mother slowly die, in excruciating pain with few choices, and no hope. What does her death and the way Candi died do to those who love her, who could not protect her or get her help that had previously been easily accessible?
Both of the deaths of Ms. Thurman, and Ms. Miller, were preventable if not for the confusion surrounding the recently enacted law. While the Georgia law now threatens a physician with going to prison for performing an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, what are the new requirements for doctors who swear a Hippocratic oath to “not let any lesser public or professional consideration interfere with [a] primary commitment to provide the best and most appropriate care available to each [patient].”
“Candi Miller should be alive right now, and the reason she is not is because of Donald Trump, Brian Kemp, and every single Republican politician who helped put Georgia’s ban in place,” said Reproductive Freedom for All President and CEO Mini Timmaraju in a statement released on Wednesday. “We are grieving the loss of Candi, Amber, and the many others who have lost their lives because of abortion bans whose stories have not yet come to light — this deadly crisis must end.”
As an attorney, I have so many lingering questions about how and why Amber Thurman’s medical team proceeded to rationalize withholding treatment. The law specifies that a D&C can be performed in the event of a “medical emergency.” There is no clear guidance for the medical community on what would constitute a medical emergency, other than a doctor feeling confident that they could defend their decision in a court of law that has yet to review a single case.
According to ProPublica, which first reported on the death of Thurman, medical professionals involved in her care are refusing to comment on what happened to their patient, and the following statement about the refusal to respond, was published by them on Monday:
“Doctors and a nurse involved in Thurman’s care declined to explain their thinking and did not respond to questions from ProPublica. Communications staff from the hospital did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Georgia’s Department of Public Health, which oversees the state maternal mortality review committee, said it cannot comment on ProPublica’s reporting because the committee’s cases are confidential and protected by federal law.”
Surely, the prospect of an imminent medical emergency, that would put the patient at extreme risk of death, constitutes a medical emergency. I imagine that the medical team wrestled with this question for a long time, possibly 20 hours. The legal answer lies somewhere between the time she was admitted and that fatal 20 hour mark, which was clearly too late.
One thing that can be said with absolute medical and legal certainty is that the Georgia Abortion Ban is now responsible for the deaths of at least two women. Moreover, the mental anguish during the last hours on earth for both of these women was more like the time a death row inmate agonizes in the long, final moments as the clock counts down.
Ms. Thurman and Ms. Miller were not just forced to endure insufferable pain that resulted in their deaths, they were condemned to a cruel and unusual death and afforded no trial. Republicans in Georgia, who continue to brag about their political accomplishments now have three more accolades to add — those of judge, jury, and executioner.
Amee Vanderpool writes the SHERO Newsletter, is an attorney, published author, contributor to newspapers and magazines, and an analyst for BBC radio. She can be reached at avanderpool@gmail.com or follow her on Twitter @girlsreallyrule.
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There are no words to describe this moment. How many women and girls have to die or have to suffer for no other reason than to follow the abortion laws of the land. It is unconscionable. Yet, here we are. And I want to stare these conservative SCOTUS judges, and the ISC (Iowa Supreme Court), and have them look into the eyes of a pregnant woman in pain and ask:
“Is this what you intended? To slowly kill this woman? Why? Why did you overturn Roe? What were you thinking? Are you satisfied with the wrath that you have unleashed?”
I wish all conservative judges could be exposed to the level of pain that these women have had to endure and press them for answers. Each and every time someone dies, expose them to this reciprocal level of pain. This is what your recent ruling created. This is the legal chaos you have created.
And to think that Donald Trump is still very close to becoming the next president all over again. Yes, our country is an awful mess. Its shameless delight in pushing down women again and again knows no end. There is something quite awful with our systems of government to allow this cancer to grow.
So many feelings come up when I read about these tragic stories, it's heartbreaking, maddening and enraging all at the same time. That women die in this country in the year 2024 due to lack of basic medical care because 6 un-elected, self-proclaimed kings decided that their own ideology supersedes the rights of millions of Americans. It's vulgar! Take out the names and states and you could easily think this was in some far flung country with poor infrastructure, lack of medicine, poverty and doctors doing their best in terrible situations. But NOPE this is right here in the good ol' USA. I guess this is the "great" in the MAGA catchphrase, make America Great Again at killing women. This fuckin place is a train wreck. We must never forget this was done by one Fat Don Trump, who I can only imagine has funded many abortions himself but he wasn't alone. An army of whacked out ideologues across the country lined up in droves to impose and now enforce their barbaric laws, all blessed by a Supreme Mullah Court that is so far beyond redemption I'm not sure if they would even be taken seriously reffing a high school mock trial. I hope Harris has very smart people around her coming up with plans to combat this rogue runaway court, otherwise her election will be for naught.