Doctors kill wrong unborn baby in abortion disaster blamed on 'language barrier' in Czech Republic

A hospital in Prague, the capital city of the Czech Republic, performed an abortion on the wrong woman and blamed the mix-up on a "language barrier."

On March 25, an unnamed foreign woman who was four months pregnant walked into the Bulovka University Hospital in Prague to undergo what she thought would be a routine check-up. At the hospital at the same time was another pregnant foreign woman who went to the hospital seeking an abortion.

As both women have been described as "Asian," staff at the hospital mixed up their cases. Suddenly, the happily pregnant woman seeking a routine examination was wheeled into an operating area, put under sedation, and subjected to a curettage, or surgical cleaning of the uterus. She later miscarried.

Multiple nurses and doctors, including a gynecologist and anesthesiologist, all misidentified the patient, resulting in the unnecessary death of the woman's unborn child. All personnel involved in the case have been suspended by the hospital, pending an investigation for gross negligence, while law enforcement is treating it as a case of possible criminal bodily harm.

"If violations of mandatory working procedures are revealed as part of the ongoing internal investigation, specific individuals will be held personally responsible for it," said Eva Stolejda Libigerova, a hospital spokesperson.

The hospital has apologized to the woman and is willing to offer her compensation, said a spokesperson for the Czech Ministry of Health. "The goal must be to do a root analysis, identify the causes, and set a process so that this never happens again," added David Marx, chair of the Czech Society for Quality in Healthcare.

Others, however, have implied that the woman who lost her child may be at least partially to blame, as hospital staff claimed a "language barrier" contributed to the confusion. Jan Prada, a gynecologist and vice chair of the Czech Medical Chamber, claimed, "A Czech-speaking patient would probably actively resist the fact that she is going to undergo a procedure that she does not understand."

The Czech Republic has stricter laws regarding abortion than in some areas of the U.S. An abortion there can be performed for any reason up to 12 weeks and for medical reasons up to 24 weeks. The country permits abortion at any time only in cases of fetal anomaly.

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