New Lawsuit Alleges Actions of 'Crisis Pregnancy Center' Resulted in Missed Diagnosis of a Life-Threatening Ectopic Pregnancy
The complaint alleges that Clearway Clinic in Worcester engaged in unfair and deceptive acts and failed to adhere to accepted standards of medical care
BOSTON (June 22, 2023) – Today, attorneys for a Worcester woman filed a class action complaint in Worcester Superior Court alleging that the Clearway Clinic and its employees unlawfully failed to adhere to standards of medical care, resulting in a missed diagnosis of an ectopic pregnancy. The ectopic pregnancy should have been terminated immediately under proper medical practice, but instead later required invasive emergency surgery. The complaint further alleges that Clearway Clinic engaged in deceptive practices to lure in people seeking pregnancy care and options, when the clinic’s true purpose was to steer patients away from choosing abortion.
“This case is further proof that anti-abortion centers like Clearway not only harm the health and safety of people seeking abortion, but also patients in need of basic pregnancy care,” said Rebecca Hart Holder, President of Reproductive Equity Now. “Anti-abortion centers engage in deceptive advertising practices to lure pregnant people into their clinics before providing patients with disinformation to dissuade them from accessing abortion. These facilities fail to offer safe or legitimate health services, putting patients at serious risk. When a person is seeking compassionate abortion or pregnancy care, the last thing they should have to worry about is a false health diagnosis that delays or stands in the way of life-saving treatment.”
“Clearway’s actions are not only illegal, but abhorrent,” said attorney for the plaintiff Shannon Liss-Riordan. “Our client was forced to undergo a traumatic, dangerous, and completely avoidable emergency surgery to save her life because she was deceived into going to an anti-abortion clinic instead of an appropriate healthcare provider. At every step of the way she was led to believe she was receiving appropriate medical care when in fact she was subject to a campaign of misinformation and unfair and deceptive practices. Through this case we intend to hold Clearway accountable and put other so-called crisis pregnancy centers on notice.”
According to the lawsuit, the Worcester woman, who is being referred to as “Jane Doe” for privacy reasons, believed she was pregnant and wanted to diagnose the pregnancy through an ultrasound. She conducted an online search of ultrasound providers and found Clearway’s website, which entices people to schedule an ultrasound with the promise of being seen at a state-licensed medical clinic by board-certified doctors and nurses who will diagnose the pregnancy’s viability. Relying upon Clearway’s representations, Ms. Doe booked an appointment through the website, was contacted right away by Clearway, and went in for an appointment later that same day.
According to the complaint, Ms. Doe was informed at Clearway that a viable pregnancy could be confirmed through ultrasound scans. A nurse at Clearway conducted limited ultrasounds and diagnosed the pregnancy as viable and in utero. The woman was not seen by a Clearway physician, despite being given paperwork upon discharge that her care was provided by a medical doctor.
In November of 2022, the month after Ms. Doe visited Clearway, she experienced sharp and shooting pain in her side, causing her to be lightheaded and weak so much so that she was unable to call 911 for assistance and required her husband to do so. She was rushed to the emergency department at UMass Memorial Medical Center where she was diagnosed with an ectopic pregnancy and internal hemorrhage caused by the pregnancy’s rupture. Because the ectopic pregnancy had ruptured, the medical staff of UMass were unable to assess Ms. Doe for less invasive treatment of the ectopic pregnancy, causing her to undergo invasive emergency surgery to stop the hemorrhaging, which included the removal of one of her fallopian tubes.
The complaint alleges that Clearway did not adhere to the standard of care which would have allowed it to diagnose properly Ms. Doe’s ectopic pregnancy. Moreover, while Clearway represents itself to the public as providing standard medical care, its advertising is deceptive because its true goal is to dissuade patients from terminating their pregnancies, rather than providing them the range of medically appropriate options. Further, Clearway’s deception is exacerbated by its policy allowing registered nurses, who are not licensed diagnosticians, to read ultrasounds and diagnose pregnancies, in violation of state regulation.
ABOUT ANTI-ABORTION CENTERS:
Anti-abortion centers, or so-called “crisis pregnancy centers,” are facilities that purport to offer full options counseling, when, in reality, they exist to dissuade people from obtaining abortion care. These facilities outnumber legitimate abortion clinics in Massachusetts three to one, and pose a serious threat to people accessing unbiased health care throughout the state.
Anti-abortion centers are often deliberately located near reproductive health clinics, and purposefully use similar names in order to confuse patients visiting clinics. These facilities create websites that appear in online searches for legitimate abortion providers and advertise online and in print media in ways that might appeal to those who are considering abortion. Anti-abortion centers are typically managed and funded by national organizations that oppose abortion, and offer medical disinformation in order to manipulate and dissuade people from accessing abortion care.
Reproductive Equity Now’s Abortion Care Guide identifies legitimate abortion providers throughout New England, in addition to flagging anti-abortion centers throughout the region.
You can find a full list of anti-abortion centers throughout New England HERE.
In March, the Massachusetts Legislature passed its FY2023 supplemental budget that included $1 million for a public education campaign on the dangers of anti-abortion centers. The funding will be used by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to help educate providers and the public about anti-abortion centers’ deceptive practices and their lack of medical services, in addition to where people can access legitimate medical and family planning services throughout the state.