Woman sues hospital for botched abortion
A A 26-year-old woman in Jihlava is suing the city hospital for delivering her a healthy child eight years ago, Mladá fronta Dnes reports. “Kateřina,” who found herself pregnant at the age of 18, got an abortion at the Jihlava hospital. However, the doctor, unaware that she was pregnant with twins, accidentally left one child in her womb. She sued the hospital immediately after the child was born.
B Her lawyer, Alena Ostřejšová, said the 300,000 Kč ($18,100) sum Kateřina is asking for is to make up for lost income when she left her job to go on maternity leave following the unwanted birth. After eight years, the court is ready to pass a verdict. “This is an unprecedented case in the Czech Republic. The judge tried to find a similar case in the European courts, but failed,” Ostřejšová said.
C Such things can happen, according to Aleš Roztočil, director of the gynaecological-maternity section of the Jihlava hospital. “It is one of the complications of terminations of pregnancy,” he said. According to the head of the Prague maternity hospital in Podolí, Jaroslav Feyereisl, it is a complication that can happen to inexperienced doctors.
D This is why Kateřina decided to sue the hospital, her lawyer said. “We found out that there have been more such cases. They occur when the doctors don’t do their jobs – I don’t want to say badly, because technically everything was alright – but too routinely and they don’t bother to check their work. We want hospitals to scratch their heads and be more careful. The way they do their jobs affects people’s lives,” Ostřejšová said.
E According to experts, gynaecologists who perform abortions on women with twins can double-check their work with an ultrasound test – which the doctor did not do. At this point, Kateřina’s daughter still doesn’t know that she wasn’t wanted, the lawyer said. “Kateřina has a second child; she’s married. She’s a completely normal mother. She loves her daughter, and you can’t relate that to her demand for money,” Ostřejšová said, adding that the lawsuit is intended as a warning to the hospital. However, psychologist Vacláva Masaková says the child could suffer a terrible shock if she found out about the lawsuit. “It could damage the relationship with her mother and destroy trust. The child could become an introvert,” she said.
double-check – opětovně zkontrolovat
lawsuit – soudní proces
sue –zažalovat
to bother – obtěžovat
unprecedented case – nebývalý případ
womb – děloha
1) Read the article and match each of the headings to a paragraph.
1 Doctors should be more careful
2 Unprecedented case according to Ostřejšová
3 Kateřina and her child today
4 Introduction
5 Opinions of doctors from Czech maternity hospitals
2) Read the article again and answer the questions.
1 What is the article about?
2 Who is Kateřina? What happened to her?
3 What does her lawyer want?
4 What do the obstetricians say?
5 What does psychologist Vacláva Masaková think?
3) Explain the following words.
1 twins
2 maternity leave
3 unwanted birth
4 ultrasound test
5 introvert
4) Answer the following questions.
What is an abortion? What is a miscarriage? What are reasons for an abortion? Should an abortion be legal or illegal?
