Shocking mess in a hospital. A woman lost her pregnancy after doctors mistook her for a patient who wanted an abortion

Doctors in Prague are blaming the “language barrier” after a woman four months pregnant who was due for a check-up miscarried.

After a horrific mix-up between patients at a hospital in Prague, a foreigner ended up having an unwanted abortion without the mother-to-be’s consent or knowledge, with doctors blaming “the language barrier” for this mistake, writes dailymail.co.uk.

The error occurred on March 25 at Bulovka University Hospital after a four-month pregnant woman attended what she thought would be a routine check-up.

Due to a horrible mix-up that went unnoticed by the nurses, doctors, gynecologist and anesthesiologist involved, the woman was put under anesthesia that was intended for another patient, who was also a foreigner. The healthy pregnant woman then underwent a curettage, a type of surgery on the uterus, and an abortion method that was scheduled for the other patient.

Following this devastating procedure, the woman lost her pregnancy.

A health expert told local media that, in addition to gross negligence by staff, a language barrier likely led to this tragic incident.

In an interview with the Czech media Seznam Zpravy, gynecologist and vice-president of the Czech Medical Chamber, Jan Přáda, said: “A Czech-speaking patient would probably actively object to undergoing a procedure she does not understand.”

Currently, it is not known what language the medical personnel spoke when they communicated with the affected patients.

“The goal must be to do a substantive analysis, to identify the causes and to establish a process so that this never happens again,” David Marx, president of the Czech Society for Quality in Healthcare, told the news agency.

“According to the findings so far, cas a result of a serious breach of regulations internal from the employees in question, the surgical procedure was initiated on the incorrectly identified patient”, Bulovka spokeswoman Eva Stolejda Libigerova told CNN Prima News.

The staff responsible for the mix-up have been suspended and the hospital is investigating the incident.

“If violations of mandatory work procedures are revealed during the ongoing internal investigation, certain individuals will be held personally accountable”the spokeswoman added.

The Ministry of Health was immediately notified by the head of Bulovka Hospital’s gynecology and obstetrics clinic about what a ministry spokesman called a “unwanted incident”.

“The Ministry of Health expresses its deep regret towards the patient and the entire family”said the spokesman of the ministry, Ondřej Jakob.

“It was an unforgivable human error, and those responsible have been temporarily suspended.”

He stated that the hospital will inform the office of further action to be taken against the erring employees and address the situation.

Jakob also stated that the hospital has apologized to the patient and her family and is ready to offer compensation. According to Radio Prague International, the police said on Saturday that they are treating the case as a case of personal injury.

In the Czech Republic, abortion can be legally performed for any reason up to 12 weeks, up to 24 weeks for medical reasons and at any time of pregnancy in case of fetal abnormality.

This decision comes after a doctor in South Korea performed an abortion on the wrong woman in 2019 after failing to verify her identity.

The woman was six weeks pregnant when she went to the clinic to receive what were believed to be nutritional supplements.

But both the doctor and a nurse – neither of whom were identified at the time – did not check who it was, administering the anesthetic before performing the abortion.