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Note to receptionist: an ERPC after a silent miscarriage is not the same as an abortion

3 replies

buonasera · 29/10/2011 09:23

FFS... posting this here as it might scare the horses over on the pregnancy threads, I hope that's OK.

I'm 11w pregnant - history of recurrent miscarriage caused by chromosomal abnormality, hopefully not an issue this time as I've done a rather expensive round of IVF with PGD to pick healthy embryos (and if the morning sickness is anything to go by, it's all going swimmingly). However. I've got my 12w scan next week and if it has all gone wrong again, I'd like to get the ERPC over as soon as possible. So this morning I've spent an hour phoning round BUPA hospitals to get someone who could fit me in for the day after the scan. But one receptionist just took the biscuit: told me I'd need to speak to the consultant himself in case there was any ethical issue that meant their hospital wouldn't do it! What ethical issue? I did say to her "it's not the same as an abortion" but she went "oh no, of course not!" like she would be used to humouring the patients. FFS.

OP posts:
PacificDogwood · 29/10/2011 09:28

Congrats on your pregnancy and I really hope you will not need that ERCP.

I've had 4 MMCs and 4xERCP so do understand where you are coming from trying to sort out an appointment ASAP if you were to be given bad news again.

The receptionist clearly was rather out of her depth wrt to your request and quite possibly opened her mouth before her brain was engaged.
Unfortunately, the word 'abortion' in medicalese means 'miscarriage', and 'termination of pregnany' would be used for what most people would regard as an 'abortion' ie ending an ongoing pregnancy.

buonasera · 29/10/2011 11:10

Thanks for the good wishes.

Yes I know about the medical terminology but it wasn't a misunderstanding: neither of us had said abortion or termination or anything like it when she came out with the ethics thing. I talked about an ERPC after a silent miscarriage: then she replied with this ethics thing. Like you say, mouth engaged before brain. I think they let the cleaners answer the phone at the weekend, honestly... actually that's not fair to the cleaners, my mum used to be a cleaner, and if you asked her a question like that she'd have written it down and got back to you when she found out the bloody answer.

OP posts:
PacificDogwood · 29/10/2011 13:01

Oh sorry, did not mean to patronise you.

You are not wrong about who answers the phones... it is one of my pet hates that private health care is often 'sold' as better than NHS when it is not necessarily. Faster, often yes. Better?? Not out of hours IMO.

Anyway, fingers crossed for you this time round Smile.

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