No Baby?

A rather large oops took place at the Cape Fear Valley Medical Center in November of 2008. A cesarean section was performed on a patient after several days of attempting to induce labor on her. The problem? She wasn't pregnant. Several days in the hospital, multiple attempts to induce labor, an epidural and the beginning of a c-section and there was no baby. Upon seeing a 'non-pregnant' uterus they closed her up. The woman was suffering from pseudocyesis or false pregnancy. This can be caused by psychological or hormonal problems. You'd think it would be simple to discover the fact that there was no baby by physical exam or an ultra sound. Since it took such an invasive procedure to come to the proper conclusion the State Medical Board launched an investigation. A year later the board took action, they fired off letters of concern to the doctors involved. Wow, glad to hear they took care of that!

Who We Are
Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over forty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. Contact Us

Posted By: Alex - Thu Apr 01, 2010
Category:

Comments

unbelievable! i had 2 c-sections and they are no picnic. epidurals suck as well. the poor woman was either having enocrine problems or she was nuts. either way the medical staff should have caught this MUCH sooner.

Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 04/01/10 at 01:15 PM

Ya think, Patty? This is just totally UFB!

Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 04/01/10 at 01:21 PM

i double checked in case i got fooled (it's close)but i found an article in the fayette observer as well.http://fayobserver.com/Articles/2010/03/31/987295
once again truth is stranger than fiction.

Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 04/01/10 at 01:49 PM

http://fayobserver.com/Articles/2010/03/31/987295

Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 04/01/10 at 01:50 PM

bd, yep a little. but as i have said before smart=sexy for me. 😉

martel the situation you describe entails one non-professional, clueless person who ends up getting only the necessary medical care for the problem at hand. the situation above has several supposedly professional but clueless idividuals causing an invasive and potentially harmful procedure to be done on a patient who does not need it. subtle difference there. 😊

Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 04/02/10 at 12:20 AM

Commenting is not available in this channel entry.