Hundreds of Babies Died in Abortions After Hospital Botches Miscarriage Scans

International   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Nov 8, 2013   |   2:18PM   |   London, England

Hundreds of women seeing doctors at University Hospital of Wales likely wound up having abortions after botched scans showed their unborn children had supposedly died in a miscarriage. A newspaper report indicates staff at this teaching hospital in the U.K. gave women outdated scans that falsely indicated they had miscarried and then failed to make routine checks to verify the scans.

Emily Wheatley, 31 and pictured below, almost went through an abortion herself after a scan indicated her bay had died in a miscarriage but she had second thoughts and went to another hospital that verified her tiny tot was alive and kicking.

The Daily Mail newspaper reveals an investigation by the Ombudsman of Wales found the University Hospital of Wales was using outdated guidelines on its scans. More from the newspaper report:

The ‘fundamental error’ in procedure goes back to 2006. Midwives investigating miscarriages are recommended to use an internal transvaginal scan which is more accurate than the external Doppler ultrasound procedure.

The scandal came to light after Emily Wheatley, 31, was told she had miscarried at nine weeks following investigations at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff.

But when she attended a different hospital for treatment with drugs to remove the foetus in July 2012, staff carried out a further scan which revealed a baby’s heartbeat. Miss Wheatley went on to give birth to a healthy baby but was ‘traumatised’ by the events.

Emily Wheatley yesterday spoke of her despair after being told by a midwife she could not detect a heartbeat during her first scan.

Another midwife repeated the procedure at the University Hospital of Wales, in Cardiff, but concluded she had suffered a silent miscarriage.

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It was only when she went to Nevill Hall Hospital in Abergavenny that another scan revealed she was still pregnant. Miss Wheatley, of Monmouth, who is now mother to healthy eight-month-old Ella was left ‘traumatised’.

She said: ‘When I saw the baby clearly on the screen, I couldn’t really believe that the University Hospital of Wales had got it wrong. I feel angry at the decision to not follow a simple process which could have prevented this misdiagnosis.’

Miss Wheatley, who suffers from polycystic ovary syndrome, added: ‘It’s just unbelievable that there are potentially other women out there who have been diagnosed with having a silent miscarriage. And they potentially have got rid of healthy babies – that frightens me.

‘Maybe hundreds of babies have been lost because of their decision.’