Yahoo Lifestyle Woman 'minutes away' from taking abortion pill after wrongly being told her baby was dead
Hazel Wiggins, 36, was 'minutes away' from taking abortion pills. Photo: chroniclelive.co.uk
Hazel Wiggins took herself to the Hexham General Hospital in the UK after suffering some heavy bleeding during her pregnancy.
The 36-year-old community care worker was just 11 weeks pregnant when midwives at the hospital performed a scan and then told her she had suffered a miscarriage.
Mrs Wiggins told the UK's Daily Mail, "The midwife looked at my scan for 30 seconds and then said 'I’m sorry, there is no heartbeat,' and turned the machine off."
After letting family and friends know about the miscarriage, and mourning the death of her baby, Mrs Wiggins returned to the hospital days later to begin the abortion process. Deep down however, she had not accepted the fact that her baby was dead.
Doctors advised Mrs Wiggins that she would need to take a series of abortion pills but she refused, demanding instead that they perform a second scan to be certain.
"I was telling the lady who was scanning me about what had happened when she stopped and looked at me, shocked,” Mrs Wiggins told The Daily Mail. "She said, 'I have a baby here who is jumping all over the place, the baby is alive’."
Scan of a foetus at 11 weeks. Photo: Getty Images
Baby Amelia was born in January this year, but not without complications. Amelia's liver and bowel were outside of her body at birth and she also had respiratory problems. However, doctors say her health is improving every day.
Mrs Wiggins' case has since led to a change in policy on pre-natal scans. Under the NHS, all woman who have a scan showing their baby has died will be given a mandatory second scan to be certain.
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