Petra
01-08-2005, 09:30 AM
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/1/6/194434/1328
From the above article:
Imagine the following scenario. You are at home alone at 8:00 on a Friday night. You are 8 weeks pregnant. All of a sudden, you begin to experience heavy cramping and bleeding. You realize with shock and sadness that you are probably experiencing a miscarriage. You are overwhelmed with grief and surprised by the intensity of physical pain involved. When your partner comes home, you break the sad news to him. Over the next few hours, you suffer pain, cramping, and intermittent bleeding. Exhausted, you finally fall asleep in your partner's arms around 4 AM. You sleep until noon.
Guess what? You just earned yourself up to 12 months in jail and a $2,500 fine. Why? Because you failed to call the cops and report your miscarriage within 12 hours.
True? Not yet. But if Delegate John Cosgrove (R-78) (http://dela.state.va.us/dela/MemBios.nsf/a7b082ef6ed01eac85256c0d00515644/EDAFC52BFEFCF8FD85256F7E00694FDA?OpenDocument) has his way, HB1677 (http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?051+sum+HB1677) will become law in a few short months, and this scenario will be reality for many women in Virginia.
[....]
Almost all states mandate reporting of fetal deaths to vital statistics bureaus. These statistics are then collected nationally by the CDC. In most states, health care providers must provide reports on fetal deaths after 20 weeks gestation (or at a certain fetal weight approximating 20 weeks gestation). Virginia is one of only 7 states, however, that mandate the reporting of loss of all "products of conception" regardless of gestational age.
[....]
Furthermore, this bill means that a woman who experiences a spontaneous loss of pregnancy will have her privacy violated significantly more than if she had chosen an abortion. Though Virginia requires that induced terminations of pregnancy be reported, those reporting forms require only a "patient number" and information on the procedure. The "report of fetal death" asks for the woman's full name, her history of prenatal care, her marital status, her education history, her previous deliveries (if any), and a number of other very intrusive data items.
If the miscarriage occurred under a physician's care, all of this information would be provided by the physician out of the patient's medical records. Physicians and/or funeral directors are given 24 hours to file this report. Delegate Cosgrove's bill gives women who experience miscarriage without a doctor only 12 hours to report, adding insult to injury.
[...]
The report requires the following items for spontaneous fetal deaths:
place of occurrence
usual residence of patient (mother)
full maiden name of patient
medical record number and social security number of patient
Hispanic origin, if any, and race of patient
age of patient
education of patient
sex of fetus
patient married to father
previous deliveries to patient
single or plural delivery and order of plural delivery
date of delivery
date of last normal menses and physician's estimate of gestation
weight of fetus in grams
month of pregnancy care began (sic)
number of prenatal visits
when fetus died
congenital malformations, if any
events of labor and delivery
medical history for this pregnancy
other history for this pregnancy
obstetric procedures and method of delivery
autopsy
medical certification of cause of spontaneous fetal death
signature of attending physician or medical examiner including title, address and date signed
method of disposal of fetus
signature and address of funeral director or hospital representative
date received by registrar
registrar's signature
registration area and report numbers.
...etc.
How utterly horrendous.
From the above article:
Imagine the following scenario. You are at home alone at 8:00 on a Friday night. You are 8 weeks pregnant. All of a sudden, you begin to experience heavy cramping and bleeding. You realize with shock and sadness that you are probably experiencing a miscarriage. You are overwhelmed with grief and surprised by the intensity of physical pain involved. When your partner comes home, you break the sad news to him. Over the next few hours, you suffer pain, cramping, and intermittent bleeding. Exhausted, you finally fall asleep in your partner's arms around 4 AM. You sleep until noon.
Guess what? You just earned yourself up to 12 months in jail and a $2,500 fine. Why? Because you failed to call the cops and report your miscarriage within 12 hours.
True? Not yet. But if Delegate John Cosgrove (R-78) (http://dela.state.va.us/dela/MemBios.nsf/a7b082ef6ed01eac85256c0d00515644/EDAFC52BFEFCF8FD85256F7E00694FDA?OpenDocument) has his way, HB1677 (http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?051+sum+HB1677) will become law in a few short months, and this scenario will be reality for many women in Virginia.
[....]
Almost all states mandate reporting of fetal deaths to vital statistics bureaus. These statistics are then collected nationally by the CDC. In most states, health care providers must provide reports on fetal deaths after 20 weeks gestation (or at a certain fetal weight approximating 20 weeks gestation). Virginia is one of only 7 states, however, that mandate the reporting of loss of all "products of conception" regardless of gestational age.
[....]
Furthermore, this bill means that a woman who experiences a spontaneous loss of pregnancy will have her privacy violated significantly more than if she had chosen an abortion. Though Virginia requires that induced terminations of pregnancy be reported, those reporting forms require only a "patient number" and information on the procedure. The "report of fetal death" asks for the woman's full name, her history of prenatal care, her marital status, her education history, her previous deliveries (if any), and a number of other very intrusive data items.
If the miscarriage occurred under a physician's care, all of this information would be provided by the physician out of the patient's medical records. Physicians and/or funeral directors are given 24 hours to file this report. Delegate Cosgrove's bill gives women who experience miscarriage without a doctor only 12 hours to report, adding insult to injury.
[...]
The report requires the following items for spontaneous fetal deaths:
place of occurrence
usual residence of patient (mother)
full maiden name of patient
medical record number and social security number of patient
Hispanic origin, if any, and race of patient
age of patient
education of patient
sex of fetus
patient married to father
previous deliveries to patient
single or plural delivery and order of plural delivery
date of delivery
date of last normal menses and physician's estimate of gestation
weight of fetus in grams
month of pregnancy care began (sic)
number of prenatal visits
when fetus died
congenital malformations, if any
events of labor and delivery
medical history for this pregnancy
other history for this pregnancy
obstetric procedures and method of delivery
autopsy
medical certification of cause of spontaneous fetal death
signature of attending physician or medical examiner including title, address and date signed
method of disposal of fetus
signature and address of funeral director or hospital representative
date received by registrar
registrar's signature
registration area and report numbers.
...etc.
How utterly horrendous.