Prague medics blame ‘language barrier’ after four-months pregnant woman supposed to be having a check-up miscarries

• The pregnant woman was subjected to a curettage, a type of uterus surgery
• Staff responsible at the Bulovka University Hospital have been suspended 
• A language barrier likely led to the incident, a health expert told local media 

A horror patient mix-up at a Prague hospital left a foreigner with an unwanted abortion without the expectant mother’s consent or knowledge, with medics blaming the blunder on a ‘language barrier’.

The error occurred on March 25 at the Bulovka University Hospital after a woman in the fourth month of pregnancy attended what she thought would be a routine check-up.

Due to a horror mix-up that went unnoticed by the nurses, doctors, a gynecologist, and an anesthesiologist involved, she was put under anesthesia that was intended for another patient, who was also a foreigner. 

The healthy pregnant woman was then subjected to a curettage, a type of uterus surgery and method of abortion, that was scheduled for the other patient.

Following the devastating procedure, the woman miscarried. 

A health expert told local media that aside from gross staff negligence, a language barrier likely led to the tragic incident.

Speaking to Czech media outlet Seznam Zpravy, gynecologist and vice-chairman of the Czech Medical Chamber Jan Přáda said: ‘A Czech-speaking patient would probably actively resist the fact that she is going to undergo a procedure that she does not understand’.

It is currently unknown which language the medical professionals had spoken in when communicating with the affected patients. 

‘The goal must be to do a root analysis, identify the causes, and set a process so that this never happens again,’ David Marx, chair of the Czech Society for Quality in Healthcare, told the news outlet. 

‘According to the findings so far, as a result of a serious violation of internal regulations on the part of the employees concerned, the surgical procedure was initiated on the incorrectly identified patient,’ Bulovka spokeswoman Eva Stolejda Libigerova told CNN Prima News.

The staff responsible for the mix-up have been suspended and the hospital is investigating the incident.

‘If violations of mandatory working procedures are revealed as part of the ongoing internal investigation, specific individuals will be held personally responsible for it,’ the spokeswoman added.

The Health Ministry had been immediately notified of what a ministry spokesperson called an ‘undesirable incident’ by the head of the gynecology and obstetrics clinic of the Bulovka hospital. 

 ‘The Ministry of Health expresses its deep regret to the patient and the entire family,’ said ministry spokesman Ondřej Jakob on Thursday. 

‘There was an inexcusable human error, the guilty parties have been removed from duty for the time being.’

He noted that the hospital would be informing the office about further steps to be taken against the employees who had made the mistakes, and would address the situation.

Jakob also stated the hospital has apologised to the patient and her family and is ready to offer compensation. 

According to Radio Prague International, the police said on Saturday that they were treating the matter as a case of bodily harm.

In the Czech Republic, abortion can be legally performed for any reason up to 12 weeks, up to 24 weeks for medical reasons, and at any point during the pregnancy in case of fetal abnormality.

It comes after a doctor in South Korea performed an abortion on the wrong woman, in 2019, after they failed to check her identity.

The woman was six weeks pregnant when she went to the clinic to receive what was believed to be nutritional supplements.

But both the doctor and a nurse – neither of whom were identified at the time – failed to check who she was, giving her anaesthetic before carrying out the abortion.