political ranting
Ok time for me to get political kind of anyway…and I feel like venting. Some of this is kind of graphic about the disease that our baby had…read on with caution.
I am pro-choice and after what we have just gone through, some people may think that this may have changed….this is not the case. In fact, I am more pro-choice than ever before.
The reason this is coming up is because we got a hospital bill in the mail from our procedure/surgery back in November when we lost our baby. I need to explain things in more detail for them to make sense.
Our baby had a disease that typically leads to a miscarriage in the first trimester. Our baby was stronger than most (apparently girls make it longer than boys do typically). She had trisomy 13. The 13th chromosome contains blueprints that direct a baby's development in the early weeks following conception. When a child has an extra 13th chromosome, the genetic messages are confused and contradictory. This results in multiple significant defects in major organ systems.
Most babies who are conceived with trisomy 13 die early in gestation. Of the babies who live to be born, about 44 % die within the first month and 69% die by six months. Only 18 percent reach their first birthdays -- and these have severe mental defects and seizures.
In other words, it is a death sentence.
When we went to the doctor for our 20 week ultrasound, her heartbeat was 29 bpm. Babies in the womb have heartbeats closer to 129 bpm. They were able to diagnose her with trisomy 13 with just the ultrasound. This was verified with an Amniocentesis. We decided to go ahead with terminating the pregnancy, which was the hardest decision of our lives. The following Monday we started the procedure. It is a 2 day procedure/surgery since my body was not ready to deliver a baby at this point. It was physically and emotionally painful.
Just before the surgery on Tuesday, they did an ultrasound to see if she was still alive. This is important to how they code the surgery. If she wasn’t alive, then it is coded as a miscarriage. If she still had a heartbeat (even if it was only 20 bpm), then it is considered an elective abortion. The reason this is important, is that one is covered by the insurance company and the other isn’t.
Luckily for us both emotionally and financially, she had passed away on her own. Now comes the frustrating part. Because the doctor/hospital didn’t know that she had passed away when they did the start of the procedure on Monday, that day was coded as an elective abortion, therefore not covered.
I have been talking with a very nice lady at the insurance company who is trying to help me clear it up. Basically they all agree that I could not physically have had a miscarriage and an elective abortion within a 24 hour period of time. But the only way the code can be changed is by the doctor. They are trying to do this but it hasn’t happened yet.
It is so frustrating to have to go through something this difficult and now to have to deal with it again.
Now comes to my political part…what if she had held on for a few more days. Should I be forced to carry her until she dies on her own? Even though every statistic out there shows that the life expectancy if she makes it full term is basically non-existent. In this case, the cost to them (because we all know that insurance companies are all about money) would be less to terminate the pregnancy now than pay her medical bills later.
Situations like these should be a case by case basis, not a blanket issue.
So although I don’t believe that someone should terminate their pregnancy as a means of birth control, it is still their choice. In this case, I would hope they would CHOOSE to carry the baby and put it up for adoption. Each case is different and should be looked at individually.
Ok…done with rant.
I am pro-choice and after what we have just gone through, some people may think that this may have changed….this is not the case. In fact, I am more pro-choice than ever before.
The reason this is coming up is because we got a hospital bill in the mail from our procedure/surgery back in November when we lost our baby. I need to explain things in more detail for them to make sense.
Our baby had a disease that typically leads to a miscarriage in the first trimester. Our baby was stronger than most (apparently girls make it longer than boys do typically). She had trisomy 13. The 13th chromosome contains blueprints that direct a baby's development in the early weeks following conception. When a child has an extra 13th chromosome, the genetic messages are confused and contradictory. This results in multiple significant defects in major organ systems.
Most babies who are conceived with trisomy 13 die early in gestation. Of the babies who live to be born, about 44 % die within the first month and 69% die by six months. Only 18 percent reach their first birthdays -- and these have severe mental defects and seizures.
In other words, it is a death sentence.
When we went to the doctor for our 20 week ultrasound, her heartbeat was 29 bpm. Babies in the womb have heartbeats closer to 129 bpm. They were able to diagnose her with trisomy 13 with just the ultrasound. This was verified with an Amniocentesis. We decided to go ahead with terminating the pregnancy, which was the hardest decision of our lives. The following Monday we started the procedure. It is a 2 day procedure/surgery since my body was not ready to deliver a baby at this point. It was physically and emotionally painful.
Just before the surgery on Tuesday, they did an ultrasound to see if she was still alive. This is important to how they code the surgery. If she wasn’t alive, then it is coded as a miscarriage. If she still had a heartbeat (even if it was only 20 bpm), then it is considered an elective abortion. The reason this is important, is that one is covered by the insurance company and the other isn’t.
Luckily for us both emotionally and financially, she had passed away on her own. Now comes the frustrating part. Because the doctor/hospital didn’t know that she had passed away when they did the start of the procedure on Monday, that day was coded as an elective abortion, therefore not covered.
I have been talking with a very nice lady at the insurance company who is trying to help me clear it up. Basically they all agree that I could not physically have had a miscarriage and an elective abortion within a 24 hour period of time. But the only way the code can be changed is by the doctor. They are trying to do this but it hasn’t happened yet.
It is so frustrating to have to go through something this difficult and now to have to deal with it again.
Now comes to my political part…what if she had held on for a few more days. Should I be forced to carry her until she dies on her own? Even though every statistic out there shows that the life expectancy if she makes it full term is basically non-existent. In this case, the cost to them (because we all know that insurance companies are all about money) would be less to terminate the pregnancy now than pay her medical bills later.
Situations like these should be a case by case basis, not a blanket issue.
So although I don’t believe that someone should terminate their pregnancy as a means of birth control, it is still their choice. In this case, I would hope they would CHOOSE to carry the baby and put it up for adoption. Each case is different and should be looked at individually.
Ok…done with rant.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home