By the time she completed her residency in emergency medicine, Dr. Andreia Alexander had seen all manner of injuries and complications — everything from kidney stones and broken bones to stab wounds and seizures. She was prepared, as an ER saying goes, for "anyone, anything, anytime."
But until recently, neither Alexander nor any of her colleagues in the emergency department at Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis had ever performed one of the most common procedures for women of reproductive age — a uterine aspiration (also commonly known as a D&C) or the removal of tissue from the uterus via suction.
