Texas Doctors Forced a Miscarrying Woman to Wait Nearly 2 Days Before Receiving Treatment. She Died of a Preventable Infection

Josseli Barnica, a 28-year-old mother of one, died three days after miscarrying her second child because the hospital staff refused to interfere, citing state law. (Credit: Barnica Family/ProPublica)

A woman in Texas reportedly died from a preventable infection because doctors "had to wait until there was no heartbeat," according to state law, before treating her for a miscarriage at 17 weeks. She left behind a husband and 1-year-old daughter.

At 17 weeks pregnant, Josseli Barnica was taken to a Houston hospital where doctors told her it was "inevitable" that she would miscarry her son. However, according to ProPublica, they had to wait 40 hours to remove the fetus, leaving her uterus exposed to infection, until there was no heartbeat due to the state's abortion ban.