Kyleigh Thurman arrived at the emergency room of Ascension Seton Williamson in Round Rock, Texas, on February 21, 2023, bleeding and in pain. Doctors there ordered an ultrasound. It showed nothing in her uterus; however, it did turn up a mass near her right ovary and fallopian tube — a finding that, under the hospital’s own protocol, called for an OB-GYN to weigh in.
That evaluation never happened. Staff diagnosed a miscarriage instead, handed her materials on how to “let nature take its course,” and sent her home with instructions to return in two days.
When Ms. Thurman came back still bleeding, the hospital again noted signs consistent with an ectopic pregnancy and again discharged her without treatment. An ectopic pregnancy occurs when a fertilized egg implants outside the uterus — almost always in a fallopian tube — where it can never develop into a viable, surviving pregnancy.
It took the then 25-year-old’s own OB-GYN driving to the hospital to plead with staff before she finally received methotrexate, the drug used to stop the pregnancy from growing. By then it was too late. Ms. Thurman’s fallopian tube ruptured days later, and surgeons had to remove it to stop the internal bleeding, diminishing her future fertility.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services confirmed that timeline in 2025. Investigators found the hospital violated federal law requiring emergency rooms to screen and stabilize patients before discharging them.
