Comment from Anonymous

I have cared for patients for over 35 years as a family physician. I wanted to share my personal experiences with Mifepristone. I do not think my experiences are unusual, but these safety concerns are not often heard since the use of this medication has become less and less monitored and used with less care. 1)Last fall our patient took mifepristone and misoprostol. She had an incomplete abortion and became septic, requiring ICU treatment and extensive follow up with implications for future fertility. 2)A patient called my office because her boyfriend had pressured her to take mifepristone and she immediately felt regret. She attempted to reverse the process but completed her abortion at home after 4 days. 3)One of our patients took abortion pills and had a fairly typical course of passing her fetus, but because of her worry and lack of support from the person who prescribed the pills, she ended up in the ED twice during the process, plus follow up visits to my office. I’m sure the prescriber felt this was a “success story” but in my mind it was malpractice by providing medical care without any follow up. Doctors should be required to deal with the results of their actions, not leave others to pick up the pieces. 4)I saw a patient recently who became pregnant in her forties. She had a 5 minute interview over the phone and received the pills in the mail. She took them and told me they “tore her apart”. When I asked her how, she said she became an emotional wreck and was racked with guilt. She took some benzos she found and within days relapsed using methamphetamines that she had been off for over 4 years. She ended up in drug rehab for over a month and is still in counseling for her emotional trauma. I am only a part-time family physician but have seen these 4 cases in the last year where unregulated, unsupervised use of mifepristone has damaged the lives of my patients. There must be countless more stories that must be heard. I cannot imagine decreasing the amount of medical oversight for these meds even further. The advocates lie by saying they are safe and easy. Instead, they leave women at risk for medical and emotional trauma without any support. TR, MD Altoona, PA