I’m not sure what to do with this story other than post it here (special thanks to Rewire reader Cara (of The Curvature) who has also cross-posted this on Feministe).

It seems that Sonia del Cid Iscoa, originally from Honduras (but who has been living in the United States for the last 17 of her 34 years), fell into a coma immediately following an extremely complicated birth and was unconscious for 25 days. 

Iscoa finally opened her eyes on Tuesday and found herself in the middle of a nightmare. The hospital is seeking to send Iscoa back to her native country of Honduras for lack of adequate insurance coverage.  

Never mind that she is here legally; that she has a visa. She remains gravely ill, needing dialysis for kidney failure – the apparent cause of her coma.

Cara writes:

The original story is close to a week old — but a judge has postponed the hearing until this Friday
(which would be May 23rd). As I said, the Honduran hospital that St.
Joseph’s is looking to transfer Iscoa to has agreed to accept her as a
patient but warns that they cannot provide her with the care she needs.

As a woman who has given birth and who has an interest in ensuring safe childbirth for women in this country and globally, this part of the story has me both cringing and furious:

Iscoa went to the hospital on April 16 because of abnormal bleeding,
but the hospital sent her home, family members said. The next day, her
doctor asked her to return, and when her water broke and she began
having contractions on April 20, she was rushed into surgery and did
not regain consciousness afterwards.

“They told us that she was bleeding excessively, and they had to do
a hysterectomy on her, but they didn’t know why she was in a coma,”
said Maria Adame, a family spokeswoman.

 

For more, head over to The Curvature or Feministe. They’ll lead you to where you can take action, specifically donating to a medical fund for Ms. Iscoa.