[virgil]

I wonder how she overdosed on heparin? That’s the only real possible malpractice I see here. Perhaps the doctor’s recommendation was really meant to cover his own butt. They’re going to fault Romney for presenting to this woman another point of view? Seems kind of a weak October surprise to me.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Yes, I wonder about that too. If this is not made up out of whole cloth I would think that there would have been a major malpractice suit.

BTW found this interesting : FDA pregnancy category C. It is not known whether heparin will harm an unborn baby. Tell your doctor if you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant while using this medication. Do not use heparin without telling your doctor if you are breast-feeding a baby.

And this : Overdose symptoms may include easy bruising, nosebleeds, blood in your urine or stools, black or tarry stools, or any bleeding that will not stop.

Nothing about kidney damage.

How much of an overdose did she get?

[mass55th]

Good question. Was she in the hospital when she was given the overdose, or did she take it herself? Maybe she took it to damage the fetus so she'd have to have an abortion. The article says her last baby died in infancy. Of what? Was she afraid to have another baby, and deliberately chose to do something to get rid of it? And again, I've seen no mention of a father or husband to her other three kids, the baby that died, or the one she was pregnant with. Too many unanswered questions for me.

I was brought up Catholic, and the last thing I knew, was that the church believed that abortion was wrong...period. In the case of the mother's life being in jeopardy, the belief was that the life of the baby should be saved. I may be wrong on that, and maybe someone knows more. The bottom line is, that there have been plenty of other women whose lives have been in peril, and chose to carry the child full term instead of aborting so they could get life-saving treatments.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Something else: Heparin injection is an anticoagulant. It is used to decrease the clotting ability of the blood and help prevent harmful clots from forming in blood vessels. This medicine is sometimes called a blood thinner, although it does not actually thin the blood. Heparin will not dissolve blood clots that have already formed, but it may prevent the clots from becoming larger and causing more serious problems.

Seem like a strange medication to give a woman who was in such serious danger from an already huge blood clot.

It seems it is what is given if you have small clots to keep them from getting bigger.