This has lit up the blogosphere already, but I just felt I had to post it here.  Courthouse News and RH Reality Check have reported on the story of a New Mexico woman, Ashley Van Patten, who went to Presbyterian Health Services Rio Rancho Family Health Center to have her IUD strings shortened.  No big deal, you would think.  Just a quick snip and all done – something any reasonably competent medical professional could handle.  Unfortunately for Ms. Van Patten, she ran into nurse practicioner Sylvia Olona and ended up leaving the clinic without an IUD at all.  As the court complaint states:

As Defendant Olona began the procedure, Ms. Van Patten felt Olona pull on the strings of the IUD. Ms. Van Patten felt a distinct pulling on the strings followed by a sharp pain in her uterus similar to a very strong menstrual cramp.

As that happened, Defendant Olona stated “Uh oh, I accidentally pulled out your IUD. I gently tugged and out it came.” She then explained, “I cut the string than (sic) went back and gently pulled and out it came. It must have not been in properly.”

Doesn’t sound too sinister yet, right?  Simple mistake, happens all the time.  Wait for it…

Olona then stated, “having the IUD come out was a good thing.” She asked Ms. Van Patten if she wanted to hear her “take” on the situation. Without receiving a response, Defendant Olona stated, “I personally do not like IUDs. I feel they are a type of abortion. I don’t know how you feel about abortion, but I am against them. What the IUD does is take the fertilized egg and pushes it out of the uterus.”

Defendant Olona stated, “Everyone in the office always laughs and tells me I pull these out on purpose because I am against them, but it’s not true, they accidentally come out when I tug.”

…

Defendant Olona told Ms. Van Patten that is was better that she did not have the IUD because she could now use a “non-abortion” form of contraception. Defendant Olona suggested the deprovera (depo) shot or the pill, and made clear that she would not insert a new IUD.

It was at about this point that I had to pick my jaw up off the floor.  Not only did this show some sad ignorance and misinformation on the part of Olona, but it also constituted highly unprofessional behavior and borderline assault.  The full facts of the case have yet to appear, and Sylvia Olona is entitled to give her side of the story, but if this ends up being anywhere close to true, it’s a very poor reflection on Olona and a sad indictment of the state of women’s health.

If you’ve been keeping up with health news at all, you know that there’s a lot of people holding their breath over the Bush administration’s new 11th hour “conscience clause” regulation that allows a wide swath of health workers to refuse to participate in treatment that conflicts with their values.  I could’ve sworn I blogged on this topic already, but I can’t find the post for the life of me.  Maybe I hallucinated it.  At any rate, more of the above sort of nonsense is what many – including myself – fear will be one of the outcomes.  We’ll see what happens…