"On the one hand, I feel grateful that I was able to get treated when I was not in an acute state," Laub says. It now appears Laub will owe a little more than $4,000. Because her health plan had negotiated discounted rates with the hospital and the other providers, all of whom were in her provider network, Laub's out-of-pocket cost will be a fraction of that total. The total charges to date for the medical treatment: an eye-popping $80,000. On July 20, after 12 days and five emergency department visits, Laub was scheduled for laparoscopic surgery to remove her fallopian tube. The following week, she repeated the treatment in two more follow-up visits. She returned again three days later and was given a second shot of methotrexate since the pregnancy hadn't terminated. Laub returned to the emergency department for bloodwork and an ultrasound three days after the shot. After getting the shot, patients need certain follow-up blood tests for several weeks to confirm that the pregnancy is ending or has ended. Laub opted for the methotrexate injection. (In some other cases, surgeons may remove the embryo but be able to preserve the fallopian tube.) What led to her $80,000 billĪt Lenox Hill Hospital's emergency department on New York's Upper East Side, doctors ran more tests and gave Laub two options: one or more injections of methotrexate, a cancer drug that destroys rapidly dividing cells and is often used to safely end an ectopic pregnancy, or surgery to remove her fallopian tube, where the fertilized egg was lodged. "As scary as my ordeal felt at the time, I was acutely aware that I was fortunate to have easy access to treatment, and elsewhere women with my condition face much worse experiences," Laub says. Laub, who is being identified here by her middle and last name because of her concerns about privacy, says she couldn't help thinking about the recent Supreme Court decision as she went through diagnosis and treatment. Wade made it legal nationwide - Laub's experience shows the process can be arduous. Even in a state that strongly supports a person's right to make her own choices regarding pregnancy - New York legalized abortion in 1970, three years before Roe v. Laub didn't realize it, but she was embarking on a lengthy - and very expensive - treatment to end the pregnancy. An arduous end to a pregnancy that threatened her life Still, a Planned Parenthood staffer recommended that she go to a hospital emergency department right away. Laub was experiencing no pain, bleeding or other obvious symptoms of trouble. Such pregnancies are rare, occurring roughly 2% of the time, but they are extremely dangerous because a growing embryo might rupture the narrow tube, causing massive and potentially life-threatening internal bleeding. That pointed to the possibility that Laub might have an ectopic pregnancy, in which a fertilized egg implants somewhere outside the uterus, usually in a fallopian tube. An ultrasound found no sign of a developing embryo in her uterus. Laub went to a Planned Parenthood clinic because she knew someone could see her immediately there. But after 10 days had passed, Laub, 28, took a home test in early July and got unwelcome news: She was pregnant. She'd used an intrauterine device, or IUD, for three years and knew her odds of getting pregnant were extremely slim. When Sara Laub's period was late, the New York City resident shrugged it off. Such pregnancies are never viable and, unless ended, can lead to rupture of the tube, severe bleeding and even death. A color-enhanced scan of an ectopic pregnancy, which develops outside the uterus - often inside a fallopian tube.
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