And the nurse was permanently reassigned? Because that’s beyond rude, crazy, insensitive, etc.

OP, I hope you’re okay and didn’t suffer harm due to her negligence.

I had to pick my jaw up off the floor for this one.

OP, I second Jane and really hope you’re okay after this.

That is not only insensitive and rude, but completely dangerous! If that had been an official diagnosis, well…it’s just scary. As it were, I hope that nurse is dealt with in a manner befitting her crapitude.

That sounds like a diagnosis, which is COMPLETELY outside a nurse’s scope of practice. She should, at a minimum, be censured by the licensing board in her state. And I agree completely that sending her home could have been life-threatening. Yikes!

Dangerous, rude, and MEAN!
Even if it WAS ‘just’ a miscarriage, where is this nurse’s humanity?
Was she born under a rock?
Sheesh.
And, of course, the danger of her ‘diagnosis’, which could have risked mom’s life.
OP, I hope you’re healing, both physically and emotionally.

Even ignoring the ectopic pregnancy part, I’ve actually HAD a miscarriage, and those words are beyond hurtful and unnecessary.

Nurse Numbskull, you FAIL at life. You could have killed that mom if she’d done what you said.

Wow.. I’ve never had a loss and those words even make me angry and hurt for someone who had to hear them. No compassion???

I’m sorry you dealt with such callousness, OP. I hope that you didn’t suffer permanent damage because of that incident.

Thank goodness I was treated much more kindly and humanely when I went into the ER w/ cramping and bleeding at 5w5d (I was in the process of miscarrying).

Wow. Just wow. An ectopic pregnancy WILL KILL the mom. And if she’s to the point that she’s having severe pain, the situation is pretty serious. (OP, please tell us you are okay!)

An ectopic that far along with severe (and probably very specific, localized) pain doesn’t read anything like a miscarriage. How incredibly inept and irresponsible of the nurse. Anyone presenting at 6-8weeks or whatever with intolerable pain radiating from, say, one side or the other near the front of the hip bone, especially if she has pain in or just under the shoulder should SCREAM classic ectopic to any medical professional. You don’t mess around in that kind of a situation. That is not a miscarriage (as horrible and sad as that would be for a mother). That’s a rupture of the fallopian tube, with dire consequences around the corner, and mom’s life, health, and future reproduction at stake.

(And as others have pointed out, if the OP had been experiencing a miscarriage as the nurse assumed, the statement she made is, at the least, so devastating, so unkind. Really, is it so hard to respond to a woman who is miscarrying in a way that won’t further scar her for life?)

My hospital’s policy is that if you’re admitted for miscarriage you are required to stay for monitoring for at least 12 hours and you have to return within 24 hours of completion of bleeding for an ultrasound to ensure a complete miscarriage. I have NEVER heard of a hospital whose policy is to just send you home without even pain meds or an ultrasound. OP, I truly hope that you’re okay and that your fertility wasn’t dramatically impacted for future wanted pregnancies.

My daughter experienced an ectopic pregnancy and lost 60% of her blood volume. If she had not called a friend while she was home alone feeling faint she might have died. Her friend called 911, thank God.

my sister had an ectopic pregnancy when she was living in arizona, she was treated like she was dying on the spot and everything was taken so seriously my mom was astounded at how fast they got her in.

I can’t believe the sheer callousness of this “nurse” and i truly hope she loses her job for this. The woman could have died.

Even if this expert advice were accurate (which it isn’t), gee! It’s JUST a miscarriage? That’s all? I’m glad to know it’s nothing important or traumatic. Phew!

OMFG! There are no words.

I’ve been there. We called an ambulance when I was 5 weeks when I blacked out and collapsed in the hallway. The doctor in the ER kept telling me it was a miscarriage, but we’ll run X, Y or Z test blah blah blah, but it’s just a miscarriage. Surprise, surprise, three hours after I got there I FINALLY got an ultrasound that confirmed what I had been saying all along… ectopic. Surgery to follow two hours later.

All it would have taken this nurse (or that doctor) to realize it wasn’t “just” a miscarriage would be to look at the mom for half a second with their heads out of their asses.

My local region has one particular hospital (not mine, but same health area) that has a habit of letting women miscarry in the toilet of the ED waiting room because they are too busy to even recommend they go home. Sad as it is, I think this is actually preferable! Admittedly though, if associated with severe pain, they actually attend to you, but not for just bleeding.

I am not the original poster, but I am horrified to think that anyone encountered the exact same words and outcome at the same time I did. I want to say thank you to everyone who offered kind words. My hubby and I have been trying to get pregnant for almost year now. I found out I was 6 weeks preg, and due to a misscarriage in January my PCP snet me for ultrasound. During the transvag I suddenly had bad right low quad pain. Was so severe I asked tech to get the OB Dr to see why I was suddenly in horrible pain. He could not see anything in uterus, told me I prob was too early to see, not to worry. So I went home and figured the pain would just go away. By time hubby home about 4 hours later, I was in such pain I said we needed to go to ED. So at 1700 we went to ED. I was sent home from the ED around midnight, in pain and vomiting dark brown liquid(was given 2 Vicodin and a Zofran tab and wheeled out to my truck less than 30 min after vomiting). They had done pelvic, and transvag u/s. Could not find anything wrong in pelvic, u/s showed nothing in uterus. My beta HcG was dropping. I had no vag bleeding. So we went home. ( The irony is that I am a nurse, 15 years med/surg and tele) I was so sick, when hubby got home after work I insisted on returning to ED.By then was projectile vomiting bright red blood, pain was 10/10, distended abdomen. I thought maybe my appendix had ruptured at that point. ED sent me for ultrasound, despite me in tears because the trans vag was so painful the night before I did not want it repeated. Then when I returned to ED, was told OB had come while I was up in ultrasound, so would need to wait longer. My bp was 90/50′s range, I kept telling them that was not normal. I run 110/80 usually. I waited for almost 5 hours after ultrasound,(which tech could not see anything due to “free fluid obstructing view “, was same tech that had done the ultrasound previous night. then OB insisted on doing pelvic before they would consent to CT scan. I finally went for CT scan almost 12 hours after returning to ED. Within 30 minutes of the CT, I was suddenly on monitor, with two 18 gauge IV’s put in and on way to surgery. Had to have a blood transfusion and was told I had nearly 600cc of blood in abdomen they discovered when in surgery. Am now with only 1 fallopian tube and traumatizing event that has me scared to even try to get pregnant. Scary to think that someone with experience in medical field can fall through the cracks like this. Guess that is why I am a nurse, definately need to remember we are the advocate for our patients at all times.

I am sorry to leave everyone hanging, I meant to come follow up about this experience but it was posted while we were in the middle of a move!

Luckily we were dogged and stayed at the hospital. My tube had indeed ruptured, I was bleeding out, and it had to be removed.

I was too sick to contact anyone about the nurse’s “advice”, but my husband told my mother, and my mother raised hell. She was told the nurse would be reassigned, but we moved out of town soon after so I do not know what actually happened to her.

We were lucky, because when the pain started I got on the computer and researched what it could possibly be. I knew it could be a miscarriage, but I was not externally bleeding and the pain was so unbelievable. I came across the description of an ectopic pregnancy and went to the ER feeling there was a good chance that that was what was going on with me. When we got to the ER, people were being seen in order of arrival. So the guy next to me with a twisted ankle was seen before us, and that is when my husband went up to the nurse and described what was going on with me, and her response was that I wasn’t in an emergency, it was just a miscarriage, and that I should just go home and wait it out.

We were lucky to have an amazing surgeon, and I also have been able to have two kids since this experience though I was warned I might not be able to have any. So all in all I feel healed emotionally, but I do fear for other women in the same position as I was who may not be armed with the information I was.

evil. my poor mother nearly dies because of a doctor with this attitude.He almost lost his license, this nurse should be severely disciplined