Medical Term for Miscarriage

Yanks514

Does it bother anyone else that a miscarriage is called a missed abortion in medical jargon?

I had my D&C almost 2 months ago and I received my bill today from the doctor (I had a deductible).  My best friend is a doctor and warned me that doctors refer to it as a missed abortion and not miscarriage, but just seeing it on the bill pissed me off.  First the word "missed"- you miss a bus not a pregnancy.  I actually caught my pregnancy really early.  Then "abortion"- I don't want to get all political or judgemental but to me an abortion is a choice.  I sure as hell did not choose this.  I actually had a blighted ovum, just call it that!

 I'm sorry for my ranting.  I just feel like I was finally coming to terms with everything and for some reason this really ticked me off. 

LynnsiF

I agree with you that it is super annoying and rude to even put your pregnancy in that category. I have been reading the book "Trying Again" and they have a section about how miscarriages are classified. Here is their definition for missed abortion:
"A term used to describe a situation in which the pregnancy has been lost, but the fetus and the placenta have not been expelled from the uterus."

It really did help me to go with the literal meaning of the words and tell myself it is just words and a categorization for doctors. I hope that helps somewhat like it helped me.

katharine25

Honestly, I detest the word "miscarriage" as it implies fault of the woman for beig unable to carry the child to term. I did nothing wrong, and I hate the implication that I was unae to carry my baby

The medical terminology helps me more when I focus on the descriptive term missed/spontaneous versus elective. There is nothing elective about my situation and that word will never be on my chart.

Really though, it's all flucking semantics

texasgirl76

I agree!! I was in the ER and when I had to sign papers seeing the wording"missed abortion" shocked me a little. My first thought was "do they think I went to an abortion clinic and they didn't do it right" ( the places my mind goes)

Meow7511

LOATHE that term. I don't like the word abortion being associated with what happened to me at all. However, I think no matter what word they use, I would still cringe when I hear it.

lamo1210

My mom who had to have 2 DC's over 30 years ago let me know that my hospital might call it a miscarriage and a DC but insurance will NOT!

KikiCohen

It is very unsettling to see those terms.  Another term for a missed miscarriage is a "fetal demise".  I had to fight back and forth with our insurance company over a charge related to my loss that should have been covered.  The agent I talked to kept saying it over and over... I wanted to reach through the phone and smack her.

(hugs)

NJMom050911

I hate it as well, my doctor referred to it as Fetal Demise and the bill said First Term Missed and I'm assuming the word abortion was cut off but I hope/think they did that on purpose.

kmwills

I don't know. I try to look at the technical meaning/definition of the words.  To abort is to end something.  My pregnancy ended, and I wasn't aware of it, so I missed it.  Fetal demise sounds horrible, but that's kind of what it is.  It's just business to the medical & insurance companies.

BunniKakes

(Oh, I feel like the language here in landmine field, but here goes...)

My aunt once told me that when a woman has to have a D&C procedure after a desired pregnancy and the term 'abortion' is used, those procedures are often included in abortion statistics. That seems misleading to me, and I don't have a source to cite... so I make no promises this is true.

I had a suitemate in college who had a poster from NARAL that said one in every four women will have an abortion in her lifetime. That number seemed high to me and I mentioned it to said aunt. That's when she mentioned that friends who had to 'terminate' a (desired) pregnancy due to a medical problem were counted in those statistics. 

(My own position on abortions doesn't matter; I'm just a stats nerd and appreciate statistical forthrightness.)

Regardless, using so many of these terms seems insensitive to women who are already emotionally vulnerable. 

cala09

*Siggy Warning*

 

I'm so sorry for your loss.  The medical terminology is so insensitive.  I too had a missed miscarriage and felt that the medical term for the D&C just didn't capture what happened on a human level.  I'm so sorry you have had to go through this too.