What happens when a tubal ligation fails?

May 5, 2017 1:15 PM

Say you're a woman whose tubal ligation has failed and you become pregnant. You call the doctor, a younger OB/GYN at a major American hospital, who performed your tubal. What happens next?

I presume the doctor would schedule an ultrasound (to check for ectopic pregnancy) followed by a D&C procedure and second tubal ligation. Does the doctor perform both procedures during the same general anesthesia? How might a typical health insurance plan handle this surgery, if the initial tubal ligation was 100% covered under the ACA?

posted by anonymous to Health & Fitness (2 answers total)

When it happened to me I found out when the ectopic pregnancy ruptured and I had emergency surgery losing the tube. Since I had already lost the other tube with a previous ectopic that was that medically. The surgeon who did the ligation was involved in another case that night so I talked to him on the phone but he didn't do the emergency surgery. He did tell me I had wrecked his stats. I'm not sympathetic. This was years ago so the insurance situation was quite different .
posted by leslies at 2:28 PM on May 5, 2017

I agree with SakuraK. I'm a registered nurse who used to work for an insurance company...and once you're pregnant, you're pregnant, whether you've had a tubal or not. The "D&C" you speak of would have to be performed at an abortion clinic, if you lived in my state.
posted by Amalie-Suzette at 7:12 PM on May 6, 2017