Dr. Allison Bloom, who works at the Main Line Fertility Clinic in Pennsylvania, unknowingly injected a patient with a syringe of acid instead of saline. The two bottles had been mixed up by the sonographer
In a drug switch, a doctor accidentally injected flesh-burning acid into a woman’s vagina, causing excruciating burns and deformed genitals.
Christine, 33, a kindergarten teacher from Philadelphia, underwent a routine procedure on December 19, 2022 to check her fallopian tubes for blockages.
The treatment involves saline injected into the uterus through the vagina, but Allison Bloom, a physician at the Main Line Fertility Clinic in Pennsylvania, injected her with flesh-burning acid instead after the sonographer mixed the fluids.
Now Christine and her husband’s dream of getting pregnant hangs in the balance.
Main Line Fertility denied reckless conduct or other shortcomings in recent lawsuits
Within seconds of the injection into her vagina, Christine felt a burning pain and burning sensation.
Christine told The Philadelphia Inquirer she kept saying to Dr. Bloom, “Something’s not right. Something’s wrong. Should it burn?’
The procedure, known as a saline ultrasound, takes only 15 minutes and was so routine that she told her husband not to come.
But Dr. Bloom ignored Christine’s complaints and told her, “No, it’s just saline.”
As Christine writhed in pain, Dr. Bloom watched the ultrasound to see if the fluid was flowing down Christine’s right fallopian tube.
Angry red welts began to appear on Christine’s inner thighs and legs after Dr. Bloom completed the procedure and left the room.
Christine said it was “the worst thing I’ve ever experienced.”
The ultrasound technician checked the solution bottle again and realized they had somehow put trichloroacetic acid, at 85 percent concentration, in the syringe instead of saline.
Saline and acid are both colorless liquids and would be indistinguishable to the eye once they were in a syringe.
Such an error is known as a ‘never event’ because it is preventable and should never happen.
Trichloroacetic acid is classified as a possible carcinogen and is so corrosive that its vapors alone can sting the nose and throat.
The agonizing pain in Christine’s abdomen and lower body was later diagnosed as first- and second-degree internal and external chemical burns.
She has been left with a vagina disfigured by scar tissue that resembles ‘leather’.
Main Line Fertility, which is not affiliated with Main Line Health, has yet to apologize for the incident or explain how it messed up the procedure.
Christine and her husband, Jason, are seeking answers and monetary damages through a lawsuit filed in March in Philadelphia’s Court of Common Please alleging that the error occurred as a result of negligence, recklessness and failure to follow of best practices.
Main Line Fertility denied reckless conduct or other shortcomings in recent lawsuits.
It also stated that Dr. Bloom was not responsible for the acid in the room and that she had not filled the syringe.
A spokesperson for the clinic said it has now removed trichloroacetic acid from all offices and no longer uses it to treat patients.
In a saline ultrasound, a syringe filled with saline is injected into the uterus to check if the saline solution is flowing through the fallopian tubes or if there is a blockage causing infertility.
When it was clear something had gone wrong, the clinic called an ambulance and paramedics strapped Christine onto a stretcher. She was still naked from the waist down and had no idea what was going on.
She was confused when paramedics took her to a specialist burn unit because she thought she had had an allergic reaction to saline.
When a paramedic told her that the doctor had put acid water through her instead of salt water, she said she didn’t believe him at first.