BY THE TIME A YOUNG MOTHER-TO-BE GOT TO Dr. Tony Ogburn one night in July, the prognosis for the baby was grim.
The pregnant woman had come in through the obstetric emergency room at DHR Health, a busy medical center in Edinburg, Texas, complaining of severe cramping and bleeding. Clinicians quickly determined she was in labor. The 4-month-old fetus was not nearly developed enough to survive outside the womb, but it had already come partway through the cervix into the birth canal. If the mother didn’t complete this miscarriage soon, he and his team concluded, she would suffer a major hemorrhage, placing her life in jeopardy.
In his 30 years as a practicing OB-GYN, Dr. Ogburn, an affable 63-year-old with thick white hair, wouldn’t have thought twice about operating immediately.…
