A woman in Ohio was left in shock after she suffered a miscarriage that got her arrested when she went back to hospital – now she wants justice. 

Brittany Watts experienced an expectant mother’s worst nightmare after she was told by doctors in September 2023 that her pregnancy was dangerous. 

Yet, after her devastating miscarriage at home, she went back to hospital on the brink of death only to find herself arrested. 

Now, Watts has claimed in a new lawsuit that the hospital staff who comforted her lied by claiming to the police that she knew the fetus was alive. 

As per Watts’ statement, a forged medical document stated that she had made contact with and visually inspected the infant. However, since the baby was motionless and she purportedly did not desire it, she placed it in a bucket located behind a garbage bin.

Watts was about 21 weeks pregnant when she began experiencing extreme pain and bleeding. 

She was told by doctors at St Joseph Warren Hospital in Ohio that she had developed placental abruption – where the placenta separates from the walls of the uterus before birth – endangering herself and her pregnancy. 

Eight hours passed and she was yet to receive any meaningful treatment or care, the lawsuit said, so she went home devastated and scared. 

By morning, she returned to hospital where she learned her water had broken prematurely, her cervix was dilated, and infection had set in. 

‘Her pregnancy was doomed, her doctor told her, and until the fetus was removed, Ms. Watts was at risk of hemorrhaging, sepsis, and death,’ the lawsuit said. 

The standard procedure at this point for someone in Watt’s condition would be to induce labor or perform a dilation and evacuation procedure to ‘protect the pregnant woman’s health life.’ 

Watts, however, remained ‘effectively untreated’ for ten more hours so she returned home again. 

It was the next morning on September 22, 2023, that she painfully miscarried. 

‘Inside the toilet bowl was a mess of tissue, blood, and blood clots. And hidden therein was the already-deceased, under-one pound fetus, which Ms. Watts never saw,’ the lawsuit said. 

It further stated that Watts heard no sound and saw no fetus nor any movement before she collapsed. 

Watts laid on the floor, bleeding, for nearly an hour and afterward was disorientated and ‘thought she might die.’ 

After attempting to flush the toilet of mess, it overflowed, and she spent time clearing it up as best she could. However, being unwell and with her life in danger she returned back to hospital for a third time. 

As she waited in her hospital bed for life saving treatment, one of the nurses called the police and claimed Watts had committed a crime. 

‘The nurse was rubbing my back, comforting me, telling me everything was going to be okay,’ Watts told her lawyers at Loevy and Loevy. ‘Little did I know that nurse was the one who called the police.’

According to the complaint, hospital personnel falsified accusations that Watts had given birth to a viable, live baby, and had left the baby in a bucket. 

A medical note also claimed that Watts said she had seen and touched the fetus, that the baby was not moving or making any noise so she placed it in a bucket behind the trash can. 

To the police, Watts was accused of giving birth at home to a baby she did not want, did not look to see if it was alive, and had come to hospital without it. 

It was further suggested that the baby may be alive, and Watts may have done something wrong or illegal, the complaint said.  

Watts had seen on her home security that four police cars arrived at her home and was told by one of the health professionals that they arrived ‘per policy’ due to a biohazard. 

She was later arrested and charged with abuse of a corpse, a felony which she faced a year in prison for. 

It was determined during the autopsy that the fetus had died in utero, and on January 11, 2024, the jury declined to indict Watts. 

‘Fortunately, the evidence was finally evaluated by a grand jury and the truth won out. The grand jury declined to return an indictment, finding instead that there was no probable cause to support the criminal charge,’ the lawsuit said.  

It further added that the prosecutor who had presented the case publicly agreed that Watt’s alleged actions were not criminal. 

‘[The complaint] charges them with multiple violations of Ms. Watt’s rights, including constitutional violations, violations of the Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act (EMTALA), medical negligence, violations of medical privacy rights, malicious prosecution, and intentional infliction of emotional distress,’ her lawyers said. 

She has been speaking out about her case since the horrific experience and told CBS Mornings in January 2024 that she believed she was quick to be charged because of her ‘skin color.’  

Watts previously spoke at a rally in support of her as she faced the criminal charges that attracted national attention, where she told the crowd she was ‘not done fighting’. 

‘I don’t want what happened to me to ever happen to any other woman,’ Watts said.

‘I am ready to get to work making sure the laws are changed, and people are educated on what to do for something that happens all the time.’

‘As the old saying goes, history repeats itself. I don’t want it to happen in this case,’ she said.