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October 13, 2024
A mother-to-be was forced to have an abortion after being prescribed acne drugs that left her unborn child severely disabled.
Sarah Sharma, 28, was told at her 20-week scan that her baby had such serious heart and nervous system abnormalities that she would not survive after birth.
The diagnosis came after she fell unwell within weeks of taking acne medication Roccutane – also known as Isotretinoin.
The drug is so strong that women are made to take a pregnancy test before being prescribed it. They must also be using one, if not two forms, of contraception.
Unbeknown to her, she was pregnant when the medication was prescribed and proper tests were not carried out to ensure it was safe for her to take it.
NHS guidelines state: ‘If you are a woman and you are taking Isotretinoin (Roaccutane), you must not become pregnant during treatment and for at least one month after stopping treatment.
‘You must use one form, or preferably two forms, of effective contraception one month before you begin treatment with Isotretinoin.
‘You must continue to use this contraception while you are taking Isotretinoin and for at least a month after you have stopped taking Isotretinoin.
‘Treatment with Isotretinoin can only be started in a woman once the prescriber is certain that the woman is not pregnant.
‘Women will need to have a pregnancy test before, during and five weeks after stopping treatment with Isotretinoin.’
Although she was given one pregnancy test by hospital staff, this came back negative.
Procedures at Peterborough City Hospital, where Mrs Sharma was treated, have now changed so that women will only be given the drug following two negative pregnancy test results taken a month apart.
The hospital has since apologised for the error and Mrs Sharma has now spoken out to highlight the dangers of the drug.
Mrs Sharma, from Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire, who named the unborn girl Indiya, said: ‘It has been an incredibly difficult year for us.
‘Losing Indiya was devastating but to find out after that her condition, and subsequent death, could have been prevented is almost unbearable.
‘I am pleased that the trust has now admitted that they made mistakes, but what we really want are assurances that no one else will ever have to go through what we did.
‘People place their trust in medical professionals all the time; it would never have occurred to me that they were not doing absolutely everything in their power to ensure nothing went wrong.’
Following the diagnosis, later confirmed during an autopsy as fetal isotretinoin syndrome, medical staff advised Mrs Sharma to terminate the pregnancy.
She was left with no choice but to deliver baby Indiya on January 23 last year, 21 weeks into her pregnancy.
Source Mail Online