Pregnancy After Depo: What to Do When Birth Control Fails

Question
Hello. My girlfriend is recently pregnant despite being on the depo injectable birth control plan. She was scheduled for November but when she went in she was not given the shot, although she inquired and suggested that she was due. The doctor/nurse told her she was not scheduled for a shot until January and gave her a paper (which I have) with the new date. We went back to the hospital yesterday and found out she is a few weeks pregnant, so if we had waited until January she would have been almost 3 months in. Is this our fault? Does a hospital usually keep better records of when they administer birth control drugs? Can a patient demand they be given the shot, or is it up to the physician to judge by a time table?

Answer
Hi Donato,

I'm sorry to hear about your experiecne with this particular hospital. I don't usually recommend depo or any kind of hormonal birth control pill. I have done research and have learned about risks and side effects from the hormones.

Are you needing any assistance with your pregnancy and baby? Let me know. You can get help and/or advice at a local pregnancy resource center. You can find one in your locality at http://www.optionline.org or call 1-800-395-HELP. Another helpful website is http://www.heartbeatservices.org and click on the globe in the upper right hand corner of that page for a directory of locations.

So I can't say what the particular policies of this hospital is. Perhaps you should find out and clear this up. Can you perhaps find a private physician in your area?

Diane W.