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A USAID worker's pregnant wife was denied an emergency medical evacuation after DOGE fired her

Charlee Doom Conflict Specialist with the State Department holding baby speaking to CNN Jake Tapper USA Navy USAID mission sailors signal MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter after rescuing victims of a private airplane crash
footage still via CNN; Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Sean Galbreath/U.S. Navy via Getty Images

Charlee Doom Conflict Specialist with the State Department holding baby speaking to CNN Jake Tapper (L); USA Navy USAID mission sailors signal MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter after rescuing victims private airplane crash (R)

Charlee Doom's wife was 31 weeks pregnant when she suffered "life-threatening" complications. The State Department denied her medical evacuation request — twice.


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A fired USAID worker is speaking out after her pregnant wife was denied an emergency medical evacuation after experiencing "life-threatening" complications abroad.

Charlee Doom, a Conflict Specialist with the State Department who has worked in places such as Somalia and Myanmar, was serving as USAID's Deputy Director for Economic Growth and Food Security Coordinator for Burma when she learned she was fired. Doom had been living with her wife, who was pregnant at the time, and their young child in Bangkok, Thailand.

Doom's wife was 31 weeks pregnant when she began suffering complications that were deemed "life-threatening." The couple requested an emergency medical evacuation, which she said the U.S. State Department denied — twice.

"My wife was the first person that I have been able to find in the entire 61-year history of USAID that was denied an obstetric medical evacuation, which is a standard right of all foreign service officers and their families," Doom recently told CNN's Jake Tapper. "And she was denied that right because Peter Marocco and others that are part of this administration deemed the funding for medical evacuation and hospitalization support for USAID officers wasn't necessary. And so, they zeroed that line item out."

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Doom said that she and her wife have since been in contact with "several senators and representatives that have been extraordinarily supportive," the first of whom was Mitch McConnell. Doom said that McConnell initially reached out to overturn the first two denials, but they were still unsuccessful.

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"Unfortunately, it didn't happen in time, and my wife did hemorrhage, and then spent seven weeks on bed rest in between hospitals and at home," Doom said.

Doom, who called into the show via video from Bangkok while cradling her newborn baby girl, said that they were "fortunate" to have her. As for what's next, she plans to spend the next eight weeks "trying to get the necessary paperwork to get her back to the United States safely."

"Because my wife has had a hemorrhage, and also lost more blood during the c-section than she should have, she is still at increased risk for further hemorrhage," Doom said. "So, we're going to try to keep her on light duty as much as possible, and make sure that she's healthy before we get on a plane back to America at some point."

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