WARREN The legal defense for the City of Warren and one of its police detectives plans to question the woman arrested following a miscarriage in 2023, who then filed a civil rights lawsuit.

Attorneys representing the city and Detective Nicholas Carney filed a notice with the U.S. District Court, scheduling the deposition of Brittany Watts for later this month. The deposition is a sworn, pretrial interview where attorneys question a party to gather facts for the case.

Watts, a nursing student, is scheduled to appear for questioning on Oct. 23, 2025, at 10:30 a.m. at a law office in Youngstown. The notice was filed electronically on Oct. 8, 2025.

The lawsuit, filed in January, alleges that Warren police and hospital staff at St. Joseph Warren Hospital conspired to fabricate evidence against Watts, leading to her arrest and a felony charge of abuse of a corpse. A grand jury later declined to issue an indictment, ending the criminal case.

The civil complaint stems from events that occurred when Watts, then about 21 weeks pregnant, went to St. Joseph Warren Hospital on two separate occasions due to pain and bleeding.

She claims she was diagnosed with placental abruption, a potentially dangerous condition, but was denied appropriate medical care and went home untreated. She alleges she later miscarried at home.

According to the civil complaint, after Watts returned to the hospital for a third time, a nurse and other staff members allegedly worked with Detective Carney to report the case to the police.

Watts alleges she was interrogated by the nurse and the detective while in her hospital bed, hooked up to an IV. She contends that false reports and notes were created, which resulted in her arrest.

The city and Detective Carney have denied Watts’s claims in their court filings. They acknowledge that a criminal investigation took place and that Watts was arrested, but they maintain that the police questioning was consensual and that they had probable cause to pursue the case.

Their lawyers are seeking to have the lawsuit dismissed, arguing that their actions are protected by immunity, which shields government employees who report potential crimes in good faith.

The hospital defendants—including Bon Secours Mercy Health, St. Joseph Warren Hospital, and several employees—are also fighting the suit. They admit that Watts was diagnosed with a pregnancy complication, but they claim that she left the hospital against medical advice on two occasions.

They argue that her decision to leave released them from liability. The hospital also confirmed that a nurse called the police after a staff member documented a statement from Watts concerning the placement of the fetus.

The case has drawn attention from women’s and reproductive rights organizations nationwide, many of whom have voiced public support for Watts. The controversy has focused attention on the intersection of personal medical crises, patient rights, and criminal investigation.

Both the city and hospital defendants are arguing that any harm Watts suffered was a result of her own actions or other factors, an argument they expected to seek to strengthen during the deposition process.