According to medical board documents, abortionist Lawrence Alozie Akpulonu allegedly raped patient “A.A,” who was under anesthesia for an abortion by Akpulonu at Midland Medical Center on January 28, 1995. A complaint to the California Medical Board states that:
“A.A. awoke to find respondent raping her; he had penetrated her vagina with his penis. Respondent gave patient A.A. a shot and she went back to sleep. When patient A.A. woke up a second time, she saw respondent next to her. She saw his erect penis out of his pants. She tried to push him away … Respondent then gave her another shot and she went back to sleep. When patient A.A. awoke for a third time, she found her sweater had been removed and her bra partially pulled down exposing her right breast. Respondent was caressing patient A.A.’s body … when patient A.A. tried to scream, respondent placed his hand over her mouth. Respondent told patient A.A. she had a beautiful body. He said she was a very nice girl and a very sexy girl while he continued rubbing her inside her blouse and bra. He kissed her right breast. He then placed his business card inside her bra and said she could call him anytime.”
He was found guilty of negligence and gross deviation from standard of care in this behavior and in the excessive injections given to A.A.
In other incidents, Akpulonu was arrested for committing perjury on government documents. He was also given probation for brandishing a loaded handgun in front of pro-lifers and threatening their lives. Akpulonu also pleaded guilty to medical insurance fraud. On November 19, 1991, Akpulonu threatened a parking garage attendant with a loaded .380 caliber semi-automatic pistol, which he had been carrying concealed in his vehicle, when the attendant asked him to remove his improperly parked car from a restricted area. Original charges of exhibiting a firearm, carrying a concealed weapon in a vehicle, and carrying a loaded firearm in a public place were amended to add a charge of disturbing the peace; Akpulonu pleaded nolo contendere to the added charge February 20, 1992, and the remaining charges were dismissed.
Medical board documents alleged that Akpulonu billed Medi-cal for x-rays on patients S.T. (October 22, 1986), C.C. (November 11, 1986), D.C. (December 16, 1985), and E.D. (December 13, 1986); false or fraudulent Medi-Cal claims totaling $9300 on 62 additional patients in 1989 and 1990, such as billing once as an abortion D&C and once for a non-obstetrical D&C for the same abortion; billing $5970.40 fraudulently as new patient visits for 98 previously billed patients; submitted fraudulent pathology bills on 43 patients when pathology services were included in other billed procedures; 15-count felony complaint filed against respondent and Shirley Akpulonu September 9, 1987; on August 9, 1988, 16 counts were dismissed in a hearing and 10-count Felony Information was filed August 15; March 13, 1991, he pled guilty to a misdemeanor offense.
There were many official inspections of Akpulonu’s Midland Medical Center abortion clinic, and every one of them revealed recurring threats to patient health that were not corrected;
Akpulonu, who is a podiatrist by training, ran his filthy Midland Medical Center abortion mill for years, and kept his clinic open despite at least seven health inspections that found numerous threats to the lives and health of his patients. Akpulonu’s case is a perfect example of how states are perfectly willing to let bad abortionists continue to threaten the lives of women, just because they want abortion to stay fully available. When reading this list of inspection failures, consider what the authorities would do to a pro-life crisis pregnancy center if it had such a lousy inspection record it would be shut down after it failed the first inspection!
A July 17, 1991 inspection found
– A filthy rest room with no toilet paper;
– Reports of unsterile instruments being used in the operating room;
– Fumes persevering after anesthesia;
– No registered nurse at the facility;
– Akpulonu performing abortions alone, with no assistant;
– No scrub room and inadequate supply of gowns and gloves;
– Blood on floor and curtains of the operating room;
– Facility operating with an expired license; and
– Blood specimens discarded rather than sent to a lab for testing.
August and September 1991 inspections found
– Employees were trained to clean hoses used in medical procedures in running cold water by working the hoses manually to flush out all blood and tissue;
– Surgical gloves not worn;
– Employees trained to dump tissue jars into the sink and run the contents through the garbage disposal;
– Medical instruments were in cold water in the sink and put in the autoclave, which was rusty and too small to permit closing of the lid when the instruments were in it;
– No pathology reports on abortion tissues;
– Disposable plastic syringes being re-used;
– Clinic smelled of rotting tissues, surgery room splattered with blood, and some other rooms were extremely dusty; and
– Rat droppings found in the surgery room and in the hall.
A May 1993 inspection found
– Respondent did not use gloves during medical procedures and advised his medical assistants that they did not need to use gloves unless they had a cut on their finger or hand;
– Respondent brought his entire staff into the examination room to observe a patient who had a severe case of genital warts;
– No pathology reports done on abortion tissues;
– No refrigeration for blood and tissue samples or for medications;
– No on-site equipment for handling emergencies;
– Fetuses less than 18 to 24 weeks were flushed down the garbage disposal;
– Equipment not properly sterilized between procedures;
A July/August 1993 inspection found
– Staff were now flushing fetuses of less than five months down the toilet;
– Staff were not trained in infection control;
– Equipment was still not being sterilized between procedures;
– Employees were assisting in medical procedures were not provided aprons, masks or hair covers; and
– Staff were re-using single use equipment such as plastic equipment inserted in patients’ vaginas, and tubing that transported products of conception.
A September, 1993 inspection found
– A foul odor in exam rooms;
– A dirty autoclave containing rusty, dirty, tissue-encrusted instruments;
– An employee containing dirty equipment without wearing gloves because the employee had been instructed by Akpulonu that, if the employee desired to work at respondent’s clinic, the employee would not wear gloves when dealing with bodily fluids; and
– When the employee indicated intent to report this to health authorities, Akpulonu told the employee he would see to it that the employee never got another job in the health care field;
A February 1994 inspection found
– Blood products improperly stored in improperly labeled, leaking containers;
– No soap, antiseptic, or towels at handwashing facilities;
– Improper storage of hazardous waste;
– Inadequate personal protective equipment for staff;
– Missing emergency equipment;
– Poor housekeeping;
– Improper record keeping; and
– Training was inappropriately given by an employee with only one week of employment and did not include information on the handling of an exposure incident;
A March 1994 inspection found:
– IV needles were not disposed of properly;
– There were improperly labeled blood products stored in open cupboards;
– There were still no towels at the handwashing site;
– The emergency exit was blocked;
– There were no gowns, face shields, or goggles for staff;
– The emergency equipment was still missing;
– The housekeeping was still poor;
– The record keeping was still inadequate;
– Biohazardous waste was improperly stored in paper boxes; and
– Maintenance room contained an unlabeled and blocked electrical panel as well as a floor covered with large wires creating a hazard.
On January 14, 1995, Akpulonu hired a nurse on the spot, but she quit after only four hours of working in his filthy abortion clinic. Among other health hazards, she observed in a complaint to the California Medical Board;
– rusty metal speculums;
– rusty forceps;
– instruments cleaned with dishwashing liquid;
– a lack of lifesaving equipment;
– no apparatus for administering anesthesia;
– cockroaches in the operating room;
– no medical swabs in the operating room;
– no alcohol in examining or operating rooms;
– a ‘rancid blood smell’ in procedure rooms;
– no refrigerator to store pathology tissues;
– no containers for biohazardous materials;
– no needle disposal units in examining room or operating room;
– used needles left on tables in the operating room; and
– improper handling of fetal materials.
The nurse’s complaint to the California Medical Board stated that
“Akpulonu performed five abortion procedures. … I saw old specimens, apparently from earlier abortions performed the day before, in urine sample glasses stored in the medicine cabinet. … When Akpulonu began the abortion procedures, he did not allow anyone else in the room with him. There was no nurse or assistant with him. … After the procedures, Akpulonu asked me to empty the products of conception from the gauze bag attached to the vacuum aspirator into containers. … he referred me to the medicine cabinet. The only containers in that cabinet that could have held the specimens were the plastic urine sample glasses. I followed instructions and then asked an intern if that was the standard procedure at the clinic. She said it was. The specimens sat on the counter for several hours. … Based upon what I saw in the short time that I was there, it does not appear that Akpulonu is sending any specimens to a pathology lab. … I truly believe that someone will become seriously injured if something is not done immediately.”
References: Los Angeles Times, January 31, 1993; News Notes. “A Gentle Touch.” The Wanderer, March 2, 1995, page 3; California Medical Board Accusation Number 17-95-46707 dated March 21, 1995.
Credit: Abortionviolence.com
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