Author: Tech

L’Echelle Head, age 21, died October 11, 2000, after an abortion at Dayton Women’s Health Services.

Dayton Right to Life said that L’Echelle was pronounced dead at Samaritan Hospital after she’d been sent home from the clinic.

Police had been called to a private residence to investigate the report of an unresponisve 21-year-old woman shortly after 6 p.m.

L’Echelle’s obituary indicates that she left behind a daughter, her parents, and three sisters.

Dayton Women’s Health Services had been caught operating without a license in 1999. It was inspected on October 27, 1999, to see if a license should be granted. Inspectors found rusty instruments, improperly-marked medications, and a failure to follow sterile technique. The clinic administrators were told they’d have to correct the problems to get a license.

The clinic got the license after getting a waiver regarding follow-up care for patients.

Sources: “Woman Dies After Abortion in Dayton, Ohio,” CDR Radio Network, reported by Pro-Life Info-Net October 22, 2000; “Dayton Right To Life Calls for Investigation into Local Woman’s Death,” press release, October 16, 2000

Credit: Christina Dunigan

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A lawsuit filed over the death of Sheila Habert contended that Dr. Glidden (the abortionist) and clinic staff failed to monitor the patient in recovery, failed to react properly when her condition was discovered, failed to call 911 promptly, and failed to have adequate emergency equipment available. (East Baton Rouge Parish District Court Case No. 289518)

A chronic ashtma patient, 27-year-old Sheila Hebert went to Delta Women’s Clinic in Baton Rouge for a safe and legal abortion on June 6, 1984. Shortly after the abortion, Sheila complained of chest pains and difficulty breathing. She lost consciousness, and staff injected her with adrenaline, but were unable to revive her. She was taken to a nearby hospital where she died.

The coroner attributed the death to “cardiorespiratory arrest due to acute ashtmatic bronchitis” after “surgical termination of pregnancy

A suit filed anonymously against Richardson Glidden and Delta Women’s Clinic raised these issues in the death of a patient in 1984. The suit and news article therefore probably describe the same case; any minor discrepancies are probably just errors in reporting. “Jane Doe” was 27 years old. The suit was filed on behalf of her 10-year-old motherless son, “Minor A”. Jane was the couple’s only daughter. She was aborted by Glidden at Delta on June 5, 1984. Afterward, she was “placed in a post-operative room where she developed an acute asthma condition and expired.” Emergency personnel arrived within 3 minutes of getting the call, but found the young woman blue, cool, and essentially lifeless. Efforts to revive her, both at Delta and at the ICU proved unsuccessful.

Sources: Baton Rouge State Times and Morning Advocate July 1984; East Baton Rouge Parish District Court Case No. 289518

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Donna Heim, age 20, went to Her Medical Clinic on August 12, 1986, accompanied by her sister. Donna told staff that she had asthma, and she noted this on her forms when she filled them out. Despite this pre-existing condition, a nurse anesthetist administered general anesthesia for her safe and legal abortion.

Donna started to have difficulty breathing, but Mahlon Cannon continued with the procedure for five more minutes before helping the nurse anesthetist to try to restore Donna’s breathing. He cut a hole in Donna’s throat, but she still didn’t start breathing.

Donna’s sister, who was in the waiting room, became alarmed at the intense staff activity she noticed, and questioned a staffer about her sister. She was reassured that Donna was fine. The sister saw an ambulance pull up to the building and stepped outside, where she observed her sister being transferred into the emergency vehicle. Donna’s sister followed the ambulance to a nearby hospital, which summoned the comatose young woman’s parents.

Donna died the next day without regaining consciousness. An investigation was sparked, and an administrative law judge ruled that Cannon was negligent in continuing with the abortion despite the patient’s respiratory distress. The judge also found that Cannon often failed to do medical exams, take medical histories, or administer standard tests prior to abortions.

Attorney General Linda Vogel said, “What he failed to do [for Donna] are things that are learned in the first year of medical school.”

Liliana Cortez also died after an abortion at Her Medical Clinic that year.

Sources: Los Angeles Times 6/17/91, Los Angeles Herald Examiner 2/22/88, and The Wanderer, July 1991

Credit; Christina Dunigan

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Twenty-four-year-old Patricia King went to Dean H. Diment in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for a safe and legal abortion on May 4, 1987.

Patricia went into cardiac arrest after being injected with anesthetic. Paramedics arrived at Diment’s Statewide Clinic and found the place so unclean that they could have written their names in the dust. Diment told them that he had injected Neo-Synephrine and sodium bicarbonate into Patricia’s heart but no one had performed CPR or made any other attempt to revive her. She had been in arrest for 20 minutes. Paramedics could not revive her.

Diment’s associates at Statewide Clinic had a history of legal troubles. The medical director, Jimmie C. Tooney, had pleaded guilty in 1973 of writing narcotics prescriptions for a convicted drug dealer. Administrator William R. Cloud had been charged with conspiracy to commit illegal abortion in the early 1970’s but had the charge dropped after abortion was legalized by Roe v. Wade.

Statewide Clinic advertised that it was “licensed by the state,” but at the time of Patricia’s death, abortion clinics were not regulated by the state of Oklahoma. Statewide had not been inspected since the attorney general had declared state oversight unconstitutional in 1984. Patricia’s sister described the facility as “like a haunted house.”

Sources: Tulsa Tribune 7/13/87; Tulsa County District Court Case No. CJ 87 04681

Credit: Christina Dunigan

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Susan Levy was 30 years old when she underwent a safe and legal abortion at the Family Planning Associates in Mission Hills, California on April 9, 1992. FPA is a member of the National Abortion Federation.

Susan was homeless and was living in a car owned by a friend. On May 19, 1992, she was found dead in that car.

The cause of death was determined to be from an infection that developed from fetal tissue that was not removed during her abortion.

Susan is one of many women to die at this NAF member after the National Abortion Federation was founded.

Other women known to have died after abortion at Allred’s facilities include:

* Denise Holmes, age 24, 1970
* Patricia Chacon, age 16, 1984
* Mary Pena, age 43, 1984
* Josefina Garcia, age 37, 1985
* Lanice Dorsey, age 17, 1986
* Joyce Ortenzio, age 32, 1988
* Tami Suematsu, age 19, 1988
* Deanna Bell, age 13, 1992
* Christina Mora, age 18, 1994
* Kimberly Neil, 2000
* Chanelle Bryant, age 22, 2004

I suspect that the reason the deaths appear in clusters is because those are years that researchers checked for lawsuits, rather than that these are all the women and girls who died at Allred facilities. Anybody with the time and resources to do so could probably uncover other deaths Allred and his staff have managed to sweep under the carpet.

California Death Certificate No. 92-121785; Los Angeles County (CA) Autopsy Report No. 92-04539

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Suzanne Logan went to Maryland’s Hillview abortion clinic for an abortion on September 9, 1989. Her abortion was performed by Gideon Kioko. She was 13 weeks pregnant.

There was no record of how much intravenous Brevital was administered to Suzanne, or who administered the drug. There was also no record of any examination to determine of this drug was appropriate for Suzanne.

Suzanne was already unconscious on the table when Kioko and his nurse entered the procedure room. Kioko was being assisted by an unlicensed nurse, who noted that Suzanne’s lips were turning blue. She told Kioko, who continued with the abortion procedure. There is no record that anybody monitored her vital signs or administered oxygen during the procedure.

The nurse summoned Barbara Lofton, who came into the room with Dr. Raymond Taylor, a doctor Hillview used to provide aftercare. Taylor began to attend to Suzanne. Kioko’s only contribution to the efforts to revive his patient was to attach an EKG line to one of her arms.

Eventually somebody summoned emergency medical services (EMS). The EMS personnel reported that the Hillview employees seemed “very confused and did not seem to know what they were doing.” EMS staff also noted that Hillview staff had put an oxygen mask on Suzanne upside-down, so that she wasn’t getting any oxygen.

Suzanne was cyanotic (she had turned blue from lack of oxygen), her pupils were dilated. She was limp, and had no pulse and was not breathing. EMS workers managed to perform CPR and get Suzanne’s heart and lungs working again, and transported her to a hospital.

Suzanne remained comatose and was transferred to a nursing home. Four months after the abortion, she regained consciousness, but was paralyzed and unable to speak. She had no memory of the abortion, but was able to eventually recall having gone to the clinic.

Local prolifers visited Suzanne, and bought her a device that allowed her to communicate. She was interviewed by 60 Minutes, and asked what she wanted. She replied, “To go home.”

Suzanne filed suit against Kioko and the clinic. In November of 1992, she finally won her suit, and was awarded $2.6 million and $10,000 a month for life, to cover her expenses. Sadly, Suzanne died on December 1, before she had a chance to fulfill her wish of seeing her father again.

Debra Gray also died after an abortion at Hillview. Hillview’s owner, Barbara Lofton, had opened an abortion clinic in the District of Columbia, but had been closed down for operating without a license. So she’d moved two miles over the border into Maryland, where there were no impeding regulations keeping her from running the facility. A former employee interviewed by 60 Minutes thought that Lofton was a doctor because she dressed like a doctor, answered the phone “Dr. Lofton,” and performed medical tasks.

Kioko made the following excuses to the medical board regarding the fatal abortions:

“In the first two cases where Brevital was given, I did not give it, nor did I consent to it. I was not consulted or asked about it. I did not even start intravenous fluids. The decision to administer Brevital was made by the patient and the clinic, and during those [sic] time, I would be called in. I would be notified that “the patient is now asleep, Doctor. You may start the procedure.”

….

I, therefore, had nothing to do with the Brevital administered to these two patients. Other contract physicians were also working under similar terms, and, like me, they had nothing to do with the administration of Brevital. I suppose that I was just unlucky at that time and happened to be there when this incident happened.

….

[Regarding Debra Gray]. I understand that [the Brevital] was given by Dr. Barbara Lofton-Clinical Practitioner. My initial contact with the patient was the initial sizing evaulation and to determine the gestational age of the pregnancy. The next contact by me was when the patient was already asleep. As I was finishing the procedure, I called the attention to the administers [sic] of the anesthetic, that the patient’s blood was getting unusually dark. At that time, in my view, adequate resuscitation efforts was [sic] immediately instituted with airway established and 911 was called. EKG and oxygen were available and were used. Dr. Taylor, a Cardiology fellow headed the resuscitation effort. It is just not true that adequate resuscitation was not done and that the equipment was not available. Incidentally, this patient had recently used Opium [sic], though the patient had denied this in her medical history.

The case of [Suzanne Logan] is similar. The patient was put to sleep, with Brevital. I was not in the Operating Room at the time. Once again I was called in to do the procedure once the patient was deemed asleep. I was not consulted, nor did I participate in the decision to give the agent, but once again, I know there was immediate and adequate resuscitation effort. (Please refer to the letter from Dr. [sic] Barbara Lofton). The only case I directly had complete responsibility for is that of … [Patient C].”

The medical board noted that Kioko, as the physician performing the procedure, was still responsible for ensuring that the patient was being provided with appropriate care, regardless of how the clinic chose to assign tasks. The board also noted that nobody was monitoring either woman’s vital signs while Kioko was operating on them.

The board noted that “In the above cases, [Kioko] performed surgical procedures under conditions that failed to meet appropriate standards for the delivery of quality medical and surgical care. …. In the event that [Kioko} was unable to correct these conditions, the appropriate standard of care required that [he] not perform these procedures at this facility until these conditions were so corrected.”

The board also noted that “Kioko demonstrated a serious lack of judgment…. Kioko assumed that his role was limited to performing technical procedures upon anesthetized patients, leaving overall management of the patients to others. Dr. Kioko’s gullibility in this regard proved fatal.”

Sources: 60 Minutes Volume XXIII, #32, April 21, 1991″>; Daily Herald 12-20-91; Washington Post 12-11-91; “Botched-Abortion Victim Dies In Baltimore,” Washington Times, December 2, 1992; Maryland Autopsy Report No. 89-1873

Credit: Christina Dunigan

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The following information is from a suite filed by the survivors of 21-year-old Dawn Marie Mack.

Dawn had an abortion performed at National Abortion Federation member facility Eastern Women’s Center August 2, 1991.

She was attended at Eastern by Orrin Moore, Aurel Calalb, Elena Raftopol, Adel Abadir, Linda Wissbrun and/or Reena Rang. While at Eastern, Dawn went into cardiorespiratory arrest.

The suit said that Easterns staff failed to adequately respond to “the precipitous drop in Plaintiff’s blood pressure, cardiac arrhythmia leading to cardiac arrest and cessation of respiration.”

Dawn was transported to a hospital by ambulance, where staff tried to resuscitate Dawn to no avail. She died August 3.

The suit contended that the following shortcomings at Eastern caused Dawn’s death:

* carelessness in hiring staff
* negligent supervising of staff
* lack of emergency protocol and staff skilled in treating emergencies
* lack of adequate equipment
* failure to maintain equipment appropriately
* failure to administer timely and properly dosed medications
* failure to convey to Dawn the risks of anesthesia
* failure to adequately evaluate Dawn’s condition via exam and medical history prior to anesthesia
* failure to allow sufficient time to administer anesthesia and perform the abortion in a safe and careful manner
* inadequate staff training
* failure to adequately monitor anesthesia
* failure to accurately chart and record observations and responses
* failure to anticipate potential complications

The suit further contended that “no reasonable person would have undergone the procedures which were performed upon the decedent plaintiff if the level of skills and ability of staff and other medical personnel, together with the amount, kind and condition of equipment on the premises had been disclosed to decedent plaintiff.”

Source: New York County Supreme Court Index No. 104592/93

 

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Dear Lord, I sit here alone with my thoughts wondering if you will ever forgive me. Why do I continue to fail you? I’m failing you because I’m turning away from the precious gift of having a child. A child. A breathing, living, beautiful life that I created but too selfish to accept from you. Will you still love me as a child of yours? Will I still love me after today?

Haley’s journal – Oct. 23, 2000

On April 5, 2001, Donetta Robben’s 22-year-old niece didn’t show up for work. Her friend Rosa drove over to check on her, and her car wasn’t there. Rosa called the girl’s father, Edwin. Had she gone home to visit her family?

Edwin later said he just knew that his daughter was dead. He called the Omaha police, and he called his daughter’s landlord. They went to the apartment. They found her body.

Though the coroner estimated that the young woman had been dead for several days, all official documents, and the young woman’s tombstone, use the April 5th date. So will I.

In telling her niece’s story, Donetta decided to use the name “Haley Mason” rather than her niece’s real name. In respect for the family’s desire to grieve privately, I’m using the name Donetta uses: Haley Mason. Likewise, I use the pseudonyms Donetta uses for friends and family members.

The official ruling was that Haley’s death was an accidental overdose. Her family was stunned as the investigators spoke with them, revealing the discoveries made while looking into the young woman’s death. Isolated words echoed in their minds: death, journals, death, pills, death, drinking, death, hurt, death, abortion… Abortion?

Abortion.

The answers to how Haley went from happy-go-lucky college student to suicide statistic weren’t in the official reports. They were found in Haley’s journals, where she poured her heart out in the final months of her life.

The story of how Haley died begins when she fell in love with Todd. She found out she was pregnant and told him. He wanted her to get an abortion.

Haley was a student at the University of Nebraska. She worked two jobs to meet her expenses. Unmarried, without much money, and with a disapproving boyfriend, Haley saw abortion as her only option. She made her appointment at the Bellevue, Nebraska practice of Dr. Leroy Carhart. It was late October of 2000.

Haley wrote of Todd’s attitude: “I must let him abandon me. He doesn’t care about me. I know he’s only agreed to pay for it to ease his own guilt.”

Haley found the abortion stressful: the wait, the sounds, the crude and uncaring behavior of the doctor. Haley’d been told to arrive at the clinic at 7:00 in the morning, but it was ten hours before she was finally on the table, ready for the abortion. Carhart walked into the room, clad in a dirty coat and glasses so smeared that Haley’s friend, who had accompanied her, wondered how he could even see through the lenses.

Haley, in her fog of medication, tried to make a joke. “Don’t hurt me down there?” she said. “Be still and I won’t,” Carhart replied.

While performing the vacuum abortion, Carhart spouted profanities. He told Haley and her friend that he was tired. He’d been speaking in California the day before, and had just flown into Omaha that morning.

After the abortion, Haley felt violated, as if she’d been raped. She also experienced continued spotting into January. She’d not been given a follow-up appointment, and didn’t know if the bleeding was normal or not. She didn’t want to go to another doctor, because she’d have to tell him about the abortion, and that was just too painful to talk about. The bleeding was a constant reminder of the death of Haley’s unborn baby.

Haley told few people about the abortion: three close friends and two relatives. But she didn’t tell them of her struggle to cope with the emotional pain. She kept telling herself that she’d done the best thing. But she started punishing herself, and pushed away anybody who tried to love her. She didn’t feel that she deserved their love.

Haley longed for a knight in shining armor to rescue her from the prison of her grief, but she no longer felt comfortable with men. She had to get drunk to be able to endure sex. And even then, it reminded her of the abortion. Todd came by at early hours, looking for sex. Haley submitted, but her heart wasn’t in it. She no longer felt loved. She felt used.

The drinking got worse. Hot baths and quick jogs provided temporary relief from the anguish, but it always returned.

Finally, Haley could stand it no more.

First, plenty of numbing alcohol. Then, she went into her living room and grabbed a precious photo of her late mother and maternal grandfather. Next, a bottle of vodka. A bottle of aspirin. An old prescription bottle of Benadryl. Haley washed the drugs down with the vodka, leaving the three bottles next to the photograph.

She went into the bedroom. She put her rosary around her neck. She set an empty holy water bottle on her dresser. She opened her journal to the day of the abortion. She lay down, head on her pillow, looking for the rest she couldn’t find any more in living.

Leaving her family to sort out their own pain.

Credit: Christina Dunigan

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On April 27, 1990, 23-year-old Sandra Milton underwent an abortion, performed by Dr. Carl Armstrong at Toledo Medical Services in Ohio.

Sandra’s abortion was performed at 10 a.m., and she was discharged shortly thereafter for the 90-minute drive home.

The babysitter stayed with Sandra and her three children for three hours as the young mother slipped in and out of consciousness and suffered pain and abdominal swelling. Twice the alarmed babysitter called the clinic, but was told that the symptoms were normal. The third time the babysitter called the clinic, she got no response at all, and summoned an ambulance.

Sandra was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.

Columbia Dispatch 5/23/90; Ohio death certificate Registrar’s No. 158; Fremont News-Messenger 4/29/90; Ohio Post-Mortem Examination Autopsy No. OA-90-8

Credit: Christina Dunigan

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Twenty-four-year-old Maura Morales was eight weeks pregnant when she went to Woman’s Care Center for a safe and legal abortion on May 8, 1981.

When she was in the recovery room, her heart went into spontaneous ventricular fibrillation — irregular heartbeats not capable of effectively pumping blood.

Maura was taken to a hospital, but died that day.

Maura was the fourth woman to die at the same facility. The others were Shirley Payne, Myrta Baptiste, and Ruth Montero.

Sources: Florida Certificate of Death # 81-043232; “Fourth Woman Dies After Abortion At Miami Clinic,” The Miami Herald, January 5, 1983, 1D; “Cluster of Abortion Deaths at a Single Facility,” Kafrissen, Grimes, Hogue, Sacks, Obstetrics & Gynecology, 68:3, September 1986, 387-389

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