Category: Provider Hall of Shame

Bruce Finkel, who performed over 30,000 abortions, had a charge of rape filed against him by student nurse. After his arrest, over 100 women accused him of sexually molesting them, many during their abortions. He was convicted on 22 counts of sexual assault and given a sentence of 35 years.

Researcher Rachel MacNair discusses the response of the Arizona chapter of the National Organization for Women.

After discussing the excuses NOW made for another abortion doctor who molested his patients, she said the following:

“In the case of BF, the response was even worse: the spokesperson for the Arizona chapter of the National Organization for Women, familiar with the case, assured people that the women were lying, and this was due to an antiabortion conspiracy.

How over 100 women of sufficient pro-choice philosophy to go to an abortion provider, many if not most of whom were in fact getting abortions, along with several former employees of the clinic, were talked into making the allegations was not clearly explained.

Advocates in NOW are not normally inclined to take the side of the accused in sexual abuse cases, outside the context of the accused being abortion provider.”

Rachel M MacNair, PhD. Achieving Peace in the Abortion War (New York: iUniverse, 2009)97 – 98

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From Life Dynamics:

“This South Florida abortion clinic [Today’s Womens Medical Center] reportedly paid it’s workers ‘Bonus Commissions’ to sell anesthesia at the door.” reported one south Florida newspaper. They claimed that the clinic sold the riskier general anesthesia to the women to recoup more money. Former clinic employees told the news that they were fired by clinic owner Vladimar Rosenthal after he found out that they were complaining to a National Abortion Federation Representative about the conditions at the abortion clinic.”

“Abortion Clinic pushed riskier anesthesia”Miami Herald Oct 7. 1989,

Florida Department of Professional Regulation Case # 89-010853

Read more about bad clinics and providers that endanger women’s health.

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Dr. Sidney Laughlin got into trouble for performing abortions in his home and sterilizing his equipment in the dishwasher. Nurse Gayla Ennis, who claimed that she had helped him perform”four or five”abortions, notified authorities who staked out his house, which was across the street from an elementary school.

They found the remains of what officials thought to be a 16 week old aborted baby in his trash. The results of the autopsy on the aborted baby:

“Definitely identifiable human tissue consists of a right and left arm, both of which have been dismembered at the shoulder joint…a portion of the mid body is seen …consisting of the back and buttocks. This specimen contains a definitely identifiable spinal cord with numerous organs of which a kidney is observed. Also present are right and left leg and foot, all having definitively identifiable digits as do the hands.There is a head portion also present which has been macerated and opened and shows no definitive brain, but fragments of what appear to be brain tissue are observed with the remains. … The head has also been dismembered from the remaining portion of the body.”

The nurse claimed that she stopped working with Laughlin after he allegedly aborted a baby at his home that according to her, “looked about 28 weeks”

She told reporters,

“I was shocked and after that one didn’t help him anymore with anything. Sid had a few special instruments that he had special ordered, they were 12 to 14 inches long, had a 1 to 2 inch headwith sharp teeth on the forceps part that he used to break up body parts.”

“Doctor Investigated In Abortion Allegations” Daily Oklahoman 7/15/1992

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Pro-Choicers lament each abortion clinic that goes out of business, but, in reality, most abortion clinics that close do so because the state steps in after they injure or kill women or it is revealed that they’re practicing substandard medicine. Reproductive Health Services in the state of Alabama was closed when it was discovered that the clinic did not provide proper follow-up care for women injured during abortions – which happened disturbingly often in the clinic.

According to Life Dynamics, a woman went to the emergency room two days after her abortion after unsuccessfully trying to contact doctors at the clinic. When the emergency room doctor called the clinic, he was told by a nurse who worked there:

“everyone was out of town” and since the patient was in the ER, “I guess it’s your problem.”

Rick Harris, director of the department’s Bureau of Health Provider Standards responded:

“It’s not OK to operate a health care facility that does surgery and then say ‘We’re going to put them (the abortion clinic) off on the emergency system.’”

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An abortionist in New York was cited for sexually harassing a woman who came in for an abortion. According to the NY State Board of Professional Medical Conduct Case # BPMC 01-99 and The Times Herald on January 6, 2001, abortionist Daniel Holschauer made sexual advances toward woman had just performed an abortion on. While removing gauze from her vagina, he said:

“you know, I would really like to be there.”

Then, according to the patient, he began pulling his pants down. He was sexually aroused and told the patient:

“I just did you a favor, now you do me a favor.”

This incident was only one of a number of cases were abortionists sexually harassed or even raped patients in the abortion chamber. Quoted by life dynamics.

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Even if an abortion clinic is listed with the National Abortion Federation and endorsed by Planned Parenthood, it doesn’t mean that the clinic is clean and offers quality healthcare. Midtown hospital was eventually closed down, but until it was, it was the biggest abortion clinic in Georgia. It was an NAF member.

This is the ad for the clinic on abortionclinicsonline, a national database which is supposed to list only “quality” clinics.

Midtown Hospital has stood for quality healthcare since its founding in the early 1900s. … In 1977, the focus of that outstanding care changed when Midtown Hospital became a women’s medical facility offering a full spectrum of gynecological healthcare services and the tradition of unsurpassed excellence remained. … Today, Midtown Hospital is a rare facility, providing the medical profession and patients with nationally-recognized programs in second trimester abortions for medical and genetic studies. … Midtown is an invaluable resource to referring universities, hospitals and private physicians. … Every abortion is overseen by a Board Certified pathologist. Whether a patient is treated as an out-patient or is admitted for an overnight stay, she receives experienced, professional care in a warm and comfortable environment. Although Midtown Hospital strives to maintain reasonable costs, the staff never cuts corners on laboratory tests, medical care, counseling, personal attention or follow-up care. Midtown Hospital is licensed by the State of Georgia. All physicians are Board Certified and all other medical staff are fully licensed. In addition, our staff is trained in and dedicated to meeting the personal, emotional and physical needs of our patients. It is in this spirit that we preserve the dignity of our patients and provide uncompromised medical care in an atmosphere of comfort and caring.” (Emphasis supplied.)

In reality, the state inspected the clinic several times and found deficiencies. The Georgia Department of Human Resources allowed Midtown to continue to operate despite repeated on-site investigations which showed “a complete disregard for, or the inability to care for, the health and safety of its patients” (Verified Complaint for Injunctive Relief filed May 20, 1998). On May 22, 1998 Midtown Hospital was temporarily closed by a Superior Court judge pending the outcome of litigation to shut it permanently. Were it not for a short account of the clinic’s closing in the Local News section of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (May 23), no one would be the wiser.

 Paragraph 2 of the Complaint against Midtown neatly summarizes the charges.

“Inspections of Midtown Hospital by DHR staff, interviews with current and former employees of Midtown Hospital, and interviews with women who have been patients at Midtown Hospital reveal an overcrowded, understaffed and dirty health care facility that jeopardizes the health and safety of its patients. For example, overcrowding and lack of proper monitoring of patients results in the expulsion of fetuses on the floor and in the commode of the preoperative area; Midtown Hospital’s sterilization process to prevent the spread of infection is severely deficient; Midtown Hospital’s personnel files lack any evidence that many of its employees are qualified for their jobs; and Midtown Hospital lacks any system for identifying, documenting, or evaluating unexpected or negative patient outcomes. DHR staff has consistently found that Midtown Hospital’s records lack information regarding transfer of patients to other facilities due to complications arising during or after surgical procedures performed at Midtown Hospital.”

According to the Affidavit of “Employee A,” employed at Midtown Hospital from November 1996 to February 1998:

“The preoperative room is located near the room where I was stationed. I could hear the patients hollering and screaming in the preoperative room. … I saw patients laying on the floor crying in pain. … I routinely saw patients expel fetuses on the floor and in the commode in the preoperative room. Patients expelled fetuses in front of other patients that were awaiting procedures. Patients expelled fetuses in commodes that were used by other patients. … I regularly observed patients expel fetuses in the commode in the discharge area. … Oftentimes, I was the only staff member in that area to assist patients. I do not have medical training.”

Employee B is a certified surgical technician, employed at Midtown Hospital from March 30, 1998 until resigning on April 18, 1998. Her affidavit states:

“I never saw the doctors or the anesthesiologist do any pre-operative work-ups on the patients prior to the patients going into the operating room. … Sterilization standards are not followed. … Most women lay on the floor in the pre-op area. Once I attempted to get some sterile sheets for the patients to lay on and was told by the Operating Room supervisor that if “they can lay up and get pregnant then they can come in here and deal with the procedure.” I have witnessed the use of stretchers with blood and bodily fluids on them being re-used without being cleaned. The staff was not concerned about cleaning up blood and other bodily fluids from the floors, chairs, stretchers and bathrooms and did not do so.”

The Affidavit of Patient X describes her experience on April 16, 1998. Following her procedure, she experienced”extreme pain … nausea, vomiting and even more pain.” This continued for several days. She called Midtown Hospital at least twice to speak to a doctor or nurse, but was told to make an appointment. Finally, she called 911 and was transported to a local hospital where they diagnosed an incomplete abortion. The Brief refers to other patients who were transfer-red to a hospital for “complications” occurring at Midtown

source:

“Men Behaving Really Badly” Life Insight, A Publication of the NCCB Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities, volume 9, no. 8 October 1998

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Abortionist John Biskind of A-Z Women’s Center in Phoenix first came under scrutiny when he botched a partial birth abortion he was attempting to perform on a baby that was full-term. He had examined the mother and determined that the baby was 23 weeks old, within the timeframe of a partial birth abortion.

The baby was born alive, but the abortionist had fractured her skull and lacerated her face. She survived.

When this “terrible” complication (terrible only because the baby survived – it would have been fine if the baby had died and would’ve attracted no attention) reporters started investigating and dug up more stories about practice.

He got a “letter of concern” from the Arizona medical board for stopping an abortion and sending a woman home bleeding after he discovered that her baby was late-term and not 10 weeks as he had thought. He’d also been cited for signing blank, undated prescription forms. He killed one woman by tearing a 3 inch rip in her uterus. This happened in 1995.

A nurse at his clinic also maintained that John Biskind aborted a baby at 26 weeks  after fudging an ultrasound. State law of Arizona requires that paperwork be filled out before such late abortions, as a woman must be determined to “have a risk to her life or health.” He also failed to have another doctor on standby in case the baby survived the abortion and to write out of a fetal death certificate.

The baby’s mother, Louann Herron, fared no better than her dead unborn child. She continued bleeding after the abortion, and by the time clinic workers called 911, she was past saving.

This would be the second death attributed to this doctor.

“Men Behaving Really Badly” Life Insight volume 9 no. 8 October  1998

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A Rockford abortion clinic has been cited for numerous violations. According to an article:

A report by the Illinois Department of Public Health says that all three operating rooms in the facility failed a sanitation inspection. Two rooms contained shoes stored with an open box of surgical gloves, and four out of 16 cannulas – which are inserted directly into the cervix of abortion patients – were “stained with a brown substance.”

In another operating room, an open box contained gloves also stained with “a brown substance.” In the recovery room, inspectors also found birth control rings stuffed in the food refrigerator.

No registered nurse had been on staff for three years.

Rockford Alderman Tim Durkee, a physician, told LifeSiteNews.com that finding such unsanitary conditions “in any operating room is disturbing.”

….

Durkee noted that Illinois lawmakers have rejected a law to specify that the operating rooms in abortion mills be subject to the same scrutiny as other operating rooms, a decision he called “absolutely” disturbing.

“For the life of me I don’t understand how any operating room in existence can be exempt from current law,” he said. “Just because you’re putting ‘pro-abortion’ over the door doesn’t exempt you from good medical practice.”

Kathleen Gilbert “Brown-stained surgical equipment at bizarre Rockford abortion mill: Illinois officials” LifeSiteNews Aug. 17, 2011

Planned Parenthood and other pro-choice groups continue to fight laws that would require abortion clinics to meet basic health standards and to be inspected. 

 

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A clinic called Allentown Medical Services,  located at 2200 Hamilton St., has been cited for health violations:

According to an article:

“The Health Department inspected the Allentown center on May 26 and said operators “failed to maintain a safe and sanitary environment.”

It noted that in two “procedure rooms,” an employee showed inspectors dozens of metal devices used in abortions that had been sterilized, but not wrapped to maintain sterility. Nine packages of surgical instruments, the report said, “had an accumulation of brown debris in the hinge areas and brown staining on the inside of the packages.” An employee, who was unnamed, “confirmed that these surgical instruments were considered sterile and ready for patient use.”

In addition, inspectors found instruments in sterile packages that were past the expiration dates listed on the packages. Two disposable uterine catheters had expiration dates of March 15, 2003 and September 2005. Clonidine tablets were also out-of-date.

The report said: Other instruments were stored in dirty containers. A freezer for infectious waste in a scrub room was splattered and smeared with blood and the bottom of the freezer was coated with a “thick layer” of frozen blood.

Further, inspectors found violations in the recovery area, where patient care items such as pillows, blankets and heating pad covers were taken home and laundered by staffers “every once in a while.” The inspection report does not list consequences or a deadline for when the violations have to be addressed. But the Health Department has the authority to pull a license if violations continue.”

Tim Darragh “State inspectors cite Allentown abortion clinic for violations” The Morning Call July 09, 2011

It is notable that pro-choice groups such as Planned Parenthood vehemently oppose laws that require abortion clinics to be regulated and inspected.

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