Two safe, lethal anniversaries: Angel Dardie and Dawn Mack

Angel Dardie, age 22, left two children motherless when she died on August 3, 1982, of disseminated intravascular coagulopathy after a saline abortion performed by Youl Choie at Plymouth General Hospital.

Angel's mother sued, saying that the abortion was performed negligently. Although she sued for $5 million, she was awarded a settlement of $6000 from Choi and $2500 from the hospital. $1744 of this went to the attorney, plus an additional $667 given to him from the settlement for his expenses. $1528 of the settlement was ordered to be used to reimburse for funeral expenses. This left Angel's mother and orphans with $4561. No settlement was awarded for pain and suffering, nor was there any settlement for Angel's surviving children.

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The following information is from a suit 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."

Dawn Ravenelle and Venus Ortiz also suffered fatal injuries in abortions at Eastern.