Anniversary: Woman left paralyzed and mute by botched abortion dies in Maryland nursing home

On December 1, 1992, Suzanne Logan died in a Maryland nursing home, where she had spent the previous three years, mute and paralyzed. Suzanne died one month after winning a lawsuit against abortionist Gideon Kioko and the notorious Hillview abortion clinic. She never got the one thing she wished for -- to see her father again.

Suzanne had been moved to the nursing home after lapsing into a coma during the abortion. She awoke about four months later, permanently incapactitated. Local prolifers bought her a communication device and visited her, and she was eventually able to recall having gone to the abortion facility 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. 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. 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.

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 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.