Friday, February 03, 2012

Doctors' Fatal Efforts Before and After Legalization

On February 3, 1912, 37-year-old Helen Imhoff died on the scene from an abortion perpetrated by Dr. W. A. Beringer and midwife Margaret Meyer. They were indicted by a Grand Jury on March 1, but the case never went to trial.

"Peggy" was 21 years old, mother of a 3-year-old son, when she went to Dr. Romeo Ferrer's clinic-looking office for an abortion on February 3, 2006, accompanied by a friend, who was helping to keep the abortion a secret. The abortion took far longer than usual, and Ferrer kept pushing drugs to keep Peggy sedated. Finally, after 45 minutes of pulling out pieces of Peggy's dismembered baby, Ferrer moved her to recovery. Shortly thereafter a "surgical assistant" noticed that Peggy's fingernails were turning blue from lack of oxygen. Ferrer gave a verbal order for medication but did not actually take any direct attempt to resuscitate her until 3 minutes after the first signs of danger. He did at least have staff call 911 right away, though his resuscitation method was suitable for an amateur performing CPR in the street, not a physician performing CPR in a medical setting. Medics arrived and began performing professional CPR as they transported Peggy to a hospital, where all attempts to revive her were finally abandoned at 2;57 p.m. The autopsy determined that Peggy had died because she had been overdosed on Demerol. The medical board suspended Ferrer's license for pushing too many dangerous medications into Peggy's system too quickly, failing to monitor her properly, and failing to use proper resuscitation methods.
"The Gynecare Center is a modern, clean clinic designed to provide quality healthcare for women and girls of all ages in the Maryland area." How's that for truth in advertising?

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