Two Criminal, Two Safe-and-Legal
On December 21, 1915, 34-year-old Mrs. Anna Hunt died at Chicago's Rhodes Avenue Hospital from complications of an abortion perpetrated that day by an unknown person.
On December 11, 1926, fifteen-year-old Emily Mueller underwent a criminal abortion somewhere in Chicago. She died on December 21. Midwife Magdelane Stegeman, maiden name Motzny, was booked on December 28. The
coroner initially cleared Stegeman. She was nevertheless indicted for
felony murder by the Grand Jury on February 15, 1927.
Stegeman was later implicated in the 1941 abortion death of Rose Smith.
Denise Holmes, a 24-year-old Australian woman living in Texas, decided to undergo a safe and legal abortion at Avalon Hospital in Los Angeles, California, on her way home for Christmas of 1970. Denise checked into Avalon Hospital (an abortion facility owned by Edward Campbell Allred) on December 21. Denise suffered an amniotic fluid embolism that carried pieces of fetal bone marrow into her lungs. She was pronounced dead by Edward Allred at Avalon at 5pm. Denise is the first confirmed abortion death at an Allred facility, before the National Abortion Federation was founded, with Allred's Family Planning Associates Medical Group as a member. Other women known to have died after abortion at Allred's facilities include Patricia Chacon, Mary Pena, Josefina Garcia, Lanice Dorsey, Joyce Ortenzio, Tami Suematsu, Deanna Bell, Susan Levy, Christina Mora, Ta Tanisha Wesson, Nakia Jorden, Maria Leho, Kimberly Neil, Maria Rodriguez, and Chanelle Bryant.
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Earl McLeod |
WAKE-UP has posted state medical board disciplinary documents against Dr. Earl McLeod
(pictured),regarding the death of an abortion patient on December 21,
1997. WAKE-UP has identified her as 27-year-old Jennifer Halner. On December 20, 1997, she went to Potomac Family Planning for a safe, legal abortion. McLeod's
anesthesiologist, identified only as Dr. K., started an IV,
and Jennifer was hooked up to a cardiac monitor, blood pressure
monitor, and pulse oximeter. Dr. K administered Versed (for sedation and
memory impairment), Sublimaze (a short-acting narcotic used for
short-duration pain control), Propofol (a sedative for anesthesia), with
Lidocaine, a local anesthetic. Jennifer was transferred to recovery at 10:10 a.m., still unconscious but
breathing on her own. Her pulse was 103 (very rapid). A nurse identified only as Nurse W
put an oxygen mask on her, but took off the cardiac
monitor and pulse oximeter. Another nurse took off the blood pressure cuff to use on another patient. At around 10:20
a.m., Nurse W noticed that Jennifer was still unresponsive. She told a
nursing assistant to get
Zofran, an antiemetic, from the
anesthesiologist, who was in the second procedure room with
McLeod. Dr. K gave the
Zofran to Nurse W without evaluating the patient. Not surprisingly, this did
nothing to revive Jennifer. Nurse W then asked Kr. K for Romazicon, used to reverse the effects of anesthesia. Dr. K again provided the drug without examining
the patient. Nurse H realized that couldn't find a
pulse, and that Jennifer's pupils were dilated. She fetched Dr. K. He found Jennifer unresponsive, with a blood
pressure an alarmingly low 60/40. He stared a second IV and began to
perform CPR, using a pediatric-sized bag-valve mask. Meanwhile, McLeod
performed two other procedures before finally entering the recovery
room. He
administered additional IV medications, and said that the patient was
hooked up to an EKG monitor even though there was no documentation
whatsoever of her cardiac rhythm. She was also not hooked up to a pulse
oximeter that would tell the staff how much oxygen was in her blood. Dr. K told
somebody to administer Epinephrine, Ephedrine, and Lidocaine -- all
appropriate drugs. Finally, at
around 10:42 a.m., McLeod told somebody to call 911.
Paramedics arrived and found Jennifer in cardiac arrest. They noted that nobody
had put a breathing tube into the patient to ensure that air was being
pumped into her lungs and not her stomach. The medics
immediately began appropriate resuscitation, intubating Jennifer, hooking her up to a
cardiac monitor, defibrillating her, and administering appropriate
drugs. The medics
transported her to a to hospital, arriving at
11:09 a.m. The ER physician noted that Jennifer's pupils were fixed
and dilated. After aggressive resuscitative efforts, her heart was restored to a stable rhythm, and she was admitted to
the Intensive Care Unit. But despite their best efforts, she died at
4:15 a.m. on December 21. McLeod also ran the Hillcrest abortion mill in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where Kelly Morse
had died in 1996 after being inadequately resuscitated.
2 comments:
The complete lack of empathy displayed on this blog is not surprising, but it is disturbing.
Women die after being needlessly exposed to substandard medical care, and not only do their bereaved get an I-told-you-so, any actual improvement in medical care for unwillingly pregnant women is entirely off the table.
I find it hard to believe there are invisible deities who approve of these attitudes.
I have not the pleasure of understanding you. I don't understand where you are seeing an "I told you so" attitude toward the women's families. I'm not clear on how exposing problems in abortion practice won't contribute to greater diligence on the part of organizations that refer women to abortion facilities. I don't understand your reference to invisible deities."
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