Thursday, February 14, 2008
Anniversary: Planned Parenthood patient loses battle against sepsis
On Valentine's Day of 2007, 21-year-old Edrica Goode died from sepsis in a Los Angeles hospital. The chain of events that led to her death started when Edrica went to a Planned Parenthood in Riverside, California, on January 31, 2007, for a second-trimester abortion. She was a little over 14 weeks pregnant.
A nurse there inserted laminaria to dilate Edrica's cervx, although Edrica had "odiferous creamy-colored discharge", indicative of a vaginal infection, at the time. Laminaria are sticks of seaweed that absorb moisture and expand, so they would wick any bacteria or viruses from the vagina into the uterus.
Edrica, who had not told her family about the abortion, did not return to the facility to have the laminaria removed and the abortion completed because her mental state had deteriorated overnight. She had became feverish, her mother said. She became mentally "confused and disoriented," not knowing what day it was, and started acting aggressively. She also began vomiting. Planned Parenthood's patient profile for Edrica said that they mailed Edrica two letters telling her that she had to return and have the laminaria removed, but Edrica's mother said that the letters never arrived. She does indicate that Planned Parenthood called, but that Edrica was too sick to take the calls.
Edrica's family took her to Riverside County Regoinal Medical Center on February 4. A blood test there revealed the pregnancy to the physicians, but the hospital did not perform a pelvic exam because at the time Edrica was unable to consent to the examination due to confusion and inappropriate speech. Edrica was treated in the medical ward for five days, then transferred to a psychiatric unit, which promptly sent her back to the medical unit to have them check her for possible sepsis. There, her condition continued to deteriorate. After Edrica's boyfriend told her family about the visit to Planned Parenthood, staff at the hospital performed a pelvic examination and discovered the laminaria, along with some gauze. Edrica miscarried that day, and died the next day, Valentine's Day.
The coroner's report attributes Edrica's death to toxic shock syndrome, prolonged retention of laminaria, and pregnancy. Which means that her death will likely be counted as a pregnancy death by health statisticians, but not as an abortion death because though the laminaria had been inserted to facilitate an abortion, no abortion actually took place.
Edrica had been a student at Riverside Community College. Her mother said that she enjoyed traveling and reading. Her mother commented, "My daughter made a choice, but she didn't choose to die." She added, "A lost dog gets more attention than my daughter did. This has really torn at my family."
Edrica is the third known death among Planned Parenthood patients in California in the last four years. Holly Patterson, 18, died of an infection after an RU-486 abortion in 2003. Diana Lopez, 25, bled to death in 2002 after her cervix was punctured during the procedure. Edrica's mother's lawyer indicates that Planned Parenthood did not report any of these deaths to the state, as required by law.
State records indicate that the clinic in question was last inspected in July of 2003. The inspection found 12 deficiencies, most involving recordkeeping and documentation problems that were to be corrected by Sept. 20, 2003. The file doesn't show if the corrections were made or not.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
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A nurse there inserted laminaria to dilate Edrica's cervx, although Edrica had "odiferous creamy-colored discharge", indicative of a vaginal infection, at the time. Laminaria are sticks of seaweed that absorb moisture and expand, so they would wick any bacteria or viruses from the vagina into the uterus.Edrica, who had not told her family about the abortion, did not return to the facility to have the laminaria removed and the abortion completed because her mental state had deteriorated overnight. She had became feverish, her mother said. She became mentally "confused and disoriented," not knowing what day it was, and started acting aggressively. She also began vomiting. Planned Parenthood's patient profile for Edrica said that they mailed Edrica two letters telling her that she had to return and have the laminaria removed, but Edrica's mother said that the letters never arrived. She does indicate that Planned Parenthood called, but that Edrica was too sick to take the calls.
Edrica's family took her to Riverside County Regoinal Medical Center on February 4. A blood test there revealed the pregnancy to the physicians, but the hospital did not perform a pelvic exam because at the time Edrica was unable to consent to the examination due to confusion and inappropriate speech. Edrica was treated in the medical ward for five days, then transferred to a psychiatric unit, which promptly sent her back to the medical unit to have them check her for possible sepsis. There, her condition continued to deteriorate. After Edrica's boyfriend told her family about the visit to Planned Parenthood, staff at the hospital performed a pelvic examination and discovered the laminaria, along with some gauze. Edrica miscarried that day, and died the next day, Valentine's Day.
The coroner's report attributes Edrica's death to toxic shock syndrome, prolonged retention of laminaria, and pregnancy. Which means that her death will likely be counted as a pregnancy death by health statisticians, but not as an abortion death because though the laminaria had been inserted to facilitate an abortion, no abortion actually took place.
Edrica had been a student at Riverside Community College. Her mother said that she enjoyed traveling and reading. Her mother commented, "My daughter made a choice, but she didn't choose to die." She added, "A lost dog gets more attention than my daughter did. This has really torn at my family."
Edrica is the third known death among Planned Parenthood patients in California in the last four years. Holly Patterson, 18, died of an infection after an RU-486 abortion in 2003. Diana Lopez, 25, bled to death in 2002 after her cervix was punctured during the procedure. Edrica's mother's lawyer indicates that Planned Parenthood did not report any of these deaths to the state, as required by law.
State records indicate that the clinic in question was last inspected in July of 2003. The inspection found 12 deficiencies, most involving recordkeeping and documentation problems that were to be corrected by Sept. 20, 2003. The file doesn't show if the corrections were made or not.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
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Anniversary: Valentine's Day abortion death of heiress
On February 14, 1942, Florence Nimick Schnoor, age 24, died at St. Joseph's Hospital in New York of what the coroner called a "brutal and inept" illegal abortion. Florence, grand-niece of Andrew Carnegie and heiress to a Pittsburgh steel fortune, had eloped with Richard H. Schnoor, sergeant-at-arms of the New York State Assembly, nine days earlier.
Her husband reported that he had taken her to White Plains so she could catch a train to New York for a day's shopping. Later that morning, she called and asked him to pick her up at the station. He found her obviously ill and asking for a doctor. He took her straight to the hospital, where she died three hours later. Doctors reported that Florence refused to discuss her case at all, much less implicate the abortionist, despite pleas from her husband.
Investigators contacted all 200 people whose names were in Florence's address book, but were unable to gain any clues as to who performed the fatal abortion. All they were able to piece together is that Florence evidently paid $40 for the abortion. Florence's husband was not implicated in her death; police belived that he had not even known Florence was pregnant.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
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Her husband reported that he had taken her to White Plains so she could catch a train to New York for a day's shopping. Later that morning, she called and asked him to pick her up at the station. He found her obviously ill and asking for a doctor. He took her straight to the hospital, where she died three hours later. Doctors reported that Florence refused to discuss her case at all, much less implicate the abortionist, despite pleas from her husband.
Investigators contacted all 200 people whose names were in Florence's address book, but were unable to gain any clues as to who performed the fatal abortion. All they were able to piece together is that Florence evidently paid $40 for the abortion. Florence's husband was not implicated in her death; police belived that he had not even known Florence was pregnant.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
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Anniversary: Abortionist bludgeons wife to death on Valentine's day
On February 14, 2001, John Baxter Hamilton (pictured), provider of safe and legal vital reproductive health care services, bludgeoned his wife, Susan, to death in the bathroom of their Oklahoma City home. Hamilton is one of three abortionists I know of convicted of killing their wives. The others were Joe Bills Reynolds, also of Oklahoma City, and Malachy Dehenre of Mississippi.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Anniversary: Abortion by midwife proves fatal
On February 13, 1929, 20-year-old Anna Fazio died from complications of an illegal abortion performed about February 2, 1929, at the Chicago home of >midwife Marie Zwienczak. Zwienczak was arrested March 1, as recommended by the coroner. Stephanie Paczkiewicz was booked on February 23 as an accessory, but was not mentioned in the verdict.
Zwienczak was indictedfor homicide by a grand jury. She was tried, and was sentenced on June 20 to 14 years at Joliet Penitentiary. She appealed, but her sentence was affirmed by the Supreme Court.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
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Zwienczak was indictedfor homicide by a grand jury. She was tried, and was sentenced on June 20 to 14 years at Joliet Penitentiary. She appealed, but her sentence was affirmed by the Supreme Court.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
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Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Them mean old prolifers help woman avoid unwanted abortion
A young mom had been referred to Tiller under numerous misdiagnoses: that there were a blue million horrible things wrong with her baby, and that she was at risk of death herself: Healthy Baby Narrowly Escapes Late-Abortion At Tiller’s Clinic
Fortunately, the prolifers invited her next door for a free ultrasound, and if necessary a referral for high-risk obstetric care and perinatal hospice.
Turns out she didn't need any of those things after all. The whole thing had been a goof. Oops. Sorry about scaring you into nearly killing your baby in a risky third-trimester abortion.
One more time, with feeling: a prognosis is a prediction. When a doctor gives a patient a prognosis, he's doing the same thing the weather man is doing when he gives a forecast: Trying to predict the future. Would you stake your child's life on the weather report? No? Then why stake his or her life on anybody else reading high-tech tea leaves?
There are also doctors who aren't above lying to get a woman to do what he thinks is the sensible thing. Shari Russell was told that her life was in danger in order to trick her into aborting her anencephalic baby. Dolores was told that she had a life-threatening ectopic pregnancy to trick her into a abortion her boyfriend wanted her to have.
Women have died because of abortions pushed on them for maternal and fetal indications that simply weren't true. Allegra Roseberry had been falsely told that she wouldn't be eligible for cancer treatment, and that her baby was "doomed" anyway. Marla Cardamone was falsely told that her medications had injured her unborn baby.
For more:
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Fortunately, the prolifers invited her next door for a free ultrasound, and if necessary a referral for high-risk obstetric care and perinatal hospice.
Turns out she didn't need any of those things after all. The whole thing had been a goof. Oops. Sorry about scaring you into nearly killing your baby in a risky third-trimester abortion.
One more time, with feeling: a prognosis is a prediction. When a doctor gives a patient a prognosis, he's doing the same thing the weather man is doing when he gives a forecast: Trying to predict the future. Would you stake your child's life on the weather report? No? Then why stake his or her life on anybody else reading high-tech tea leaves?
There are also doctors who aren't above lying to get a woman to do what he thinks is the sensible thing. Shari Russell was told that her life was in danger in order to trick her into aborting her anencephalic baby. Dolores was told that she had a life-threatening ectopic pregnancy to trick her into a abortion her boyfriend wanted her to have.
Women have died because of abortions pushed on them for maternal and fetal indications that simply weren't true. Allegra Roseberry had been falsely told that she wouldn't be eligible for cancer treatment, and that her baby was "doomed" anyway. Marla Cardamone was falsely told that her medications had injured her unborn baby.
For more:
- The Limitations of Medical Prognostications
- Parents 'misled over gene disorders'
- When The Future Looks Bleak
- Midtown Hospital's Late Abortion Scandal
- Beware of "Maternal and Fetal Indications"
- "Don't Like Abortions? Don't Have One."
- Protecting Yourself and Your Unborn Child
- "Don't Like Abortions? Don't Have One!" Redux
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Another one doesn't bite the dust
Woman Thought Brain Dead Recovers
Granny's bought the farm. Get ready to plant her.
Not.
When are we going to catch on to the idea that "As good as dead" is a prediction and stop believing every Nostradamus of a doctor who claims somebody's already knocking at the Pearly Gates?
Granny's bought the farm. Get ready to plant her.
Not.
When are we going to catch on to the idea that "As good as dead" is a prediction and stop believing every Nostradamus of a doctor who claims somebody's already knocking at the Pearly Gates?
Two Safe, Legal Anniversaries
Elise Kalat was 22 years old when she had an abortion sometime around February 10, 1987. Two days after the abortion, her bronchial tubes went into spasms and caused her to go into respiratory arrest. She died at Memorial Hospital in Worcester, Massachusetts on February 12, 1987.
****
Bonnie Fix, a mother of four, was admitted to Fresno Community Hospital on February 7, 1974. Doctors there performed an abdominal hysterectomy on Bonnie. Codes used at the state registrar's office inidcate that an abortion had been induced on her for medical reasons. Several days after her hysterectomy, Bonnie began to suffer bowel and lung problems. She suffered cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead on February 12.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
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****
Bonnie Fix, a mother of four, was admitted to Fresno Community Hospital on February 7, 1974. Doctors there performed an abdominal hysterectomy on Bonnie. Codes used at the state registrar's office inidcate that an abortion had been induced on her for medical reasons. Several days after her hysterectomy, Bonnie began to suffer bowel and lung problems. She suffered cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead on February 12.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
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Monday, February 11, 2008
OT. Sad. Namdaemun gate burns in Seoul
I could cry. Namdaemun has burned. It was 610 years old, a relic from the old wall that used to surround the city.
Major bummer. It was beautiful.
My kids tried to tell me about it, but when they said there was a fire in Seoul, Namdaemun, I thought they were referring to a fire in Namdaemun neighborhood, not to the gate itself. I am heartsick. This was a major cultural treasure in my adopted second home. It's such a shame.
Major bummer. It was beautiful.
My kids tried to tell me about it, but when they said there was a fire in Seoul, Namdaemun, I thought they were referring to a fire in Namdaemun neighborhood, not to the gate itself. I am heartsick. This was a major cultural treasure in my adopted second home. It's such a shame.
Anniversary: Tender loving care leaves 13-year-old girl dead
They told me I had to get down to St. Luke's right away, that Dawn was at that hospital fighting for her life.
It's the call every parent dreads. Ruth Ravenelle was no exception. Her 13-year-old daughter, Dawn, was active in the church where both her parents were ministers. The family sang Gospel songs together. Dawn was a dream child -- the kid who did her homework without being told, who liked to surprise her mother by cleaning the house. She was what's known in the vernacular as "a good girl." Her parents never expected any trouble about Dawn.
I was going, 'How can she be fighting for her life? She left for school this morning, looking healthy, never been sick.'
What Ruth didn't know was that Dawn had slipped off her pedestal, had engaged in a dalliance with a 15-year-old Romeo. And when she learned that she was pregnant, she knew her parents would be crushed. She went to a teacher for advice. The teacher and a counselor arranged to take care of the whole mess so that Dawn's parents would never have to know. The boyfriend borrowed a credit card from a relative to pay for the risky, expensive, second-trimester abortion.
The counselor at Eastern Women's Center (a National Abortion Federation member) had seen how frightened Dawn was, and had marked on her chart that she should be treated with "tender loving care." But abortionist Alan Kline had his own ideas about what constituted "tender loving care." According to the suit filed by Dawn's parents, he didn't administer enough anesthesia to get the frightened child through the entire procedure. She began to cough, vomit, and choke. Kline put a breathing tube in Dawn's throat, put her aside, and left her unattended to lapse into a coma. Dawn was eventually rushed to the hospital, where it finally occurred to somebody to do the obvious: call Dawn's mother.
While I was there at the hospital -- they were doing tests -- I had to keep my hand pressed over my mouth to keep from screaming in horror. I kept going, 'This is all a bad dream. I am going to wake up and this will not have happened.'
Day after day Dawn's family gathered at her bedside, talking to her, playing tapes of the family singing together, trying to lure her back from the brink of death -- all to no avail. Dawn died three weeks after her abortion, on February 11, 1985, without ever having regained consciousness.
The family sued and won, but as the New York Post headline pointed out, "$1.2M Won't Bring Her Back." The story featured a photo of Dawn at her junior high graduation, in cap and gown, gazing out smiling at a future she would never have.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
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Anniversary: Brittany's abortion nightmare
Nabil Ghali was a seedy abortionist in Florida before moving to Ohio, where he worked at Academy Medical Center. The most detailed description of his behavior at Academy is in a lawsuit by a 17-year-old girl I'll call "Brittany." Brittany said that she had an abortion done by Ghali at Academy on February 11, 1991, when she was 23 weeks pregnant. The skull of the fetus was left inside her body, and she hemorrhaged. She was transferred by ambulance to a hospital for a transfusion and surgery.
Another doctor’s review of the case called Brittany's treatment "far below the standard of care that is customary in any area of this country." He cites the following deficiencies: "There is essentially no note and no details of what was done in order to perform this abortion. It appears from reading the entire chart ... that some type of suction or extraction utilized in order to terminate the pregnancy. The patient had a uterus that was 22 to 24 weeks in size. This type of maneuver in a uterus that size is dangerous, and life threatening." He added, "In an attempt to remove the fetal parts, the uterus was ruptured and the head extruded into the abdominal cavity. The rupture and the following consequences...were certainly all part of a horrible chain of events which demonstrate the severe departure from any acceptable standard of care. ... The patient was sent to St. Luke's Hospital and apparently no written information was provided in the transfer... The patient was in severe distress. ... She required immediate stabilization, transfusions, and from the notes provided by St. Luke's Hospital, there did not seem to be a thorough understanding of what had happened in the abortion clinic. ... It is my opinion that this entire case demonstrates a severe life-threatening departure from all acceptable standards of medical care..." Ghali had no medical malpractice insurance since 1986, and moved for an order preventing Brittany from discovering his financial status. (Cleveland Free Times, January 20-26, 1993; Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Case No. 230925)
Another doctor’s review of the case called Brittany's treatment "far below the standard of care that is customary in any area of this country." He cites the following deficiencies: "There is essentially no note and no details of what was done in order to perform this abortion. It appears from reading the entire chart ... that some type of suction or extraction utilized in order to terminate the pregnancy. The patient had a uterus that was 22 to 24 weeks in size. This type of maneuver in a uterus that size is dangerous, and life threatening." He added, "In an attempt to remove the fetal parts, the uterus was ruptured and the head extruded into the abdominal cavity. The rupture and the following consequences...were certainly all part of a horrible chain of events which demonstrate the severe departure from any acceptable standard of care. ... The patient was sent to St. Luke's Hospital and apparently no written information was provided in the transfer... The patient was in severe distress. ... She required immediate stabilization, transfusions, and from the notes provided by St. Luke's Hospital, there did not seem to be a thorough understanding of what had happened in the abortion clinic. ... It is my opinion that this entire case demonstrates a severe life-threatening departure from all acceptable standards of medical care..." Ghali had no medical malpractice insurance since 1986, and moved for an order preventing Brittany from discovering his financial status. (Cleveland Free Times, January 20-26, 1993; Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Case No. 230925)
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Searches: A motley assortment
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
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Anniversary: Woman killed by veterinarian attempting abortion
On February 10, 1957, veterinarian Ira Ledbetter performed an abortion on Alice Kimberly. Ledbetter used a veterinary instrument called a milk tube on Alice, causing lacerations and an embolism. She quickly died of her injuries, leaving her husband with five minor children to raise alone.
Alice's abortion was unusual in that it wasn't, like most pre-legalization abortions, performed by a physician. Instead it represented a second kind, unusual but still more common than amateur or self-induced: abortions performed by people with medical training who were not physicians.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
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Alice's abortion was unusual in that it wasn't, like most pre-legalization abortions, performed by a physician. Instead it represented a second kind, unusual but still more common than amateur or self-induced: abortions performed by people with medical training who were not physicians.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
Saturday, February 09, 2008
Sweeny Todd and James Parks
I watched Sweeny Todd last night. The sight of the meat grinder brought an image to mind.
I lost my original source document. But I still have my write-up:
Stover described the flesh as coming out looking like "multiple tubes of pink toothpaste".
Fetus woes? Call Roto-Rooter!
Sometimes the damndest things just stick in your head. I had to look up Parks' name. I could only remember Stover. And the image of the multiple tubes of pink toothpaste.
I lost my original source document. But I still have my write-up:
Abortionist Curtis Stover filed an affidavit stating that he vomited after observing abortionist James Parks' method of disposing of aborted fetuses of 15 to 22 weeks gestation: he ground them up with a standard kitchen meat grinder and flushed the tissue down the sink. In a letter to the health department, Stover stated that Parks told him he had developed this method because the fetuses would "stop up" the toilet and because he did not want fetuses retrieved from the trash by pro-lifers. (Sources: letter by Stover dated 6-15-92, affidavit by Stover dated 6-15-92; Up The Creek 9-11-92; excerpt from Parks' deposition 2-4-91 Arapahoe County District Court Case No. 90CV432)
Stover described the flesh as coming out looking like "multiple tubes of pink toothpaste".
Fetus woes? Call Roto-Rooter!
Sometimes the damndest things just stick in your head. I had to look up Parks' name. I could only remember Stover. And the image of the multiple tubes of pink toothpaste.
Self-induced abortion: A response to a search
Somebody was searching for "self induced abortion". I checked their search results and found this:
Self-induced abortion in a bulimic woman
It's a case from New Zealand. Here's the abstract:
Closer to home for me, is this one from Southern Medical Journal, July of 1983: Use of quinine for self-induced abortion
Here's the abstract:
Very illuminating, but I wish this abstract had included this little snippet from the first abstract I read on that article (emphasis mine):
There's stuff from my own web site I'd like to refer to here, but for some reason the stupid server is acting up and won't load my page! My main point being that legalization didn't get rid of dangerous self-induced abortion attempts. Some women know what they're doing is dangerous and do it anyway (like the bulemic woman in the first cite). They're doing what they're doing because they have a mental illness, which is something that an abortion won't cure and will probably only exacerbate. Other women probably have been told by "helpful" friends that what they're intending to do is perfectly "safe" and "natural". Kris Humphrey, for example, died persisting in trying to perform a "safe" and "natural" pennyroyal abortion on herself. Plugging abortion as "safe" and "natural" isn't going to help these women.
Then there's Risky choices: the dangers of teens using self-induced abortion attempts
Here's the abstract:
Since I only have access to the abstract, not the full article, I don't know how far back the literature search goes to find the 11 self-induced abortion deaths. I'll have to look it up back stateside next month.
I like that they work to alert nurse practitioners to the signs of attempted self-induced abortions, but I worry that their "prevention" might be entirely focused on sending her to the local Hodari or Hayat rather than helping her get past the initial abortion ideation, which has been shown to be normal in early pregnancy. (Again, I can't search my site for the links I want!)
Now we go from social and medical research into la-la land:
"In fact, most women who died pre-Roe, died from self-induced abortion."
Of the pre-legalization illegal abortion deaths I found, that I've sorted so far:
Total: 102
Now, I'll have to go do a more thorough search and tweak my numbers once I can get back into my site, but preliminary results indicate:
While I don't have all illegal abortion deaths, by a long shot, I do have a representative sample of those reported by the newspapers and investigated by the coroner's office. We can't draw rock-solid conclusions, but we can get a ballpark idea of what was going on.
Even if we assume that the unclassified were all self-induced, that gives us 10 self induced deaths out of 102, for about 10%. This is in keeping with research by Nancy Howell Lee and Mary Calderone into pre-legalization abortion, which found that over 90% of illegal abortions were done by physicians, and the bulk of the remainder by non-physicians with formal medical training. Amateur and self-induced abortions would, of course, be over-represented among the dead because they'd be performed by the people with the least skill in performing the abortion, and in detecting and treating complications.
So, a reminder:
Self-induced abortion attempts do persist, despite the availability of legal abortion, for a variety of reasons
Medical professionals need to be aware of at-risk women and be ready to help them get real help
Promoting do-it-yourself abortions isn't help
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Self-induced abortion in a bulimic woman
It's a case from New Zealand. Here's the abstract:
We report the case of a woman with bulimia nervosa, several personality disorders, and a past history of anorexia nervosa who deliberately induced an abortion via self-imposed starvation and vigorous exercise. Her history reveals severe obsessive-compulsive and narcissistic personality disorders as well as a lifelong pattern of denial of affect and illness.
Closer to home for me, is this one from Southern Medical Journal, July of 1983: Use of quinine for self-induced abortion
Here's the abstract:
4 cases in which quinine was used in recent attempts at self-induced abortion in Charleston, South Carolina, are described, and the pharmacology, toxicity, and abortifacient efficacy of quinine are described. A 28-year old indigent, unmarried woman with 3 children was seen 1 day following ingestion of 16 quinine capsules. 3 weeks later she had suction curettage of an 8-week size uterus at which time it appeared that incomplete abortion had already occurred. 5 months previously, the woman had taken a similar dose of quinine to abort a previous unwanted pregnancy. A suction curettage was done and the pathology report showed products of conception. The other 3 cases were a 26-year old woman with 1 child who was 13 weeks pregnant when first seen, 3 weeks after ingesting 4 quinine pills; a 23-year old pregnant for the 1st time who came to the emergency room approximately 22 weeks pregnant a day after taking quinine in an attempt to induce abortion; and a 33-year old woman with 3 children who was 14 weeks pregnant and who 6 weeks earlier had taken 4 quinine tablets of unknown strength along with several tablets of Humphrey's Number 11 in an attempt to induce abortion. The 4 women experienced side effects including tinnitis, diminished hearing, blurred vision, nausea, vomiting, chest pain, dyspnea, tachycardia, abdominal pain, back pain, leg weakness, irritability, and a feeling of impending syncope. The latter 3 women were delivered of live infants at 35 weeks or later. The abortifacient efficacy of quinine is unclear. There are no well controlled studies and the majority of cases are unreported. Most references deal with the complications of quinine use. Of 70 cases identified in the literature in which quinine was used to abort a known or suspected pregnancy, at least 11 resulted in maternal death, and at least 41 offspring had congenital anomalies for which quinine was suspected as the etiologic agent. Abortion was achieved without maternal death in only 3 cases. 4 grams of quinine usually causes toxic effects and 8 grams is the average fatal dose for adults. These 4 cases suggest that belief in the abortifacient efficacy of quinine persists despite questionable evidence.
Very illuminating, but I wish this abstract had included this little snippet from the first abstract I read on that article (emphasis mine):
Literature review suggests that quinine is an ineffective abortifacient, even when taken in toxic doses. Adverse effects of quinine include cinchonism, potentially fatal renal failure, and possible teratogenesis. Quinine is available over-the-counter, but it has few legitimate medical indications. Health care personnel treating women with undesired pregnancies should be alert to the signs and symptoms of quinine toxicity.
There's stuff from my own web site I'd like to refer to here, but for some reason the stupid server is acting up and won't load my page! My main point being that legalization didn't get rid of dangerous self-induced abortion attempts. Some women know what they're doing is dangerous and do it anyway (like the bulemic woman in the first cite). They're doing what they're doing because they have a mental illness, which is something that an abortion won't cure and will probably only exacerbate. Other women probably have been told by "helpful" friends that what they're intending to do is perfectly "safe" and "natural". Kris Humphrey, for example, died persisting in trying to perform a "safe" and "natural" pennyroyal abortion on herself. Plugging abortion as "safe" and "natural" isn't going to help these women.
Then there's Risky choices: the dangers of teens using self-induced abortion attempts
Here's the abstract:
The introduction to this article on the existence and dangers of self-abortion attempts among adolescents in the US notes that in 1992 more than 134,000 US adolescents sought legal abortions, while an unknown number attempted illegal or self-induced abortions. The article goes on to describe a case in which a 19-year-old almost died after ingesting 1.5 g of quinine in a self-abortion attempt. Next, the article reviews the literature on methods used to attempt self-induced abortion and points out that 70 cases of attempted quinine induced abortion resulted in three abortions and 11 maternal deaths. A table lists other methods of self-induced abortion, including use of drugs, instrumentation, cervical dilation, and trauma. After noting that adolescents may be particularly susceptible to such attempts because of their limited resources and limited access to legal abortions, the article describes reasons for self-induced abortion attempts. Next, recommendations are made to help nurse-practitioners recognize the symptoms of self-induced abortion attempts and prevent the occurrence of self-induced abortion by accessing risks and providing adolescents with the education and support needed to prevent such attempts.
Since I only have access to the abstract, not the full article, I don't know how far back the literature search goes to find the 11 self-induced abortion deaths. I'll have to look it up back stateside next month.
I like that they work to alert nurse practitioners to the signs of attempted self-induced abortions, but I worry that their "prevention" might be entirely focused on sending her to the local Hodari or Hayat rather than helping her get past the initial abortion ideation, which has been shown to be normal in early pregnancy. (Again, I can't search my site for the links I want!)
Now we go from social and medical research into la-la land:
"In fact, most women who died pre-Roe, died from self-induced abortion."
Of the pre-legalization illegal abortion deaths I found, that I've sorted so far:
- 2 were self-induced
- 8 were unclassifed (perpetrator not identified)
- 9 were by people with some medical training (nurse, midwife, etc) who were not doctors
- 24 were performed by people with no formal medical training
- 59 were performed by physicians
Total: 102
Now, I'll have to go do a more thorough search and tweak my numbers once I can get back into my site, but preliminary results indicate:
- 2% self-induced
- 8% unclassified
- 9% by people with medical training
- 24% by people with no formal medical training
- 58% by physicians
While I don't have all illegal abortion deaths, by a long shot, I do have a representative sample of those reported by the newspapers and investigated by the coroner's office. We can't draw rock-solid conclusions, but we can get a ballpark idea of what was going on.
Even if we assume that the unclassified were all self-induced, that gives us 10 self induced deaths out of 102, for about 10%. This is in keeping with research by Nancy Howell Lee and Mary Calderone into pre-legalization abortion, which found that over 90% of illegal abortions were done by physicians, and the bulk of the remainder by non-physicians with formal medical training. Amateur and self-induced abortions would, of course, be over-represented among the dead because they'd be performed by the people with the least skill in performing the abortion, and in detecting and treating complications.
So, a reminder:
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Friday, February 08, 2008
Safe and legal in California
Abortion clinics operator is charged, Los Angeles Times, February 8, 2008
The medical board documents identify the woman as Angela P. She had undergone what she expected to be a safe legal abortion at Clinica Medica Para la Mujer de Hoy in Santa Ana, California in the summer of 2004. The abortion was performed by Phillip Rand, then in his early 80s. Rand used a simple suction abortion, appropriate only for the first trimester, on Angela, though she was 20 weeks pregnant. Angela had been given no anesthesia or pain medications.
Bertha Bugarin, who manages the clinic and others in the chain, has been charged with five counts practicing medicine without a license in February and March of 2007. Her sister, Raquel Bugarin, has also been charged with related crimes.
The chain had offices in "Baldwin Park, Huntington Park, Los Angeles and Panorama City, operating either under the name Clinica Medica Para La Mujer de Hoy or Community Women's Medical Clinic. Public records contain references to four more locations, in Chula Vista, North Hollywood, Torrance and Santa Ana. One clinic doctor said in a deposition for a 2002 malpractice suit that there were nine clinics."
The Los Angeles Times article noted "at least 12 personal injury and malpractice lawsuits and one wrongful death suit have been filed in Los Angeles County against Bertha Bugarin, the clinics or both." The wrongful death might be associated with a botched delivery by one of Bugarin's abortionists (see George Dalton Flanigan, below), but since this death took place at a hospital and not at one of the chain of abortion facilities, this seems unlikely.
The Times indicates that "Bugarin developed the clinics herself, hiring the doctors to work on an on-call basis." The doctors themselves are a rogues' gallery:
Nicholas Braemer, who sometimes appears on documents as an owner of the facilities, admitted to the medical board that in 1987 he initiated an abortion but only removed one arm of the fetus. The patient expelled the rest of the maimed fetus the following day. Braemer was put on probation with the board, but then violated the terms of his probation three times. In 1996, he left the cranium and placenta inside a patient, who had to be hospitalized for a month to have her bowel repaired and multiple abscesses drained. "Braemer surrendered his license in 2000, after a medical board investigation of several Clinica Medica clinics. Without a physician present, unlicensed receptionists performed ultrasounds on undercover investigators posing as patients, according to medical board records."
"Mohamed Dia, who surrendered his license in 1999. He admitted to the medical board that he used a van to bring a bleeding patient to a hospital after perforating her uterus and leaving part of the fetus in her body during a 1996 abortion at Clinica Medica."
"Laurence Reich, who surrendered his license in 2006 after pleading no contest to misdemeanor criminal charges of sexually exploiting two patients during abortions in 2000 at clinics not associated with Bugarin. His conviction was expunged in 2004 after he completed a yearlong probationary period and paid the court a $100 restitution fine, according to a Van Nuys court file." One patient reported that Reich groped her breasts during an abortion. "An earlier board accusation in 1982 had accused Reich of sexual abuse in three cases in 1981 and 1979. Reich asked the women to masturbate and rubbed their genital areas, according to the accusation, which led the board to put Reich on probation for 10 years until 1994."
"Glenn Edward Miller, an admitted alcoholic whose license was revoked by the medical board in 2005 due to repeated substance abuse relapses. Miller was on probation for performing obstetrical procedures while under the influence of alcohol when he began working in Bugarin clinics in about 2003, according to board records." Miller and Rand settled a suit filed by a woman they performed an abortion on, even though she was not pregnant. She suffered a ruptured uterus.
"George Dalton Flanigan, who was hired as an independent contractor at five Bugarin clinics in 2002, according to court documents. That same year, at an unnamed hospital, he delivered a dead baby using a vacuum procedure after refusing to perform a cesarean section, according to a board accusation that led to a 2007 decision to put him on probation for five years." After reading the medical board documents myself, it is pretty clear that it was Flanigan's quackery that caused the baby's death. He persisted in attempting to use a vacuum forceps in the face of contraindications, causing fatal brain damage to the infant.
I am currently working on downloading copies of the medical board documents. I'll write them up and make them available for your perusal. You won't have to take my word for any of it; you'll be able to check it yourself.
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By the time paramedics arrived, the patient was lying in a pool of her own blood, her pulse racing and her blood pressure dangerously low.
The medical board documents identify the woman as Angela P. She had undergone what she expected to be a safe legal abortion at Clinica Medica Para la Mujer de Hoy in Santa Ana, California in the summer of 2004. The abortion was performed by Phillip Rand, then in his early 80s. Rand used a simple suction abortion, appropriate only for the first trimester, on Angela, though she was 20 weeks pregnant. Angela had been given no anesthesia or pain medications.
Angela P.'s experience was cited in a 2004 medical board accusation against Rand as "barbaric" and a "severe departure" from a reasonable standard of care. Rand surrendered his license in 2005.
Rand was one of at least six doctors with histories of malpractice complaints, addiction or medical board actions who were employed by a chain of Southern California abortion clinics, according to court and medical board records.
Bertha Bugarin, who manages the clinic and others in the chain, has been charged with five counts practicing medicine without a license in February and March of 2007. Her sister, Raquel Bugarin, has also been charged with related crimes.
A fictitious name statement from 1991 filed for the business lists Bertha Bugarin as the person behind Clinica Medica Para La Mujer de Hoy, although paperwork filed with the medical board lists Nicholas Braemer, a Torrance doctor who lost his license in 2000, as the sole registrant of the clinics between 1991 and 1999.
The chain had offices in "Baldwin Park, Huntington Park, Los Angeles and Panorama City, operating either under the name Clinica Medica Para La Mujer de Hoy or Community Women's Medical Clinic. Public records contain references to four more locations, in Chula Vista, North Hollywood, Torrance and Santa Ana. One clinic doctor said in a deposition for a 2002 malpractice suit that there were nine clinics."
The Los Angeles Times article noted "at least 12 personal injury and malpractice lawsuits and one wrongful death suit have been filed in Los Angeles County against Bertha Bugarin, the clinics or both." The wrongful death might be associated with a botched delivery by one of Bugarin's abortionists (see George Dalton Flanigan, below), but since this death took place at a hospital and not at one of the chain of abortion facilities, this seems unlikely.
The Times indicates that "Bugarin developed the clinics herself, hiring the doctors to work on an on-call basis." The doctors themselves are a rogues' gallery:
I am currently working on downloading copies of the medical board documents. I'll write them up and make them available for your perusal. You won't have to take my word for any of it; you'll be able to check it yourself.
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Yet another ringing endorsement
'The right choice' leads to a 'fountain of pain':
She also speaks of the physical nightmare that was the abortion itself.
Is it just me, or is there a sort of "misery loves company" aspect to the prochoice movement? This is far from the first heartsick cry from a woman totally wrecked by an abortion, awash in a sea of anguish and regret -- but still insisting it was "the right choice" and one she wants other women to have the chance to experience firsthand.
What other human act can so totally blow up in so many people's faces, cause them so much heartbreak and grief, and still be promoted as palliative?
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The feminist in me shrinks away from talking about the pain of that loss. Even though my heart believes I sent it back so it could return at a better time, there’s fountain of pain and a kind of aloneness I had never experienced that seems to gush interminably.
....
I dream about the baby, the one with no name. In the dreams, I am overwhelmed with trying to find someone to help me care for it, of hearing it call the babysitter “mama” because its mother can never be there. When this happens, I feel like I made the right choice for myself and the children that will come. But I still grieve.
She also speaks of the physical nightmare that was the abortion itself.
Is it just me, or is there a sort of "misery loves company" aspect to the prochoice movement? This is far from the first heartsick cry from a woman totally wrecked by an abortion, awash in a sea of anguish and regret -- but still insisting it was "the right choice" and one she wants other women to have the chance to experience firsthand.
What other human act can so totally blow up in so many people's faces, cause them so much heartbreak and grief, and still be promoted as palliative?
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Welcome to America!
Congratulations, Craig Ferguson, new American citizen!
(I'm leaving this up even though the video is down, alas. Does anybody have the segment of Craig's swearing in? It was very moving.)
AND he soloed for the first time! He became a pilot the same weekend he became a U.S. Citizen.
I'm so proud of my beloved Scotsman! Correction -- my beloved Scots-American.
(I'm leaving this up even though the video is down, alas. Does anybody have the segment of Craig's swearing in? It was very moving.)
AND he soloed for the first time! He became a pilot the same weekend he became a U.S. Citizen.
I'm so proud of my beloved Scotsman! Correction -- my beloved Scots-American.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Anniversary: Back alley butchery? Or safe and legal vital reproductive health care services?
Safe and legal? Or back-alley butchery? The case of 19-year-old Nancy Ward certainly sits on the cusp.
In November of 1967, Nancy, a student at the University of Oklahoma, told her boyfriend that she was pregnant and wanted an abortion. The boyfriend contacted his father in Kansas City, Missouri for help. On January 30, 1968, the boyfriend's father contacted Dr. Richard Mucie at his ear, nose, and throat clinic in Kansas City and made arrangements for the abortion. On February 7, Nancy and her boyfriend flew from Oklahoma to Kansas City and visited Mucie at clinic. Mucie examined Nancy and told the couple that he would contact them at their hotel.
At 11 p.m., Mucie called and arranged to pick them up and drive them to his clinic. He took Nancy back for the back room while the boyfriend waited in the outer office. About 20 to 30 minutes later, Mucie returned to the front office and asked the boyfriend for money before starting the procedure. Evidence indicates that Mucie then performed a D&C abortion on Nancy.
During the abortion, Mucie made a 1/2 inch tear in Nany's uterus. She went into shock and died at the clinic at about 9 a.m. February 8, in spite of Mucie's attempts to resucitate her. At about 11:30 a.m., Nancy's body was taken to Osteopathic hosptal. An autopsy revealed parts of a 4 1/2 to five month fetus still in Nancy's uterus. She had bled to death.
Mucie was convicted on June 8, 1968, of performing an abortion "not necessary to preserve the life" of the mother. Illegal abortion at that time carried a penalty of 3-5 years, with the sentence to be increased in cases where the mother died. Mucie served 14 months then was released on parole. Parole was set to expire on July 27, 1977. His medical license was revoked on May 4, 1971. After Roe v. Wade overturned Missouri's abortion law, Mucie successfully appealed his conviction and got his license restored under a ruling that made Roe retroactive in Missouri. He was released from propation and his record expunged of the manslaughter-abortion convicted. Ironically, Nancy's fatal abortion was retroactively declared legal on the grounds that the state's "interest in materal health" did not allow Missouri to have prohibited Mucie from performing it.
So, at the time Mucie performed it, Nancy's abortion was one of those horrible back-alley abortions that no woman should have to endure, much less die from. But after Roe, it was retroactively declared safe and legal, and thus transforms Nancy's death to something the abortion lobby can dismiss with a flippant, "All surgery has risks!"
Did Nancy's death become more acceptable and less tragic after it was retroactively relegated to the realm of safe and legal abortions?
And lest Mucie's specialty being ENT and not Ob/Gyn stick in your craw, keep in mind that this is not unusual at all for abortion specialists. Scroll down here to Robin's story. Her abortion at a National Abortion Federation member clinic was performed by Don Jaffe, who was, like Richard Mucie, an ear, nose, and throat man. And Lawson Akpulonu, whose seedy abortion mill Diane Sawyer dismissed as "a non-story", was a podiatrist.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
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In November of 1967, Nancy, a student at the University of Oklahoma, told her boyfriend that she was pregnant and wanted an abortion. The boyfriend contacted his father in Kansas City, Missouri for help. On January 30, 1968, the boyfriend's father contacted Dr. Richard Mucie at his ear, nose, and throat clinic in Kansas City and made arrangements for the abortion. On February 7, Nancy and her boyfriend flew from Oklahoma to Kansas City and visited Mucie at clinic. Mucie examined Nancy and told the couple that he would contact them at their hotel.
At 11 p.m., Mucie called and arranged to pick them up and drive them to his clinic. He took Nancy back for the back room while the boyfriend waited in the outer office. About 20 to 30 minutes later, Mucie returned to the front office and asked the boyfriend for money before starting the procedure. Evidence indicates that Mucie then performed a D&C abortion on Nancy.
During the abortion, Mucie made a 1/2 inch tear in Nany's uterus. She went into shock and died at the clinic at about 9 a.m. February 8, in spite of Mucie's attempts to resucitate her. At about 11:30 a.m., Nancy's body was taken to Osteopathic hosptal. An autopsy revealed parts of a 4 1/2 to five month fetus still in Nancy's uterus. She had bled to death.
Mucie was convicted on June 8, 1968, of performing an abortion "not necessary to preserve the life" of the mother. Illegal abortion at that time carried a penalty of 3-5 years, with the sentence to be increased in cases where the mother died. Mucie served 14 months then was released on parole. Parole was set to expire on July 27, 1977. His medical license was revoked on May 4, 1971. After Roe v. Wade overturned Missouri's abortion law, Mucie successfully appealed his conviction and got his license restored under a ruling that made Roe retroactive in Missouri. He was released from propation and his record expunged of the manslaughter-abortion convicted. Ironically, Nancy's fatal abortion was retroactively declared legal on the grounds that the state's "interest in materal health" did not allow Missouri to have prohibited Mucie from performing it.
So, at the time Mucie performed it, Nancy's abortion was one of those horrible back-alley abortions that no woman should have to endure, much less die from. But after Roe, it was retroactively declared safe and legal, and thus transforms Nancy's death to something the abortion lobby can dismiss with a flippant, "All surgery has risks!"
Did Nancy's death become more acceptable and less tragic after it was retroactively relegated to the realm of safe and legal abortions?
And lest Mucie's specialty being ENT and not Ob/Gyn stick in your craw, keep in mind that this is not unusual at all for abortion specialists. Scroll down here to Robin's story. Her abortion at a National Abortion Federation member clinic was performed by Don Jaffe, who was, like Richard Mucie, an ear, nose, and throat man. And Lawson Akpulonu, whose seedy abortion mill Diane Sawyer dismissed as "a non-story", was a podiatrist.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
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Isn't that special?
A well-off, stable married couple decide to abort because, well, that's just their preference. And it brought them ever-so-much closer! It was a beautiful thing. "A love story."
Choosing Us
Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka also found an unusual way of building their marital intimacy. Hey, Alison and Walter, check out the company you choose to keep.
And Karla's out of the klink now. Invite her over for a wine and cheese party. I'm sure you'd have a lot to talk about.
HT: JJ
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Choosing Us
Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka also found an unusual way of building their marital intimacy. Hey, Alison and Walter, check out the company you choose to keep.
And Karla's out of the klink now. Invite her over for a wine and cheese party. I'm sure you'd have a lot to talk about.
HT: JJ
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