July 9, 1993: Chaos and Death for Immigrant at Fake Clinic

  A Desperate Young Mom

Guadalupe Negron

Guadalupe "Lupe" Negron, age 33, had come to the United States from Honduras with her husband in the late 1980s. They left their three young sons with Lupe's mother, planning to send for them as soon as they could earn enough money. Lupe and Herminio sold flowers and ice cream from a cart on a street corner.

The need to earn money became more urgent after Lupe's mother died. 

Lupe and Herminio continued to work hard. They welcomed the children's new little brother, Byron Callejas, into the world.

Time were tough for the divided little family that summer of 1993. On the 4th of July a passer-by had tossed a firecracker through a window into the family's apartment, starting a fire that destroyed everything they owned. Neighbors gave the family used clothing and furniture to help them set up a new home. They loved the big lady with the bigger smile who would sometimes give children treats for free.

Things seemed to be looking up when Lupe got the opportunity to work through Calvary Hospital as a home-care aide for a neighbor with cancer. There was only one problem: Lupe was five months pregnant. She feared that she would not be able to get certified as a caregiver if she was pregnant.

Metro Women's Center

The young mother must have felt terribly torn. "She didn't believe in abortion," her niece, Helena de Monzon said to Newsday. "She knew it was a sin, what she was doing. But she didn't want to lose a job. It was a necessity." 

Lupe didn't discuss the situation with Herminio because he knew she'd talk her out of aborting their baby, Helena said. Instead, she told Herminio that she was ill that day and would stay at home. Herminio took 4-year-old Byron with him to start another working day.

Hoping to help her aunt through this difficult situation, Helena drove her to Metro Women's Center at 102-21 Roosevelt Avenue in Queens, New York on July 9, 1993. 

Though Lupe no doubt had concerns about her spiritual well-being, she was confident about her physical well-being. "She wasn't in any fear because they told her there wasn't any risk," Helena said.

Lupe might have felt differently had she known about the 56-year-old doctor who was about to take her life into his hands. Metro Women's Center, in fact, would not even tell Lupe and Helena the doctor's name.

Elyas Bonrouhi aka David Benjamin

The Iranian-born Dr. Elyas Bonrouhi had come to the United States in 1982. He had failed his certification test three times before he was able to be certified as an obstetrician-gynecologist. In 1986, while practicing under his original name in update New York, his license had been revoked for 47 incidents of misconduct including performing surgeries and deliveries in his office rather than a hospital and for performing an unnecessary hysterectomy. 

Bonrouhi insisted to the board, "Every patient I deal with, I deal like she is my sister." 

If this was true, Bonrouhi was cruel to his family.

One woman describing her ordeal at his hands to the medical board said, "He started cutting me after that and he just kept cutting me and taking pieces out of me and showing them to me and everything. The numbness wore off and I was screaming. Then he got scared because there was so much blood coming out ... he called the nurse ... so she got tissues and stuff and he just stuffed me with cloth on the inside and packed it in there. Then he sewed it right in me." She ended up hospitalized and required eight surgeries to repair the damage.

His fellow physicians testified against him. Dr. Anthony Dardano, who had been overseeing Bonrouhi's work as a stipulation for him getting provisional privileges at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Utica, New York, testified, "It took me one weekend of watching his work to suspend him. .... I found him to be intellectually dishonest, poor in surgical technique, and poor in medical judgment." Dardano described having to step in to stop the hemorrhaging on a patient during a C-section Bonrouhi was performing.

In spite of the evidence against him, Bonrouhi challenged the revocation, getting it reduced to a three-month suspension, before changing his name to Dr. David Elyas Benjamin and relocating to Queens.  

Just two weeks before Lupe and her niece walked into Metro Women's Center, the medical board had revoked Benjamin's license for botching gynecological procedures. He was still practicing while appealing the case.

The First Signs of Trouble

Lupe paid $800 (c. $1,600 in 2020) for the abortion. Abortions at Lupe's stage of pregnancy were typically performed in a two-day procedure, in order to dilate the cervix sufficiently without tearing it. Benjamin decided to just perform the abortion as a one-day procedure. He also took no steps to address her high blood pressure.

A receptionist for the facility noted that after Dr. David Benjamin had performed Lupe 's abortion at 10AM, she was moved to the recovery room and left unattended and without monitoring equipment for over an hour. 

Meanwhile, Helena sat in the waiting room, hoping all was well with her aunt. While she waited, she tried to help another patient, a Mexican woman who had a 6-month old baby in a stroller and was waiting for aftercare. She'd suffered a massive infection from an abortion Benjamin had performed. She screamed in pain and begged for somebody to call her family. 

Some time after noon, still trying to comfort the Mexican woman, Helena saw Lupe -- pale, bleeding, spitting up blood, and clearly in pain -- wheeled out on a stretcher. Benjamin said there had been "complications" and wheeled the ailing woman into an exam room.

Shortly afterward, Benjamin's wife, Jackie, who acted as his assistant, came out of the exam room screaming "Oh my God! Oh my God!" and "Call the ambulance! Call the ambulance!" However, the ambulance was not summoned until 1:40 PM.

What the Medics Saw

When paramedics Freddie Noboa and Miguel Acvedo arrived, they were flabbergasted. Noboa said, "I saw the sign 'abortion clinic.' I was shocked. It was the back from of an office all the way in the back of the building, hot as hell and filthy." 

He and his partner found Lupe naked and bloody, still in the stirrups and without even a sheet to cover her. A woman dressed like a nurse was screaming, "Do something! Do something!" 

Noboa said, "She and the doctor are doing CPR on this female who's covered in blood and totally naked. Her feet are still in the stirrups." Noboa noted that "There was nothing under the patient, just this very thin piece of paper soaked with blood. There was blood all over the place, under her buttocks, on the floor, all over the instruments."

None of the normal equipment to address an emergency was there. "There was no blood pressure cuff, no EKG monitor. He had one tiny cylinder tank of oxygen about eight inches long. He said it had run out." The medics also noted that Benjamin had inserted a breathing tube into Lupe 's stomach instead of her trachea. Noboa said, "While they're doing CPR, all her abdominal fluids are going up through the tube into the mask down into her lungs. She's choking on her own fluids. Besides which she's in a semi-sitting position, which closes off the airway."

Noboa said that even if Lupe hadn't bled to death, she could have drowned in her own fluids due to the botched tube placement.

The paramedics also indicated that they were hindered in their attempts to save Lupe 's life because Benjamin lied to them about the nature of her problem. The emergency call itself had only been for a patient experiencing difficulty breathing.

"We got there within five minutes, but she was already dead on the table," Noboa said. "Her pupils were fully dilated." 

Both Benjamin and his wife appeared to be panic-stricken. "I told the doctor, 'Get out of here. You're doing everything wrong. Get out of the way." Meanwhile, "I could hear someone screaming in the background, which was the nurse. At first I thought it was a family member because of the way she was jumping up and down and screaming. I said, 'Ma'am, you have to get out of here."

The disgusted paramedic said that no anesthesiologist was present. "She was just given Demerol and Valium. .... He wasn't monitoring her vital signs." He refused to give his name or an incident report to take to the hospital and told the medics that the patient was unconscious due to "too much anesthesia." 

Noboa was also disgusted with the doctor's demeanor. "He was nervous for himself. He kept saying, 'Make sure you tell them I gave her the oxygen.'"

The paramedics removed the face mask and misplaced tube, properly intubated the patient, and transported her to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead an hour later.

Meanwhile, Back at the Not-a-Clinic

Once Lupe had been loaded into the ambulance and Helena had left for the hospital, Benjamin's receptionist, identified only as Maria, decided she'd had enough. Her boss called for his next patient -- the Mexican woman who was screaming in agony. Instead Maria hustled the woman and her baby out of the facility. Police eventually tracked her down to testify against the doctor. Fortunately for her, she had gotten her aftercare elsewhere. 

What Happened Next

Dr. Benjamin told Lupe's distraught family that she had died from a heart attack. The autopsy report found otherwise.

In trying to extract a 20-week fetus without having first properly dilated the cervix, Benjamin had lacerated Lupe's cervix and ripped a three-inch hole in her uterus. She hemorrhaged and went into shock and cardiac arrest. Authorities determined that Benjamin had initiated the risky procedure without having first examined the patient.

Dr. David Benjamin

Benjamin was indicted for second degree (depraved indifference) murder, second degree manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, and tampering with evidence. Contrary to news coverage at the time, Benjamin was not the first case in New York history of a doctor being charged with murder for performing a legal procedure; that was Jesse Ketchum for performing a fatal abortion on Margaret Louise Smith in 1971. Slashing up a woman's insides then letting her bleed out, even if done safely and legally, can still be frowned upon.

Benjamin sobbed and pleaded during a hearing for his $750,000 (c. $1.5 million in 2022) to be lowered, but the judge instead raised it to $1 million. His family members screamed "Oh my God" and raised such an outcry that they were led from the courtroom.

He was offered a chance to plead guilty to second-degree manslaughter, which would have resulted in a sentence of three to nine years. He chose instead to go to court. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to 25 to life. His appeal was rejected on the grounds that being a doctor doesn't grant the right to treat patients with depraved indifference.

One of the paramedics told a reporter, "I wouldn't take my dog there (Benjamin's clinic)."

The Legal Status of Fake Clinics

After Lupe 's death, reporters from Newsday noted that the city of New York had all the regulations in place they needed to shut Metro Women's Center down. Shortly after abortion-on-demand had been legalized in New York in 1970, the city put regulations on the books to cover facilities that performed abortions, regardless of whether they were actually licensed clinics. Evidently officials did little in terms of enforcing the regulations. Not one abortion facility, as of 1993, had ever been closed by the city for substandard or dangerous conditions. Metro Women's Center, like the bulk of abortion facilities in New York City at the time, was not actually a licensed clinic and thus was not regulated by the state.

In the aftermath of Lupe 's death, instead of calling for the city to begin inspecting the facilities and closing down the dangerous ones, New York City Comptroller Elizabeth Holtzman instead demanded that the city's hospitals speed up the roughly three-week wait time for abortions on their premises.

Alexander Sanger, head of Planned Parenthood of New York, faulted the state not with failing to shut Benjamin and the fake clinic down but rather with failing to advertise that abortions were legal and the state would pay for them with taxpayer dollars.

Guadalupe's brother and youngest son

Lupe's husband, Herminio , lay abed in shock after being informed of his wife's death. Friends and family gathered to support the grieving widower. The neighbors who had contributed furniture and clothing to help Herminio rebuild his home were raising money so that he could send his wife's body back to Honduras for burial. 

"All I want is justice," he told Newsday. "And I need help to get my kids here [from Honduras]."

Three weeks later Herminio filed suit against the doctor and the clinic, as well as against the state for not having shut the clinic down after determining that his practice constituted a risk to the public. The appellate court ruled that the medical board had acted within the scope of their duties.

Watch "Death at a Fake Clinic" on YouTube.

Sources:

• Dept. of Health and Human Services Departmental Appeals Board Docket No. C-98-353 Decision No. CF681
• Medical Board Order No. BPMC-93-79
• "Botched abortion killed woman," New York Daily News, July 11, 1993
• "Secret Abortion Kills Mother of Four," New York Newsday, July 12, 1993
• "Officials Investigate Fatal Abortion," New York Newsday, July 13, 1993
• "Abortion docs who bilk poor," New York Daily News, July 13, 1993
• "Abort doctor probed," New York Daily News, July 14, 1993
• "'Already Dead'," New York Newsday, July 15, 1993
• "A witness to butchery," New York Daily News, July 15, 1993
• "Dumped By Profession," New York Newsday, July 16, 1993
• "State had yanked abortion doc's license," New York Daily News, July 17, 1993
• "Cut Too Quick," New York Newsday, July 18, 1993
• "Abortion Regs Ignored," New York Newsday, July 19, 1993
• "Abortion doc sued," New York Daily News, July 30, 1993
• "Woman's Family Sues Alleged Abortion Doc," New York Newsday, July 30, 1993
• "Abortion Doc Loses License Permanently," New York Newsday, August 4, 1993
• "Heroes on quest: carve butcher doc," New York Daily News, August 4, 1993
• "N.Y. med board puts doctor in fatal abortion out of biz," New York Daily News, August 4, 1993
• "Doc indicted in abort-death," New York Daily News, August 12, 1993
• "Murder rap for doc in abortion death," New York Daily News, August 13, 1993
• "Death Shattered Family," New York Newsday, August 13, 1993
• "Doc: 'Not Guilty' In Abortion Death," New York Newsday, August 13, 1993
• "Doc faces murder charge in abortion," The Daily Times, August 13, 1993
• "Abortion Doc Charged With Murder," Newsday Suffolk Edition, August 13, 1993
• "Abort doc weeps, but bail's raised," New York Daily News, August 27, 1993
• "Court: N.Y. not liable in murder," Democrat and Chronicle, March 8, 1996
• "Court Upholds Verdict In '95 Abortion Death," New York Newsday, March 24, 2000
• "N.Y.'s high court won't hear abortion murder case," The Post-Star, June 22, 2000

July 9, 1913: Who Was Minnie Bernstein?

On July 9, 1913, 33-year-old Russian immigrant Mary Goldstein, nee Solomon, died in Chicago from an abortion perpetrated by Minnie Bernstein. Bernstein is identified only as "abortion provider", so she might have been a lay abortionist, though given the proliferation of doctors and midwives practicing abortion in Chicago at the time, she might have been a trained medical professional.

Bernstein was held by the Coroner, and indicted by the Grand Jury for felony murder on September 1, but the case never went to trial.

The Homicide in Chicago Interactive Database incorrectly gives the date of death as July 4, but all other records note July 9.

July 8, 1988: Second Time Proved Fatal

Junette Barnes, a 37-year-old mother of four, had a tubal ligation on June 16, 1988.

One week after this operation, she found out that she had been pregnant at the time of the surgery, and was still pregnant. She saw her family physician, Dr. Ted Shields on July 8, 1988, and he performed an abortion on her at Surgicare Outpatient Center in Victoria, Texas, that day. 

Surgicare was a general-purpose outpatient surgical center rather than a dedicated abortion clinic.

During the abortion, he perforated her uterus and cut an artery and several veins. Junette was transferred to a hospital, where she died of blood loss during emergency surgery.

According to her obituary, she worked as a nurse's aide and left behind three daughters, a son, her parents, four sisters, a brother, her maternal grandmother, and a grandchild.

Watch "Is Abortion Really That Simple?" on YouTube.

Source: Victoria County District Court # 90-5-40, 939 C

July 8, 1929: Scanty Information From Chicago

On July 8, 1929, 26-year-old Frances Rogers died in Chicago from a criminal abortion. The source summary, Homicide in Chicago Interactive Database, says that the abortion was done in an unknown location, but the description of the offense says that she died at the scene of the crime. The person responsible was never identified.

Watch Scanty Information From Chicago on YouTube.

July 7, 1941: Death at the Doctor's Office

 Preparing for Her Final Day

On the morning of July 7, 1941, 27-year-old Emma Laisure awoke as usual and prepared breakfast for her taxi-driver husband, Earl, and their two daughters, four-year-old Patsy and 6-year-old Betty.

At around 3:30 pm, Emma went to the office of 53-year-old Dr. Nathaniel H. Schaffner in Chicago. She was accompanied by Earl and little Patsy. 

This was her third visit. 

The First Visit

She and Earl had first gone to Schaffner's office on June 27 after getting the doctor's name and address provided by Earl's co-worker Joseph Lamping when Earl had asked for help finding an abortionist. (Another co-worker, William Garnet, would later testify that he had witnessed the exchange between Earl and Joseph. Lamping would later assert that he had only been providing the name of a maternity doctor who was fair and reasonable.)

During the first visit, Earl said, Dr. Schaffner had examined Emma, verified that she was pregnant, and quoted a fee of $65 (roughly $1,300 in 2022) for an abortion. Earl said that he and Schaffner had dickered the price down to $40.

It's unclear when the money changed hands.

The Second Visit

Emma went to Schaffner's office alone the second time on July 2. According to Schaffner, he had merely warned Emma not to go through with a planned abortion.

The Fatal Day

When the Laisures arrived on July 7, Earl said, Schaffner asked Emma if she was ready and she replied, "Yes." Schaffner then asked Earl for permission "to go ahead with this." Earl said no, he didn't want the abortion performed but Emma was insisting.

Earl waited in the outer office with the little girl while Schaffner brought Emma into the inner office. Dr. Schaffner positioned Emma on an exam table with her feet in stirrups.

Something Went Wrong

About five minutes later, Earl said that he heard Emma cry out "I thought you said this wasn't going to hurt!" Earl said he heard Schaffner's voice but couldn't make out what he was saying. Emma then called out, "I can't breathe! I can't breathe!

Earl rushed into the room to find Schaffner at the foot of the table, removing one of Emma's feet from the stirrup. Emma tried to sit up but collapsed. Schaffner half-carried, half-dragged Emma from the exam room into another room and lay her on a couch. 

Earl said that Emma's color was pasty. Dr. Schaffner injected something into Emma's arm and listened to her chest with a stethoscope.  lifting Emma from the operating table to place her on a couch. Schaffner administered an injection and attempted artificial respiration, but to no avail. Earl told police that Emma died "practically in my arms."

To compound the tragedy, Emma died on the couple's seventh wedding anniversary. 

"Don't Get Excited."

Earl said that Schaffner told him, "Now don't get excited. I will take care of everything. I will pay for all the funeral aggangements and everything else. Just be quiet. Don't tell anybody about it. My career is at stake." 

Schaffner, Earl said, then went into the exam room and came out with an instrument in his hand. It was chrome metal, about 13 inches long, with a handle on one end and a tubular extension with a little pea-sized bulb at the end. "I don't know why she should die," Earl said Schaffner told him. "This is all I used on her." 

Earl filled out a blue paper at Dr. Schaffner's request then took his daughter home.

Meanwhile Schaffner put Emma back on the exam table and closed the door. He left her body there while he continued to treat other patients in his practice until about 8:30 pm.

Instructions to the Family

After treating his last patient of the day, Schaffner went to the Laisure home and spoke to Earl and his sister-in-law, Theresa Gross. According to Theresa and Earl, Schaffner gave the grieving husband a card with a funeral director's name on it, telling him, "This is a friend of mine. He will take care of the arrangements." Schaffner offered $500 to cover the costs. He explained that the undertaker would not come to his office to collect Emma's body, so he would bring the body to the Laisure home between 1:00 and 3:00 in the morning.

"We will call her death heart trouble and mark that on the death certificate," he said, admonishing Emma's widower and sister not to go to the police. "My reputation is at stake. I will have to commit suicide if you go to the police."

Theresa said she had asked Schaffner what he had done to her sister and he'd replied, "All I did was scrape her a little bit." 

He then returned to his office and wrapped Emma's body in a gray blanket. "I got the body downstairs myself. Rigor mortis had set in; the body was almost like a board. I lifted it all the way down and rested it on my knees as I was advancing towards the street."

What Happened Next?

What happened next is unclear. Some sources indicate that Dr. Schaffner dropped Emma's body off at the Laisure home shortly after midnight. However, court documents indicate that the next time Earl saw Schaffner was about 1:15 am in front of his home. He and his father-in-law, John Dietrich, were seated outside in a car when Schaffner came to the window and rebuked John for calling the police. "Earl and I have an arrangement. I knew she was going to die before I worked on her."

Schaffner was arrested at about 2:30 am on July 8, in an alley behind his sister's home. He at first insisted that he was not Dr. Schaffner but was somebody named Phillips. He was identified as Nathaniel Schaffner by Emma's brother-in-law, Herbert Gross.

The Cause of Death

A post-mortem examination confirmed that Emma had died from an abortion that had been initiated but not completed. Her three-and-a-half-month unborn son was still in her uterus. Chemical analysis of the fluid in Emma's uterus showed that it contained some ordinary soaps and cresols. There was hemorrhage in the uterine wall. There was no damage to the vagina or cervix, which Dr. Samuel Levinson, chief pathologist to the Cook County Coroner, said indicated that the toxic materials had been deposited directly in the uterus with some form of instrument. 

Emma had been healthy, with no injuries or ailments that could account for her death. Dr. Levinson concluded that Emma had died from shock caused by the chemicals.

Not His First Brush With the Law

Dr. Schaffner had previously been in big trouble with the law. He had served terms in Leavenworth federal prison on narcotics convictions -- 19 months starting in 1918 and three years beginning January of 1933. Schaffner's medical license had been revoked when he was arrested for the narcotics charges, but after he served his sentences he successfully petitioned to get his license back. It was granted in March of 1935.

It was undisputable that Schaffner had broken laws. He had failed to report Emma's death and had given police a false name when they arrested him.

Schaffner faced murder charges and a possible death sentence. A jury of three women and nine men heard the case.

The Trial

Schaffner insisted during his trial that he had indeed examined Emma and confirmed her pregnancy. He said that though Earl had offered him $40 to perpetrate the abortion, he had refused on the grounds that it was too risky due to advanced state of pregnancy. "I am sorry," Schaffner said he'd told Earl, "I cannot accept that kind of money for that kind of work. He asserted that Emma had been weak and barely ambulatory when she and Earl had arrived at his office. He said that she was pale, her breathing was rapid and shallow, and she complained of radiating pelvic pain. He said that he placed her on the table to perform an examination. He said that he used forceps and cotton balls to swab out a large amount of cloudy fluid. He said that it was at this point that Emma said that she could not breathe and Earl entered the room.

Dr. Schaffner said that after he had pronounced Emma dead, Earl had cried out, "Why did I do it? Why did I do it?" He said that he responded, "Well, I had warned you not to do anything. I told you that it was really risky and dangerous. It looks like you have ruptured the sac of water." He said that Earl replied, "No we didn't rupture no sac of water. We didn't do anything. The only thing we have done, we have tried every kind of medicine to use." 

The Outcome

The jury didn't believe him. Schaffner was convicted of murder and sentenced to 14 years in prison. He appealed his sentence but it was upheld in 1943. He was released in September of 1951 and promptly resumed perpetrating abortions. He got caught when he returned to an 18-year-old abortion patient's home and raped her. The woman's husband and father ambushed him, beat him up, and dumped him by the side of the road. After his arrest Schaffner was committed to a state institution for the criminally insane.

Watch Doctor Blames Woman and Husband on YouTube.

Sources:

• "Chicago Police Grill Doctor in Death of Woman," Belvidere (IL) Daily Republican, July 8, 1941
• "Chicago Physician is Questioned About Death of 27-Year-Old Woman," Freeport (IL) Journal Standard, July 8, 1941
• "Doctor Faces Abortion Charge," Decatur (IL) Herald, July 9, 1941
• "Doctor Held at Chicago To Face Murder Charge," Rock Island (IL) Argus, July 9, 1941
• "Doctor Charged With Murder in Abortion Death," Chicago Daily Tribune, July 9, 1941
• "Open Hearings on 3 Abortion Slaying Cases," Chicago Daily Tribune, July 10, 1941
• "Report Murder Charge Voted in Abortion Death," Chicago Tribune, July 25, 1941
• "Start Abortion Death Trial of Dr. Schaffner," Chicago Tribune, January 29, 1942
• "Dr. Schaffner Denies Part in Fatal Abortion," Chicago Tribune, January 31, 1942
• "Jurors Convict Dr. Schaffner in Abortion Death," Chicago Tribune, February 3, 1942
• "Physician Gets 14 Year Term in Abortion Death," Chicago Tribune, March 24, 1942
• People v. Schaffner, 46 N.E.2d 989 (Ill. 1943)
• "Court Upholds 14 Year Abortion Death Sentence," Chicago Tribune, January 20, 1943
• "Arraign Abortion Suspect Tuesday," Berwyn Life, October 25, 1951
• "Set Trial for Rape Suspect," Berwyn Life, November 4, 1951
• "Abortion Trial is Postponed," Berwyn Life, November 25, 1951
• "Find Abortion Suspect Insane," Berwyn Life, November 30, 1951

July 7, 1982: First of Two Deaths Under Rajan's Care

Dr. Ragna Rajan

On July 2, 1982, Darlene Wood was put under anesthesia for a second trimester abortion at Temple University Hospital. The abortionist was Renga Rajan; the anesthesiologist was William Stevenson-Smith.

Darlene was given nitrous oxide by face mask. She started coughing after the procedure began.

After the abortion was completed, she was admitted to the respiratory intensive care unit, where she was diagnosed with primary pulmonary hypertension.

Over the next several days, Darlene experienced increasing respiratory distress. She was given medication to maintain her blood pressure. But on July 7, Darlene went into cardio-respiratory arrest. She was pronounced dead at 2:50 p.m.

The administratrix of Darlene's estate contended that the lack of appropriate medical and anesthetic clearance was a substantial factor in her death.

Rajan was also successfully sued for the 1987 abortion death of Iris Velazquez.

Watch First of Two Abortion Deaths for Regna Rajan on YouTube.

Source: Philadelphia (PA) Court of Common Pleas Case No. 83-01/77

July 7, 1888: Sudden Death in a Doctor's Office

SUMMARY: Mary Schneller, age 23, died July 8, 1888 after an abortion perpetrated in Portland, Oregon.

Portland, July 8 – To day the Morgue was visited by hundreds of persons, drawn thither through motives of morbid curiosity to look at the body of the young woman who died suddenly yesterday in the office of Mrs. Dr. Murray-Blumauer. Many came in the hope of identifying the girl. Among those calling was a sister of the dead girl, who had no idea whose body lay at the Morgue. She was dreadfully shocked on recognizing the body as that of her sister, Mary Schneller. Her grief was inconsolable for several hours.”

The Mysterious Death

Grok AI illustration

Dr. Frances Murray-Blumaer told authorities that a young woman had come to her office at around 10:00 on the morning of July 7, asking for treatment for hemorrhage of the lungs. Dr. Murray gave the young woman some ice to help her to be more comfortable, and told her to lie down until she finished caring for another patient. The young woman lay down for while, then left the office, returning at 2:00 p.m.

Again Dr. Murray gave the young woman some ice and said she'd be with her shortly. Upon finishing with another patient, Dr. Murry called to the young woman but got no response. Going to the waiting lounge, Dr. Murray found her bleeding profusely from the mouth. With ten minutes the young woman was dead.

Dr. Murry said she had no idea who the patient was but noted that she had spoken with a German accent.

The Portland Oregonian gave a description of the dead woman:

The woman was about 27 years old, of good form, fair complexion, and had light brown hair, light gray eyes and sharp features. She wore a green dress and basque of the same color, and a light red bonnet with brown velvet trimmings and feathers of the same color as the bonnet, No. 5 button shoes, light brown veil and brown gloves. Nothing was found among her effects that would indicate her identity. She had a large, white, silk handkerchief, embroidered with roses, worked in green, red and yellow colors. In one corner of the handkerchief was a letter "W." She also had a small, red, leather purse, which contained 10 cents and several postage stamps.

The Woman is Identified

Hundreds of people came to the morgue to view the body, some out of morbid curiosity but some to try to identify the young woman. One of those who came by identified the body as that of her sister, Mary Schneller. Mary's sister was shocked and for several hours inconsolable.

Mary was 23 years old, originally from Middleton, Washington County. The circumstances of her death suggested an abortion, and an inquest found that she had also suffered hemorrhage of the lungs.

Dr. Murray was originally implicated in Mary's death, then brought charges against two men, John D. Wilcox and C. H. McIsaac, for blackmail in relation to the case. They had, Dr. Murray-Blumauer said, offered to retract allegations they had made against her in exchange for a payment of $1,500.

Further muddying the waters, Mary's family filed a civil suit of $5,000 against Dr. Murray-Blumaur. "The complaint alleges that through malpractice Dr. Murray killed the said Mary Schneller. This case will undoubtedly bring before the court very damaging evidence accumulated by detectives employed by the Daily News to investigate the death of Miss Schneller," according to the Salem Statesman.

Mary had moved to Portland about 10 years earlier, first working as a household cook, then as a hotel chambermaid. She left her employ at the Globe Hotel three months prior to her death and went to Wallua to work in a hotel there. She returned to Portland, intending to marry John Mebus, a railroad brakeman.

Correspondence between the two of them indicate that Mary wanted to get married but John refused. “He was on the way home from playing a game of baseball this evening when met by a reporter. When told whose body it was at the Morgue he exhibited no signs of feeling or emotion.”

There was evidently evidence tying Mebus up with Mary's death, since he was arrested and charged with manslaughter.

Dr. Murray-Blumauer had been born in 1837, and died December 14,1923 in Portland from "senility." She was a practicing allopath, and had graduated the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1873. (Directory of Deceased American Physician, 1804-1929)

Though evidently not prosecuted, she was sued by Mary's family.

Sources:

• "Dead in a Doctor's Office," Portland Oregonian, Jul. 8, 1888
• “An Unfortunate Girl,” San Francisco Chronicle, Jul. 9, 1888
• "The Mystery of a Woman's Sudden Death Partially Revealed," Sacramento Record-Union, Jul. 9, 1888
• "The Mary Schneller Case -- A Libeler Fined a Round Sum," Sacramento Record Union, Jul. 10, 1888
• "The Wilcox Blackmail Affair," Albany (OR) Daily Herald, Sept. 13, 1888
• "Suit to be Brought Against a Doctress for Malpractice," Sacramento Record-Union, Oct. 9, 1888
• "Mary Schneller's Death," Kingmark (SK) Daily Courier, Oct. 16, 1888
• "Mrs. Dr. Murray," Salem (OR) Statesman, Oct. 19, 1888

July 7, 1950: Atypical Death Treated as Typical by the Abortion Lobby

Vivian Campbell

I was originally very skeptical about a story told on the National Organization for Women web site. They said that Vivian Campbell (follow link for more sources) was a recently-separated 24-year-old mother of two when she discovered she was pregnant. NOW indicated that Vivian sent her children to stay with her parents while she obtained some sort of illegal abortion. NOW provided no details of the abortion, but did say that Vivian asked for her estranged husband, who came to the hospital only after she had died of peritonitis on May 6, 1950.

I decided to check the story out when I was able to visit the archives of the Allegheny County Coroner's Office in Pittsburgh. What I found left me totally bewildered as to why NOW and other abortion advocacy organizations using Vivian's story didn't bother to do any research. They certainly would have hit pay dirt. The details paint a poignant picture, though they don't indicate who perpetrated the abortion that ended Vivian's life. Was it a doctor, as was most common at the time? Was it somebody else with medical training, such as a nurse or midwife? Or was it that rarest of criminal abortions, the amateur abortion? Vivian took the secret to her grave.

Vivian J. Campbell worked for the IRS, her age was actually 27, and her death took place at 7:05 p.m. on Friday, July 7, 1950.

Her estranged husband, Edward L. Campbell, told the coroner's jury that on the evening of Thursday, June 22, he got a call at work. He was to go to the Elks Hall to pick up a package from Vivian and deliver it to the children. When Edward arrived, he noticed Vivian sitting at a table, drinking, with two men. Edward ordered a beer, and the bartender gave him the package. Though Vivian did approach the bartender to verify delivery of the package, she didn't speak at all to Edward.

On Wednesday, June 28, Edward spoke with Vivian's grandmother, Mrs. Jordon, who told him that Vivian was very sick. He called Vivian's home but the woman who answered, Miss Daniels, said that Vivian was too sick to speak to him. He told Miss Daniels to get a doctor and whatever else Vivian needed.

On Friday, June 30, Dr. John C. Reed was called in and cared for Vivian. He returned the next day, July 1, and talked to Vivian about his conclusion that she'd undergone an abortion. She admitted to taking a large amount of castor oil, but said she'd taken it for a cold. Dr. Reed told Vivian that she needed to go to the hospital, and her friends drove her to McKeesport Hospital, where she was admitted at 11:30 a.m., suffering from abdominal pain and distention, and moderate vaginal discharge but no bleeding. Her admission notes indicate that she had already expelled the fetus and most of the placenta, but might have retained some tissue. Her vital signs were alarming, with a pulse of 120 and respiration 26 and shallow. Her blood pressure was 118/70, within normal limits. She had some deep tenderness of the abdomen. She appeared to be slightly dehydrated.

Her doctor prescribed medications for her. Edward visited Vivian at the hospital at about 3:30 that afternoon and found her very sick. He consulted with Dr. Reed, who said that Vivian had gangrene and was in very serious condition. He called her from time to time to check in on her. Finally on Friday, July 7, Edward got a call at about 4:30 p.m. from Vivian's family, telling him to hurry to the hospital. He found his estranged wife unconscious, and remained at her side until her death that evening. At no point, Edward said, had Vivian said anything to him about the abortion.

According to Vivian's death certificate, she had suffered a ruptured bowel during the abortion attempt, causing the peritonitis that killed her.

Watch "A Little Off on the Details" on YouTube.

According to Vivian's death certificate, she had suffered a ruptured bowel during the abortion attempt, causing the peritonitis that killed her.

July 6, 1930: Who Perpetrated the Fatal Abortion?

The Homicide in Chicago Interactive Database provides very confusing information about the death of 34-year-old Mary Tulis on July 6, 1930. The case summary says:

Death due to a criminal abortion performed by person or persons at this time unknown to the Coroner's Jury. Marie La Montagne, 2327 W. Harrison St. mentioned as having attempted the abortion and Dr. O. W. Sommer of Frances Willard Hospital called in when peritonitis set in. Neither was mentioned in the verdict.

The details page, however, muddles the story. It said that the time between offense and death was "Immediate -- death occurred at the crime scene," which is given as 2327 W. Harrison: Marie La Montagne's address. The defendant is named as Dr. O. W. Sommer but lists his occupation or skill as "Law Enforcement, Police." It also has the odd note "Killed While Protecting Person: Protecting person outside family."

Genealogy records indicate that Lottie and her husband, Simon, had two children, ages 12 and 11 at the time of her death.

Watch "When the Source is Muddled" on YouTube.

~1978: Risky Anesthesia, High-Risk Patient

“Shannon” was six weeks pregnant when she underwent a legal abortion by suction curettage in the United States. An abortion has inherent risks even for a healthy person, but Shannon’s chronic respiratory conditions put her at further risk. She had both asthma and pre-existing pulmonary tuberculosis.

Despite Shannon’s health, the unspecified abortionist decided to proceed with the abortion procedure under general anesthesia. Shannon died from complications of general anesthesia. Given that her respiratory system was already under serious stress, this should have been very foreseeable.

Someone with either asthma or pulmonary tuberculosis, let alone both, would be considered a high-risk patient for anything involving general anesthesia. A doctor should always conduct necessary evaluations to determine if this would be needlessly risky, especially if the operation is elective. If general anesthesia is deemed truly necessary, these patients need specialized care and additional safeguards to make sure they are receiving enough oxygen.

It is fairly likely that Shannon died sometime in 1978. The study recording her death used CCD data from 1972 to 1978. Another study on abortion deaths from anesthesia complications from 1972 to 1977 also used CDC data and had no case matching Shannon’s. However, this is not absolute proof because the CDC’s abortion data reporting system is flawed and may not know about some deaths until years after they occur— or sometimes not at all. The study on deaths from 1972–1977 was published approximately 5 years before the one that recorded Shannon’s death, so it is possible that the CDC simply found more information on earlier deaths by then.

(Table 2 Patient 2)

1972: Bad Practices Turn IV Into Instrument of Death

“Eva” was led to believe that she was undergoing something safe, but because of bad practices, she would lose her own life.

Some states legalized abortion even before Roe v. Wade, but this did not make it safe. In 1972, Eva underwent one of these pre-Roe legal abortions.

Although Eva probably had no way to know this beforehand, someone used a bottle of fluid in her IV that had been contaminated with bacteria. Any fluid meant for intravenous use should be kept in sterile and thrown out immediately if it becomes contaminated. Equipment used for IV administration should also be stringently kept clean.

The bacterial contamination in the fluid was placed directly into Eva’s veins through her IV line. This caused severe bacteremia, which killed her. Contaminated IV fluids should never be used for this exact reason.

Eva’s death and her child’s death were both avoidable.

Family Planning Perspectives March/April 1978, Volume 10 Issue 2

July 5, 1921: Septicemia after Criminal Abortion in the Bronx

According to New York death records, Eudora Edwards, a 23-year-old immigrant from the British West Indies, died at Bronx Hospital in New York on July 5, 1921. Her cause of death was septicemia, septic peritonitis, and endocarditis due to a criminal abortion. 

According to census records, this young Black woman left behind a husband and infant son.

Unfortunately, I have been unable to find any information about the perpetrator of the fatal abortion. According to research by both Planned Parenthood and author Nancy Howell-Lee, about 90% of pre-legalization abortions were performed by doctors. Howell-Lee broke down the remaining 10% and found that the bulk of them were perpetrated by somebody with medical training, such as a nurse or dentist.

Watch "Did Eudora Find a Doctor?" on YouTube.

July 5, 1908: Self-Induced in New York

St. Mary's Hospital

According to New York death records, 33-year-old Lena Bruner Silver died at St. Mary's Hospital in Brooklyn on July 5, 1908. 

This young homemaker's death was due to septic peritonitis following a self-induced abortion.

I have been unable to find any further information about Lena's death.

Watch Self-Induced in New York on YouTube.

July 4, 2007: Sepsis and Death after "Medication Abortion"

"Sabrina" Roe was 18 years old and 6.5 weeks pregnant in the summer of 2007. Pregnant for the first time, she went to an provider somewhere in the United States for a "medication abortion." She was given 200 mg of oral mifepristone, a drug that causes the placenta to deteriorate and causes the embryo to die for lack of oxygen and nutrition.

It's unclear if she was administered the second dose at the facility or was given it to take at home, but 2 days after the mifepristone she was administered 800 mgcg of misoprostol inside her cheek. This second drug is to cause the contractions that will expel the dead embryo.

For 2 or 3 days Sabrina experienced only moderate bleeding and cramping. However by the fifth day, she suffered chills, dizziness, abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting. Over the next day the symptoms only got worse, so Sabrina went to "her outpatient clinic" -- likely the abortion facility that had given her the drugs. In spite of her chills, they determined that she didn't have a fever. She had pain throughout her lower abdomen and pelvic tenderness. She was diagnosed with bacterial vaginosis, given a prescription for metronidazole and doxycycline, and sent home. 

Somehow they didn't make a connection between an infection in her vagina and the possibility that she was developing potentially fatal sepsis.

The following day she was in even worse condition, so at last the clinic sent her to the emergency room. Her blood pressures was a low 56/21 (normal is around 120/80) and a rapid heartbeat of 149 (normal is around 60-100). Though she still had no fever, she had an elevated white blood cell count (indicative of infection) and an elevated hematocrit of 60.1%, which can be a sign of dehydration. 

Staff at the ER performed an ultrasound and found a large amount of free fluid and a cystic mass in her pelvic cavity. Doctors performed an exploratory laparotomy and found about 2.5 liters of cloudy fluid in her pelvic cavity, fluid swelling of the fallopian tubes, and inflammation of her peritoneum (lining of the abdomen). 

They admitted Sabrina to the ICU, where she was treated with IV fluids and an intensive cocktail of antibiotics for presumed sepsis. On July 4, just 16 hours after being admitted to the emergency room, Sabrina went into cardio-respiratory arrest and died.

An autopsy found findings consistent with necrotizing endometritis and sepsis.

HT: killed-by-choice

Sources:

• "Clostridial Toxic Shock After Abortion," Obstetrics & Gynecology, November 2007
• FDA Adverse Events Reporting System

 

July 4, 1913: A tragic Independence Day

On July 4, 1913, 33-year-old Mary Goldstein died in Chicago from an abortion reportedly perpetrated by Minnie Bernstein.

Bernstein is identified only as "abortion provider", so she might have been a lay abortionist.

She was held by the Coroner, and indicted by the Grand Jury for felony murder on September 1, but the case never went to trial.

Note, please, that with overall public health issues such as doctors not using proper aseptic techniques, lack of access to blood transfusions and antibiotics, and overall poor health to begin with, there was likely little difference between the performance of a legal abortion and illegal practice, and the aftercare for either type of abortion was probably equally unlikely to do the woman much, if any, good.

In fact, due to improvements in addressing these problems, maternal mortality in general (and abortion mortality with it) fell dramatically in the 20th Century, decades before Roe vs. Wade legalized abortion across America.

Watch Tragic Independence Day on YouTube.

For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion

July 4, 1875: Bride-to-Be Dies on Wedding Day

"The community around Oyster Bay are greatly excited over an abortion case that has been brought to light." The woman in question was identified only as Miss Bertram.

Miss Bertram was engaged to a New York man. The wedding was to take place on July 4, 1875. However, she became pregnant before the wedding. She purchased an abortifacient which didn't have the effect she desired, so she took some other sort of abortifacient. 

This second abortifacient did the job, leading to the birth of a near-term infant, which was buried in a potato patch. 

Miss Bertram herself took ill and died a few days later -- mere hours before her scheduled wedding. The physician who was attending her declared the cause of death to be the abortion.

Miss Bertram's fiancé denied being the father of the dead baby. "There is a suspicion entertained of another young man". Police began an investigation into who he might be, and into who sold the young woman the fatal drugs.

Watch "Tragic Wedding Day" on YouTube.

Source: "A Case of Malpractice at Oyster Bay," The Brooklyn Eagle, June 26, 1875

July 3, 2016: Mother Finds Daughter Cold and Dead

Mega-kudos to the folks at Operation Rescue for the amazing research they've been doing into the death of Cree Erwin-Sheppard Independence Day weekend of. 2024.

I first became aware of this Planned Parenthood abortion death through a recording of the 911 call her mother made when she found her daughter cold and dead in a downstairs bedroom. 

Thanks to Operation Rescue's hard work, we are able to compare the redacted autopsy report originally provided by the Medical Examiner's office with the original, unredacted copy.

Let's look at exactly what they chose to remove.

On the cover page, under "Cause of Death," the redaction suddenly begins in the middle of the sentence.

The words redacted were "and uterine perforation status post early vacuum aspiration and intrauterine contraception placement." Thus, the procedure performed at the Planned Parenthood was blacked out.

Even more telling is what they didn't redact: "Complications of intrauterine pregnancy, including pulmonayr emboli related to uterine vein thrombosis." In other words, findings that could blame Cree's death on pregnancy were left visible. Only the words that make it clear that this pregnancy had been tampered with are blocked out.

Moving on to the "Investigative Summary."

The first and second redactions are bewildering to me.

The first redaction is Cree's obstetric history, "G2P1." This is an abbreviation for "Gravida 2 Para 1," or "Pregnant Twice, Given Birth Once."

Since Cree had already aborted this pregnancy, her obstetric history should have been G2P1A1 (Gravida 2 Para 1 Abortus 1). Omitting the A1 would imply that Cree had been pregnant, rather than post-abortive, at the time of her death.

The second redaction is "There is a past medical history of pregnancy induced hypertension with a previous pregnancy." That information, coupled with giving Cree's obstetric history as "G2P1," could be used to imply that Cree had died during her second pregnancy due to pregnancy-related hypertension.

The final information redacted from this paragraph is: "There was reported history of a recent early vacuum aspiration and uterine contraception placement on 06/30/2016. On July 2, 2016 Cree presented to the emergency department with persistent pelvic pain and new-onset nausa and vomiting, and was discharged with instructions for outpatient follow-up." Thus, the fact that Cree had undergone an abortion is hidden.

The next redaction is in the section describing the internal examination of the chest and abdomen.

The words "Approximately 250 cc of blood are in the retrouterine pouch," are blacked out. In other words, the Medical Examiner's office didn't want anybody to know that there was over 8 ounces of blood in the area behind Cree's uterus.

This is another piece of evidence that officials were deliberately hiding the fact that Cree had suffered a fatal abortion injury.

Moving along to the specific description of Cree's internal reproductive organs.

Right after the words, "The endrmetrial cavity is of normal postpartum configuration," they redacted "and is occupied by clotted blood. An intrauterine contraceptive device embedded within the clot material is identified."

So the fact that the inside of Cree's uterus was normal didn't warrant redaction, but the fact that her uterus was full of clotted blood surrounding an IUD was deemed worthy of blacking out. Again, the fact that a procedure, rather than the pregnancy it self, caused Cree's death is being swept under the rug.

Another sentence is allowed to start unredacted: "The myometrium appears thickened." I'm not clear on why that was left in. The following is then blacked out: "consistent with the reported history of recent pregnancy. A 4.0 cm full-thickness perforation of the posterior lower uterine segment is identified."

So the fact that Cree's uterus was consistent with a reported recent pregnancy is allowed to stand, but the fact that she had a 1 1/5-inch full-thickness tear in the lower back area of her uterus was redacted. The injury is being covered up.

Moving along to the "Examination and Investigative Findings," once again we see that "Complications of intrauterine pregnancy" isn't blacked out. Information allowing Cree's death to be blamed on the pregnancy is conveniently provided.

What's blacked out is, once again, evidence that it wasn't the pregnancy itself that killed Cree Erwin. The hole in her uterus, and the fact that it is related to a recent vacuum aspiration (suction abortion) and recent IUD placement, are redacted. Thus, the fact that tampering with the pregnancy caused a fatal injury is hidden from public view.

The final redactions in the autopsy report seem like adding insult to injury.

The fact that Cree's urine tested positive for methadone and morphine is included. Thus, Cree is being presented as a drug addict.

What's redacted is this:

"Query of the Michigan Automated Prescription System does not return a record of a prescription for methadone in the decedent's name." The authorities also redacted, "Review of avaiable medical records does not disclose a record of methadone administration during admission to the emergency department."

Cree would only have been receiving prescriptions for methadone if she was in treatment for addiction. Thus, the fact that she had no recorded history of drug addiction was hidden. The fact that drugs were in her system was not redacted.

The final blow is a not a redaction, but an omission: Cree had been administered morphine during her trip to the emergency room. The combination of omission and redaction strike me as an attempt to paint Cree as a drug addict.

Through redaction and omission, the Medical Examiner's office did little short of accuse Cree of being addicted to street drugs, and blamed her death not on an injury sustained during an abortion/IUD insertion, but on the fact that she had been pregnant.

See more of Operation Rescue's coverage:

• Family Comes Forward with New Evidence, Questions about Cree Erwin’s Fatal Botched Abortion at Planned Parenthood, April 14, 2017
• Why “Accidental Death” is the Default Setting for Coroners When Abortion is Involved, March 16, 2017
• MUST READ! Perforated Uterus Led to Death of Michigan Planned Parenthood Abortion Patient, March 14, 2017
• Pro-Life Leaders Confirm that Planned Parenthood Kalamazoo Was Involved in Patient Death, 08/31/2016
• MUST SEE! Chilling 911 Call: Mom Finds Daughter “Cold as Ice” After Abortion, 08/10/2016
• Abortion Patient Death: Emergency Radio Traffic Spotlights Events on Fatal Night 07/12/2016
• Woman Identified Who Was Found Dead after Abortion 07/08/2016
• BREAKING! Police Investigate Death of a Michigan Woman Days after an Abortion 07/07/2016