Thursday, December 08, 2005

Safe and lethal anniversaries

On December 8, 1994, 23-year-old Magdalena Rodriguez went to Suresh Gandotra's clinic, El Norte Clinica Medica, for what she thought was a second-trimester abortion. Gandotra later said, "I knew I screwed up," when he pulled out bowel instead of fetal parts.

Gandotra called a hospital and asked for directions to send Magdalena there by car. The staff at the hospital insisted that Magdalena should be transported by ambulance. They began to assemble an expert team for the expected catastrophic injuries.

In the mean time, Gandotra left Magdalena unattended while he did abortions on other patients. After a half-hour delay, he finally called an ambulance, but did not inform them of the hospital that was awaiting her arrival with a team ready to treat her. When the ambulance crew arrived, they found Magdalena in ventricular fibrillation, with no pulse, bleeding, and on the floor. The ambulance crew was not informed about the hospital that was awaiting this critically injured patient, so they took Magdalena to another hospital, one that was not prepared to treat a patient with her specific injuries.

Gandotra sent Magdalena to the hospital without a medical history or any information about her condition or what he'd done to her. The staff were totally unprepared for what they found when they examined her. Magdalena had no vitals on arrival at hospital. She was unresponsive with fixed, dilated pupils.

When the surgeon at the hospital opened Magdalena's peritoneum, it was so distended with blood that the operating room was spattered with the escaping blood. Magdalena's uterus was ruptured, with a fetal limb protruding into her abdomen. Her cervix, uterus, bladder, and colon were lacerated. The mangled and partially dismembered fetus was of approximately 30 weeks gestation.

Magdalena bled to death during surgery. A nurse at the hospital that tried to save Magdalena's life said, "I've never seen anything like this before and I don't want to again."

I have less information on the second abortion death we're remembering today. Life Dynamics lists 28-year-old Myria McFadden on their "Blackmun Wall" of women killed by legal abortions. According to Life Dynamics, Myria underwent a second-trimester abortion on December 7, 1987, in Washington, DC. The abortion was performed by Dr. Hazel Tape. Myria had trouble breathing after the abortion. She suffered heart and lung failure the next day, and died at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Srpings on December 8.

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