Hiatus

I'm going on vacation for a week. My friend Nichole from work will post anniversaries while I'm gone, but I won't be here to answer comments.

Fight nice!

Anniversary: Abortion death in 1900

On August 4, 1900, Mrs. Mary Borglun died in her home from complications of an abortion performed there that day. Mrs. Mary Kempfer was arrested that same day and held without bail by a Coroner's Jury. Kempfer's employment status was listed as nurse or midwife.

Anniversary: One of three at Alan Kline's old stomping grounds

The following information is from a suit filed by the survivors of 21-year-old Dawn Marie Mack. Dawn had an abortion performed at National Abortion Federation member facility Eastern Women's Center, August 2, 1991. She was attended at Eastern by Orrin Moore, Aurel Calalb, Elena Raftopol, Adel Abadir, Linda Wissbrun and/or Reena Rang. While at Eastern, Dawn went into cardiorespiratory arrest.

The suit said that Easterns staff failed to adequately respond to "the precipitous drop in Plaintiff's blood pressure, cardiac arrhythmia leading to cardiac arrest and cessation of respiration."

Dawn was transported to a hospital by ambulance, where staff tried to resuscitate Dawn to no avail. She died August 3.

The suit contended that the following shortcomings at Eastern caused Dawn's death:

• carelessness in hiring staff
  
• negligent supervising of staff
  
• lack of emergency protocol and staff skilled in treating emergencies
  
• lack of adequate equipment
  
• failure to maintain equipment appropriately
  
• failure to administer timely and properly dosed medications
  
• failure to convey to Dawn the risks of anesthesia
  
• failure to adequately evaluate Dawn's condition via exam and medical history prior to anesthesia
  
• failure to allow sufficient time to administer anesthesia and perform the abortion in a safe and careful manner
  
• inadequate staff training
  
• failure to adequately monitor anesthesia
  
• failure to accurately chart and record observations and responses
  
• failure to anticipate potential complications

The suit further contended that "no reasonable person would have undergone the procedures which were performed upon the decedent plaintiff if the level of skills and ability of staff and other medical personnel, together with the amount, kind and condition of equipment on the premises had been disclosed to decedent plaintiff."

Dawn is one of three abortion patients I know of to have died after abortions at Eastern Women's Center. The other two are Dawn Ravenelle and Venus Ortiz.

Anniversary: Failure to resuscitate

Twenty-seven-year-old Robin Wells, mother of three children ages 6, 4, and 2, went for an abortion under general anesthesia by Max Gaujean at Akron Center for Reproductive Health on July 15, 1981.

Robin went into cardiac arrest in the recovery room, and was transferred by ambulance to a hospital. She remained in a coma until her death on August 2, 1981.

Both Gaujean and the anesthesiologist were independent contractors and did not maintain private practices. The suit filed by Robin's survivors alleged that she was overdosed on anesthesia and not properly monitored. It also alleged that staff at Akron Center for Reproductive Health failed "to resuscitate her after her condition had been discovered." The case was settled out of court.

Anniversary: Fatal perforation

Documents regarding the death of Ingrid L. Thomas, age 28, indicate that her uterus was perforated by Kanu Virani during an abortion. Ingrid developed acute peritonitis, and died at Botsford General Hospital Augist 1, 1991, several days after the abortion.

Anniversary: Undiagnosed ectopic leads to death

Twenty-six-year-old Yvette Poteat had an abortion performed by Dr. Marion D. Dorn Jr. at The Ladies Clinic in Charleston, South Carolina on July 16, 1985.

A lawsuit filed by her surviving mother and sister says that Dorn did not examine the tissue he removed from Yvette's uterus, and did not notify Yvette that the lab report showed no fetal or placental tissue in the specimen.

On July 27, Yvette experienced "sudden, sharp, constant lower abdominal pains," and was taken to a hospital by her fiancee. Yvette was admitted to the emergency room, where she informed the doctors about the abortion. She was mistakenly diagnosed as having Pelvic Inflammatory Disease, was given medication, and was discharged after several hours with instructions to seek follow-up care in two days.

Throughout July 28, Yvette experienced continued pain. She called the hospital but "was instructed not to return but to give the medication a chance to work."

Early in the morning of July 29, Yvette collapsed at home. She was taken by ambulance to the hospital. She went into cardiac arrest due to a ruptured ectopic pregnancy that both Dorn and the hospital staff had failed to diagnose, and was pronounced dead 6:15 a.m.

The lawsuit noted that Yvette's mother "suffered the loss of the financial support of her daughter, extreme mental shock and suffering, wounded feelings, extreme grief and sorrow, has lost the love and affection and companionship of a loving and wonderful daughter, has been deprived of the use and comfort of her society."

The suit against Dorn, the clinic, the hospital and hospital doctors won a small $23,000 plaintiff verdict in 1987.

Two anniversaries: One illegal, one safe and legal

Charisse Ards is one of the women Life Dynamics lists on the Blackmun Wall of women killed by legal abortion. Life Dynamics indicates that Charisse was 20 years old, single, and a mother of one. According to Life Dynamics, Charisse died July 28, 1989, from a pelvic infection after a legal abortion.

On July 28, 1928, 21-year-old Maud Thurmond died in Chicago from sepsis from a criminal abortion performed that day. Nobody was ever held accountable for Maud's death.

Anniversary: One of two deaths after legal abortion by former criminal abortionist

Eighteen-year-old Yvonne Corrie Mesteth was the second of two patients to die of infection after abortions by South Dakota abortionist Benjamin Munson. (The other was Linda Padfield.) Yvonne was in the second trimester of her pregnancy. The abortion ws performed in Munson's office in Rapid City. Yvonne developed an infection, kidney failure, and adult respiratory distress syndrome. She died on July 27, 1985.

Munson is the third abortionist I know of who kept a clean record as a criminal abortionist, only to go on to kill two patients after legalization. The others are Jesse Ketchum (responsible for the deaths of Margaret Smith and Carole Schane) and Milan Vuitch (responsible for the deaths of Wilma Harris and Georgianna English).

Same day, same outcome, different decades

On July 26, 1877, Mrs. John Boschen was found dead in the Chicago office of Dr. Muleck from complications of an illegal abortion. Dr. Muleck fled to avoid arrest.

On July 26, 1925, Mrs. Lottie Lowy, age 27, died at the Chicago office of Lucy Hagenow from an abortion performed that day. In this case, Hagenow is identified as a midwife, though in other cases she is identified as a doctor. On September 1, Hagenow was indicted for felony murder in Lottie's death.

On July 16, 1930, Evelyn Dellorto, age 20, underwent an illegal abortion believed to have been performed at the office of Dr. Frank Psota. Evelyn died on July 26. On August 1, Psota was booked for murder by abortion. The coroner's verdict was "undetermined." Psota was indicted, and held on $10,000 bond by Judge Lyle. On December 10, he was acquitted of the murder charge.

"The brain was virtually absent"

According to common knowledge, this man should be a "vegetable" -- not even really "alive":

Tiny brain, normal life

In a case history published in next Saturday's Lancet, doctors led by Lionel Feuillet of the Hopital de la Timone in Marseille say the father-of-two was admitted to hospital after suffering mild weakness in his left leg.

"The brain itself, meaning the grey matter and white matter, was completely crushed against the sides of the skull," Feuillet told AFP.

"The images were most unusual... the brain was virtually absent," he said.

So much for the idea that brain scans can tell us if there's a person in there.

More on the Kline/Brigham mill in New Jersey

Dried blood, rust, dirt at clinic

After the initial inspection, the clinic was shut down immediately for “posing immediate and serious risk of harm to patients” because of violations such as the clinic’s absence of a sterilizing scrub sink, according to a letter from the state to Alternatives. The complete report released Monday claims abortion physicians did not scrub for procedures and used the scrub area for storage. An unnamed employee defended the violation to investigators, saying: “Abortions aren’t really surgery, they aren’t sterile procedures.”

....

Dr. Steven Chase Brigham, the owner of six abortion clinics in New Jersey whose medical license was revoked previously in two states, has said he was in negotiations to buy the resort clinic shortly before it was shuttered. Brigham already had begun paying employees and conducted abortions at the clinic June 8 and June 15. The report says that the facility did not have registered nurses working on those days, despite the state’s requirement.

The facility only employs two registered nurses and both have allowed their licenses to expire, one in July 2006 and the other in May 2007.
But nursing licenses weren’t the only things expired at the Pacific Avenue clinic.

Some medications, including a half-full container of silver nitrate and several IV fluids, were expired. One IV fluid expired Feb. 1, 2005. Also, endotracheal tubes used during anesthesia had expiration dates ranging from August 2002 to May 2004.

....

Investigators located a patient log that listed 37 minor complications and five major complications. Although details were not provided in the report, it does note one incident recorded as a perforation. None of the incidents was reported to the clinic’s medical director and administrator, as required by the state. The medical director, Dr. Stuart Sackstein, resigned the day after the clinic was closed. He could not be reached for comment at his Absecon office Monday.

Anniversary: Fatal illegal abortion, doctor implicated

On July 16, 1929, Dr. Sven Windrow performed an abortion on 19-year-old Emmy Anderson at a Chicago location. Emmy died on July 24. Dr. Windrow was held by the coroner on July 25. Jacqu Lagrave, age 67, was held as an accessory. Windrow was indicted February 6, 1929 for felony murder.

Anniversary: Legal abortion death in 1961

Erika Peterson, age 28, died July 23, 1961 during an abortion at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, California. At this time, abortion was only legal in California if it was done to save the life of the mother.

Erika had entered the hospital on July 11, 1961 during the first trimester of pregnancy, because of problems breathing. She was diagnosed with pneumonia and placed in a tank respirator. Her physicians made the decision to abort her child as soon as she was well enough to undergo the abortion.

On July 21st, Erika's condition was improved, and her husband signed the consent form for the abortion, which was scheduled to take place two days later.

Erika went into cardiac arrest during the abortion and was unable to be resuscitated. The abortion that was intended to save her life ended her life instead. After autopsy, it was believed that Erika's original illness was caused by a hereditary disease that was exacerbated by the medications she was taking for her schizophrenia.

Erika's was not the only tragic death caused by doctors who recommended (or excused) abortion as a life-saving or health-preserving option for the mother:

Allegra Roseberry was pushed into an abortion, ostensibly in order to obtain experimental cancer treatment.

Anjelica Duarte sought an abortion on the advice of her physician, and ended up dying under the care of a quack.

Barbara Hoppert died after an abortion recommended due to a congenital heart problem.

Christin Gilbert died after an abortion George Tiller holds was justified on grounds of maternal health.

"Molly" Roe died in 1975 when her doctors made the dubious decision to perform a saline abortion to improve her chances of surviving a lupus crisis.

OT: The Korean hostages

Terrorists in Afghanistan have kidnapped South Korean aid workers.

I learned about this yesterday during church, when Trish, who leads our opening prayers, led the congregation in prayer for these folks. (As you might have noticed if you've been here a while or glanced at my sidebar, I'm living and working in South Korea.)

It was all I could do not to burst into tears on the spot.

I could rant about the mindless evil of an enemy that targets the aid workers who are building dams (the Germans) and manning the hospitals (as Trish told me the South Koreans were doing). But that won't get the hostages back safely or break the twisted wills of the kinds of people who get it into their heads to do this sort of thing.

Prayers, prayers, prayers. That's all we can do.

Anniversary: Fatal overdose at abortion hospital

On July 22, 1974, twenty-two-year-old Carole Wingo died of a Demerol overdose during an abortion at Mercy General Hospital in Detroit. Despite the name, Mercy was not a general hospital. It was an abortion hospital. It was also a hospital in big trouble even before Carole's death.

The Michigan Public Department of Health had cited Mercy for 43 violations of nursing standards and 12 violations of physical plant standards in October of 1973, and had withheld their license. Among the violations were that the operating room lacked a cardiac monitor, a resuscitator, and a defibrillator.

Carole's mother filed suit against the facility and doctors David Northcross, Chuk Nwokedi, and Robert Wolf.

Anniversary: Pre-Roe death

On July 21, 1923, 28-year-old Mrs. Mary Federowicz died at Chicago's St. Mary's Hospital from complications performed that day. Mrs. Anna Mithnewicz, whose profession was not given, was identified by the coroner as the person responsible, but no arrest was made.

Imposing one's religion

Here's a bit of food for thought for those who assert that my opposition to permitting legal abortion is about "imposing my religion" on everybody else.

First of all, I was a prolifer for about a dozen years before I became a Christian. Becoming a Christian changed a bit of how I go about fighting abortion -- I never would have thought to pray about it before, for starters, and I've become much more charitable toward abortion staff as a result of becoming a Christian -- but it is not the reason I opposed abortion being legal. I've told that story before -- it's in my sidebar under "Why Abortion"?

But more to the point, we can look at other things I absolutely oppose as a Christian, on Christian grounds, but don't seek to make illegal.

I don't try to impose Christian ideas of divorce and remarriage. I think that there are very, very limited circumstances under which divorce and remarriage are permissable for Christians. But I don't want the law at all involved in this, because it's a religious matter. If unbelievers, or backslidden believers, want to divorce and remarry, that's their prerogative. Though I do think laws need to reflect the fact that marriage is a contract and parties ought not to be just about to bail on a contract with no repercussions. This is why I think that it's up to the courts to grant alimony to a former spouse who, in good faith, put his or her life efforts into building the other spouse's earning potential and sacrificed his or her own career path to do so. That person acted in good faith, believing that he or she was in a partnership for life, and the effort invested entitles him or her to a share of what he or she helped to generate.

I think that the Ten Commandments are very clear on covetousness, and that for any believer -- Christian, Jew, or Muslim -- to be indulging in covetousness is sinning. And I recognize that covetousness is courting disaster. If you look at mass murderers, the underlying motive is typically covetousness. The person wanted what other people have, and harbored that covetousness in his heart until it broke out as a murderous rampage. But I do not want to see "thought police." I would want to dissuade people who encourage covetousness. I would encourage them to think about the ramifications of what they're doing. I would encourage everybody around me to turn away from covetousness. And I would not want to see the government in any way fostering covetousness. But I don't want to see any attempt to put anti-coveting measures on the books. It's just inappropriate.

Ditto for adultery. The injured party ought to be able to seek redress in the courts, including for alienation of affections, but I don't want laws on the books that say who can have sex with who, aside from laws protecting people unable to give consent such as the very young, the mentally incapacitated, etc.

Abortion involves Person A -- the mother -- imposing her morality, her religion if you will, on somebody else -- her unborn child. It's a human rights issue, not a religious one. Of course believers will object to this, just as we'd object to any other killing.

OT: West Memphis Three may be cleared!

Court documents reveal new details in the cast of the "West Memphis 3"

I never thought those boys were guilty, and it's great to see that the real perp may yet be identified and these young men set free.

We can never give back the years that were stolen from them, but we can still refrain from doing them any additional wrong.

Anniversary: Fatal criminal abortion

Very little is on record about the death of 17-year-old Gertrude Wynants. According to the New York Times, Gertrude died on July 19, 1925, of a criminal abortion. Mrs. Margaret Shott Higgens, age 23, was indicted for manslaughter in Gertrude's death.

Anniversary: Abortion triggers fatal sickle cell crisis

Betty Hines was 21 years old when she was checked into Doctors Hospital in California for an abortion to be performed by Dr. A. Mitchell on July 19, 1971. Mitchell had been her physician for three or four years. Betty was eight weeks pregnant.

There didn't seem to be anything wrong during the procedure. Betty was transferred to the recovery room, when she suddenly went into cardio-respiratory arrest.

Mitchell theorized that perhaps Betty had died because of a bad vial of Inovar, because the next patient who was injected from that vial also went into cardiac arrest but was successfully resuscitated.

Betty's autopsy, however, found no trave of Inovar in her system. A toxicology check was also done on the vial of medication, and found nothing wrong with the Inovar. Betty's death was attributed to massive intravascular sickling due to underlying sickle cell disorder.

Other women who died of sickle cell crisis triggered by abortion include Margaret Davis and Sheryl Roe.

Edwards, Obama promise federal $ for abortions

In a move to show just whose back pocket they reside in, spokespersons for both John Edwards and Barack Obama have indicated that the candidates will support a "health care plan" that includes coverage for abortions.

When the "Hyde Amendment" went into effect, banning federal funding for elective abortions, the heavily abortion-supporting Centers for Disease Control constructed research intended to show that this finding restriction led to increased hospitalizations for self-induced and criminal abortions. In order to be able to clearly blame these hospitalizations on the funding cut, the CDC compared pre- and post-Hyde hospitalization rates for Medicaid-eligible women in states that picked up the tab for elective abortions versus states that left these women to find other money if they wanted abortions.

The results? Hospital admissions for abortion complications among Medicaid-eligible women dropped in those states that did not fund elective abortions, but remained steady in those states that picked up the tab.

In other words, if something's free, more people will avail themselves of it. And, with abortion, that also means that more women will be injured in the process.

There was no offsetting increase in obstetric complications among Medicaid-elegible women, nor an increase in maternal mortality in Medicaid-eligible women, nor any other dire consequence predicted by the CDC and other champions of tax funding for abortions.

Other CDC research noted that public-pay patients have higher complication rates for abortion than private-pay patients, even when other factors are taken into account.

So Edwards and Obama are -- in effect if not in intent -- throwing poor women under the bus in order to gain votes.

Carhart Panel Discussion

Video and transcript of a panel discussion about the significance of the SCOTUS decision in Gonzales vs Carhart, the "PBA ban" allowing the feds to ban the Procedure Formerly Known as Prince.

After Gonzales v. Carhart: The Future of Abortion Jurisprudence
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Washington, D.C.

On April 18, 2007, the Supreme Court handed down a major ruling on abortion rights, upholding the constitutionality of the federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act. The 5-4 decision in the case, Gonzales v. Carhart, upheld for the first time a law that bans a specific abortion method, and it did so even though the law does not contain an exception for cases that endanger a woman's health. The decision is likely to prompt new efforts to enact abortion restrictions and thus trigger more litigation. What does the decision portend for the legislatures and for the courts as new restrictions are enacted and challenged, and the cases wend their way up to the Supreme Court?

The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life invited a distinguished panel of experts to discuss the recent ruling and examine how it may affect abortion jurisprudence and the abortion debate in the future.

Speakers:
Eve Gartner, Senior Staff Attorney, Planned Parenthood Federation of America

Marcia Greenberger, Founder and Co-President, National Women's Law Center

Cathy Cleaver Ruse, Senior Fellow for Legal Studies, Family Research Council

M. Edward Whelan III, President, Ethics and Public Policy Center

I have to go to work, so I'll not comment right now. Maybe I'll just pitch in when the discussion gets started.

HT: JJ

Anniversary: Young woman dies of "gas gangrene" after safe, legal abortion

Twenty-year-old Gail Ann Vroman had an abortion performed on July 14, 1979, by New York abortionist Taskin Ratharathorn at Ft. Wayne, Indiana, Women's Health Organization. Within two hours, Gail was transferred to a nearby hospital.

Gail died of massive infection on July 18. The coroner ruled that the death was caused by clostridium perfringens, or "gas gangrene."

Gas gangrene generally occurs at the site of trauma or a recent surgical wound. ....

The onset of gas gangrene is sudden and dramatic. Inflammation begins at the site of infection as a pale-to-brownish-red and extremely painful tissue swelling. Gas may be felt in the tissue as a crackly sensation when the swollen area is pressed with the fingers. The edges of the infected area expand so rapidly that changes are visible over a few minutes. The involved tissue is completely destroyed.

Clostridium bacteria produce many different toxins, four of which ... can cause potentially fatal syndromes. In addition, they cause tissue death (necrosis), destruction of blood (hemolysis), local decrease in circulation (vasoconstriction), and leaking of the blood vessels (increased vascular permeability).

....

Systemic symptoms develop early in the infection. These consist of sweating, fever, and anxiety. If untreated, the individual develops a shock -like syndrome with decreased blood pressure (hypotension), kidney failure, coma, and finally death.

Anniversary: Mom of two bleeds to death

Geneva Calton, age 21, mother of two, underwent an abortion at Northside Family Planning Service in Atlanta, Georgia, on July 18, 1979. On the drive back home she was in pain, but she figured that this was just the cramping the clinic had told her to expect.

At 8:30 that evening, Geneva was admitted to a hospital, with no vital signs detected. Doctors attempted to resuscitate her, to no avail. She was pronounced dead.

The autopsy found that Geneva's uterus had been perforated. She had bled to death.

Northside was eventually sued by their malpractice insurer because they'd allowed one of their abortionists to continue to perform surgery even though his manual dexterity had deteriorated due to multiple sclerosis. The suit by the insurer also alleged failure to meet state health standards, failure to have enough nurses on duty, failure to have proper on-call procedures, and lack of a professional director of medical services.

The clinic where Geneva's fatal abortion was performed seems to be the same clinic where Catherine Pierce underwent her fatal abortion in 1989.

Double good news from Alabama

Alabama Abortions Down Nearly 50 Percent Since 1980

Not only are abortions down overall -- from 21,000 in 1980 to 11,656 in 2006 -- but the repeat rate is only 30%, compared to roughly 50% nationwide. This means fewer women in a cycle of pregnancy and abortion, pregnancy and abortion.

Mom changes mind, baby survives abortion attempt

RU-486 Reversal

Dr. Matthew Harrison had a visit from a 20-year old woman named Ashley. She was seven weeks pregnant, but she feared for the life of her baby – not because there was anything wrong with the pregnancy, but because, two days earlier, she had taken RU-486 at an abortion mill. Now, she had changed her mind about having the abortion and wanted to see if the baby could be saved!

...

Dr. Harrison had not faced such a situation before. Ashley told him that her boyfriend had pushed for the abortion. But after she took the RU-486, Ashley thought to herself, “O My God, what have I done?” She told her mother what had happened, and her mom called a local pregnancy center. The center then referred her to Dr. Harrison.

The doctor excused himself, went into another room, and prayed. He consulted a number of medical resources, and decided to give Ashley a progesterone treatment. With an extra dose of progesterone, he thought, maybe the effects of the counterfeit progesterone could be overcome. It was worth a try. This was not, however, without its risks, about which he clearly informed Ashley. He told her, first of all, that this effort might not work, and her baby might die anyway. He also told her that this effort might prolong the death process, or might bring additional complications to her or her child, or might even kill her. Ashley was courageous, and signed the consent form saying, “Whatever happens is in God’s hands – I just pray that my baby will be OK.”

She took the shot, and she began bleeding that weekend. But then the bleeding stopped, and with continued progesterone treatment by Dr. Harrison, the pregnancy continued normally. Dr. Daniel L. Holland, who is Dr. Harrison’s partner, delivered a healthy baby girl named Kaylie – a survivor of an attempted RU-486 abortion!

1. Yay!

2. What kind of "informed consent" did that facility do, that they gave her abortion drugs when she had no commitment to achieving the death of her fetus? Who were they there to serve, her or her boyfriend?

On "brain death"

KAO is an organization of parents who found out what happens to "brain dead" transplant donors only after they had signed consent for their children's organs to be harvested. Below are some excerpts from their web site.

Background

In 1968 the "Harvard criteria" for determining brain death were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, under the title of "A Definition of Irreversible Coma." This article was published without substantiating data, either from scientific research or from case studies of individual patients. For this reason, a majority of the presenters at the conference in Rome stated that the "Harvard criteria" were scientifically invalid.

In 2002 the results of a worldwide survey were published in Neurology, concluding that the use of the term "brain death" worldwide is "an accepted fact but there was no global consensus on the diagnostic criteria" and there are still "unresolved issues worldwide."

....

Philosophical considerations

....

As he put it: Scrutinizing the existence of the symptoms of death as perceived by common sense, science no longer presupposes the "normal" understanding of life and death. It in fact invalidates normal human perception by declaring human beings dead who are still perceived as living.

The new approach to defining death, the German scholar continued, reflected a different set of priorities:

It was no longer the interest of the dying to avoid being declared dead prematurely, but other people’s interest in declaring a dying person dead as soon as possible.

Two reasons are given for this third party interest:

guaranteeing legal immunity for discontinuing life-prolonging measures that would constitute a financial and personal burden for family members and society alike, and

collecting vital organs for the purpose of saving the lives of other human beings through transplantation. These two interests are not the patient’s interests, since they aim at eliminating him as a subject of his own interests as soon as possible.

The arguments against the use of "brain death" as a determination of death are being made, Spaemann noted, "not only by philosophers, and, especially in my country, by leading jurists, but also by medical scientists." He quoted the words of a German anesthesiologist who wrote, "Brain-dead people are not dead, but dying."

Medical evidence

Dr. Paul Byrne, a neonatologist from Toledo, Ohio, offered a medical perspective - he testified:

When organs are removed from a "brain dead" donor, all the vital signs of the "donors" are still present prior to the harvesting of organs, such as: normal body temperature and blood pressure; the heart is beating; vital organs, like the liver and kidneys, are functioning; and the donor is breathing with the help of a ventilator.

....

Defending the criteria

Some participants in the February meeting defended the use of the "brain death" criteria. Dr. Stewart Youngner of Case Western University in Ohio admitted that "brain dead" donors are alive, but argued that this should not prove an impediment to the harvesting of their organs. His reasoning was that there is such poor "quality of life" in the "brain dead" patient that it would be more beneficial to harvest their organs to extend the life of another than to continue the life of the organ donor.

Dr. Conrado Estol, a neurologist from Buenos Aires, explained the steps that should be followed in determining the "brain death" of a prospective organ donor. Dr. Estol, who is strongly in favor of harvesting human organs to extend the life of other patients, presented a dramatic video of a person diagnosed as "brain dead" who attempted to sit up and cross his arms, although Dr. Estol assured the audience that the donor was a cadaver. This produced an unsettling response among many participants at the conference.

....

The apnea test

In his presentation at the conference, Dr. Cicero Coimbra, a clinical neurologist from the Federal University of Sao Paolo, Brazil denounced the cruelty of the apnea test, in which mechanical respiratory support is withdrawn from the patient for up to 10 minutes, to determine whether he will begin breathing independently. This is part of the procedure before declaring a brain-injured patient "brain dead." Dr. Coimbra explained that this test significantly impairs the possible recovery of a brain-injured patient, and can even cause the death of the patients.

He argued:

A large number of brain-injured patients, even in deep coma, can recover to lead a normal daily life; their nervous tissue may be only silent, not irreversibly damaged, as a consequence of a partial reduction of the blood supply to the brain. (This phenomenon, called "ischemic penumbra," was not known when the first neurological criteria for brain death were established 37 years ago.) However, the apnea test (considered the most important step for the diagnosis of "brain death" or brain-stem death) may induce irreversible intra-cranial circulatory collapse or even cardiac arrest, thereby preventing neurological recovery.

During the apnea test, the patients are prevented from expelling carbon dioxide (CO2), which becomes a poison to the heart as the blood CO2 concentration rises.

As a consequence of this procedure, the blood pressure drops, and the blood supply to the brain irreversibly ceases, thereby causing rather than diagnosing irreversible brain damage; by reducing the blood pressure, the "test" further reduces the blood supply to the respiratory centers in the brain, thereby preventing the patient from breathing during this procedure. (By breathing, the patient would demonstrate that he is alive.)

Irreversible cardiac arrest (death), cardiac arrhythmias, myocardial infarction, and other life-threatening detrimental effects may also occur during the apnea test. Therefore, irreversible brain damage may occur during and before the end of the diagnostic procedures for “brain death.”

Dr. Coimbra concluded by saying that the apnea test should be considered unethical and declared illegal as an inhumane medical procedure. If family members were informed of the brutality and risk of the procedure, he stated, most of them would deny permission. He pointed out that when a heart attack patient is admitted to the emergency room he is never subjected to a stress test in order to verify that he is suffering from heart failure. Instead the patient is given special care and protection from further stress to the heart.

In contrast when a brain-injured patient is subjected to the apnea test, further stress is placed on the organ that has already been injured, and additional damage can endanger the patient’s life. Dr. Yoshio Watanabe a cardiologist from Nagoya, Japan, concurred, saying that if patients were not subjected to the apnea test, they could have a 60 percent chance of recovery to normal life if treated with timely therapeutic hypothermia.

The question of a brain-injured patient's possible recovery also concerned Dr. David Hill, a British anesthetist and lecturer at Cambridge. He observed: "It should be emphasized first that it was widely admitted, that some functions, or at least some activity, in the brain may still persist; and second that the only purpose served by declaring a patient to be dead rather than dying, is to obtain viable organs for transplantation." The use of these criteria, he concluded, "could in no way be interpreted as a benefit to the dying patient, but only (contrary to Hippocratic principles) a potential benefit to the recipient of that patient’s organs."

"The deception"

Dr. Hill recalled that the earliest attempts at transplanting vital organs often failed because the organs, taken from cadavers, did not recover from the period of ischemia following the donor's death. The adoption of brain-death criteria solved that problem, he reported, "by allowing the removal of vital organs before life support was turned off - without the legal consequences that might otherwise have attended the practice."

While it is remarkable that the public has accepted these new criteria, Dr. Hill remarked, he attributed that acceptance in large part to the favorable publicity for organ transplants, and in part to public ignorance about the procedures. "It is not generally realized," he said, "that life support is not withdrawn before organs are taken; nor that some form of anaesthesia is needed to control the donor whilst the operation is performed." As knowledge of the procedure increases, he observed, it is not surprising that - as reported in a 2004 British study - "the refusal rate by relatives for organ removal has risen from 30 percent in 1992 to 44 percent." Dr. Hill also suggested that when relatives see with their own eyes the evidence that a potential organ donor is still alive, they harbor enough doubts so that they are not ready to consent to the organ removal.

In the United Kingdom, Dr. Hill reported, there is mounting pressure for individuals to sign, and always carry with them, donor cards authorizing doctors to use their vital organs. Today only about 19 percent of the country's people have registered as organ donors, but vehicle-registration forms, driver's-license applications, and other public documents provide "tick boxes" allowing citizens to give this advance directive; even children are encouraged to sign. All such documents specify that organs may be harvested only "after my death," but there is no definition of what constitutes "death."

Again, Dr. Hill remarked, the acceptance of transplants hangs on the public's lack of understanding about the procedure. And yet, he pointed out, "For any other procedure, informed consent is required, but for this most final of operations no explanation nor counter-signature is required, nor is the opportunity given to discuss the question of anaesthesia."

....

The Signs of Death

....

Many in the medical and scientific community maintain that brain-related criteria for death are sufficient to generate moral certitude of death itself. Ongoing medical and scientific evidence contradicts this assumption. Neurological criteria alone are not sufficient to generate moral certitude of death itself, and are absolutely incapable of generating physical certainty that death has occurred.

It is now patently evident that there is no single socalled neurological criterion commonly held by the international scientific community to determine certain death. Rather, many different sets of neurological criteria are used without global consensus.

Neurological criteria are not sufficient for declaration of death when an intact cardio-respiratory system is functioning. These neurological criteria test for the absence of some specific brain reflexes. Functions of the brain not considered are temperature control, blood pressure, cardiac rate and salt and water balance. When a patient on a ventilation machine is declared "brain dead," these functions not only are present but also are frequently active.

The apnea test - the removal of respiratory support - is mandated as a part of the neurological diagnosis and it is paradoxically applied to ensure irreversibility. This significantly impairs outcome, or even causes death, in patients with severe brain injury.

There is overwhelming medical and scientific evidence that the complete and irreversible cessation of all brain activity (in the cerebrum, cerebellum and brain stem) is not proof of death. The complete cessation of brain activity cannot be adequately assessed. Irreversibility is a prognosis, not a medically observable fact. We now successfully treat many patients who in the recent past were considered hopeless.

....

Legal vs moral vs constitutional

New Jersey Millionaire to Stand Trial for International Child Sex Tourism

I chewed on this one for a while. On the one hand, what these guys do is so utterly deplorable, somebody's gotta do something to stop them.

On the other hand, it is a bit unnerving to see US citizens prosecuted in their own country for crimes they committed in other countires.

But what I concluded was this: They used their US-issued passports to gain access to another country in order to harm people in that country. So this does fall under misuse of the pasport and that ought to give the US government jurisdiction of some sort.

Thoughts?

Anniversary: Sepsis claims Tennessee woman's life

Little is available in public records about 21-year-old Linda Lovelace of Tennessee. According to her death certificate, she underwent an abortion on June 14, 1980. The death certificate does not say where, or who performed the abortion. It does say, though, that her uterus was perforated. As a result, Linda developed sepsis and went into shock. She died on July 16, 1980.

Anniversary: Abortion by future NAF member triggers fatal sickle-cell crisis

Margaret Davis was a 33-year-old homemaker who underwent an abortion at Windsor Hills Hospital in Los Angeles County. Christopher Dotson began the abortion at about noon on July 15, 1972.

Dotson said that Margaret started to have breathing and heart problems after the abortion, and that he was uable to revive her. He declared her dead at 3:30 PM of cardiopulmonary failure.

An autopsy revealed that Margaret had suffered acute sickle cell crisis triggered by the abortion.

Dotson later gave Oriane Shavin her fatal dose of RU-486 while he was still on probation with the medical board for gross negligence causing the death of yet another patient.

Dotson has worked at National Abortion Federation member San Vicente Hospital, a notorious abortion mill that was bought out by Family Planning Associates Medical Group. San Vicente was where Sara Lint, Natalie Meyers, Joyce Ortenzio, Laniece Dorsey, and Mary Pena underwent their fatal abortions.

Despite his appalling record, Dotson, through his Eve Surgical Center, is an abortion provider of the National Abortion Federation.

Anniversary: "The outcome was just like a back-alley abortion."

Thirty-four-year-old Debra M. Gray went to Hillview Women's Medical Center for an abortion on July 8, 1989. She went through their conseling procedure and underwent lab work.

Debra returned for the actual procedure on July 12. An ultrasound was performed and she was estimated to be 16.5 weeks pregnant. Debra signed an undated consent form for the abortion and anesthesia.

The records don't indicate who initiated IV Brevitol for anesthesia, nor do they document the dosage or concentration, nor Debra's weight or the amount of fluid given. There was also no record of a physical exam or any exam to determine if Debra was an appropriate candidate for this type of anesthesia.

The abortionist, Gideon Kioko, indicated that the nurse and other staff expected the drug to induce "twilight sleep" rather than general anesthesia. There was no anesthesiologisst on duty, and no physician supervising the administration of anesthesia medication.

Kioko initiated the abortion. There was no documentation of the effect of the medication, nor of Debra's vital signs. A hospital note indicated that Debra had "responded rather rapidly to the anesthesia" and that three minutes after Kioko had started the abortion, Debra's blood was noted to be "very dark" and she was having trouble breathing. Kioko spent five minutes completing the abortion.

A code note dated July 12, 1989, by a Dr. Raymond Taylor, indicates that Debra was unresponsive, with a low blood pressure and sluggish pulse. Dr. Taylor's note indicated that after fifteen minutes of CPR and advanced cardiac life support, Debra was transported by ambulance to the hospital.

When paramedics arrived, they estimated that Debra's brain had been deprived of oxygen for twelve minutes. Debra had a racing heart, then went into ventricular fibrillation. She was resuscitated, but never regained consciousness. She was pronounced dead on July 15.

The autopsy found traces of heroin in Debra's bloodstream. There was no evidence that the facility had screened Debra for possible drug use.

Hillview staff also allowed Suzanne Logan to suffer an eventually fatal lack of oxygen during an abortion that same year. Suzanne languished in a nursing home for three years before her death.

Kioko made the following excuses to the medical board regarding the fatal abortions:

In the first two cases where Brevital was given, I did not give it, nor did I consent to it. I was not consulted or asked about it. I did not even start intravenous fluids. The decision to administer Brevital was made by the patient and the clinic, and during those [sic] time, I would be called in. I would be notified that "the patient is now asleep, Doctor. You may start the procedure." ....

I, therefore, had nothing to do with the Brevital administered to these two patients. Other contract physicians were also working under similar terms, and, like me, they had nothing to do with the administration of Brevital. I suppose that I was just unlucky at that time and happened to be there when this incident happened.

....

[Regarding Debra Gray]. I understand that [the Brevital] was given by Dr. [sic] Barbara Lofton-Clinical Practitioner. My initial contact with the patient was the initial sizing evaulation and to determine the gestational age of the pregnancy. The next contact by me was when the patient was already asleep. As I was finishing the procedure, I called the attention to the administers [sic] of the anesthetic, that the patient's blood was getting unusually dark. At that time, in my view, adequate resuscitation efforts was [sic] immediately instituted with airway established and 911 was called. EKG and oxygen were available and were used. Dr. Taylor, a Cardiology fellow headed the resuscitation effort. It is just not true that adequate resuscitation was not done and that the equipment was not available. Indicenttally, this patient had recently used Opium [sic], though the patient had denied this in her medical history.

The case of [Suzanne Logan] is similar. The patient was put to sleep, with Brevital. I was not in the Operating Room at the time. Once again I was called in to do the procedure once the patient was deemed asleep. I was not consulted, nor did I participate in the decision to give the agent, but once again, I know there was immediate and adequate resuscitation effort. (Please refer to the letter from Dr. [sic] Barbara Lofton). The only case I directly had complete responsibility for is that of ... [Patient C].

The medical board noted that Kioko, as the physician performing the procedure, was still responsible for ensuring that the patient was being provided with appropriate care, regardless of how the clinic chose to assign tasks. The board also noted that nobody was monitoring either woman's vital signs while Kioko was operating on them.

The board noted that "In the above cases, [Kioko] performed surgical procedures under conditions that failed to meet appropriate standards for the delivery of quality medical and surgical care. .... In the event that [Kioko} was unable to correct these conditions, the appropriate standard of care required that [he] not perform these procedures at this facility until these conditions were so corrected."

The board also noted that "Kioko demonstrated a serious lack of judgment.... Kioko assumed that his role was limited to performing technical procedures upon anesthetized patients, leaving overall management of the patients to others. Dr. Kioko's gullibility in this regard proved fatal."

Debra's sister, Tam, who had known her sister was going to Hillview that day and had been planning on meeting her for dinner that night, told 60 Minutes, "It's sad to think that people can go in and have a safe procedure, what they think is safe, and die. The outcome was just like a back-alley abortion."

Baby pinata

Fashion, style, modern love and abortion

Perhaps their intent is to demean "modern love," pregnancy, and the "choice" of whether or not to abort a child. Today's "Fashion and Style - Modern Love" section presents us with "Would Our Two New Lives Include a Third?," the story about one woman's decision to forgo an abortion and have her baby. (The article is accompanied by the graphic, above, of a blind-folded woman and a pinata - in the shape of a baby.)

Baby as pinata. Is this an improvement over "baby as parasite"?

The unexamined life

"How to induce a miscarriage herbally (and safely)" remains a higly popular post.

It's amazing how popular this post is. It's kinda creepy for somebody who recognizes the humanity of the unborn that there are so many women so cavalier about killing newly concieved life.

But then, looking at some of the posts -- cheating on their husbands, getting blind drunk and having sex with a stranger at a party -- some of them don't seem to have much respect for their own lives, either. A lot of them seem to be just following their hormones whereever they lead, with no more thought about who they have sex with and when than a housecat puts into it.

Maybe, just maybe, there's more to life than an endless round of drinking and casual sex. And maybe if they found something more to live for, they'd not be having all these pregnancy issues. Their lives might become more stable and less crisis-driven. And maybe even happier and more fulfilled.

Just a thought.

Call for information

Does anybody have data on how often abortionists are sued and/or disciplined by the medical board, compared to other doctors?

Better late than never

Dr. Mi Yong Kim, who was responsible for the death of "Adelle" in 2002, has finally surrendered her license to practice medicine in Virginia!

Check out the documents yourself.

Kim had lost her privileges at Fairfax Hospital in 1999, and voluntarily surrendered her license in the state of New York in 2000. But despite that, Kim continued practicing at NOVA Healthcare in Fairfax, Virginia.

The first disciplinary document revealed the Kim had accidentally started an abortion on a 26.5-weeks-pregnant woman in her office on May 17, 1997, when she‘d originally thought the patient was only 8 weeks pregnant.

The woman I call "Adelle" was 26 years old and had a history of anemia and sickle cell disease. Kim did not order proper lab studies, document an appropriate history, or perform a proper exam on Adelle before performing an abortion on her on November 16, 2002. Kim administered 25 mg of Versed to Adelle, in response to her reports of pain, over a 10-minute period, without giving the medicine time to take effect.

Kim told the medical board that she didn‘t give Adelle any analgesia for pain because she gives enough Versed to cause amnesia so that the patient can‘t remember the pain. The board noted that Kim lacked judgment and knowledge of intravenous conscious sedation and that she was not fit to supervise a CRNA.

At the end of the abortion, Kim noted that Adelle‘s pulse oximeter reading was only 70%, an alarming finding. Kim thought she found a pulse, didn‘t assess whether or not Adelle was breathing, and simply ordered her staff to give Adelle oxygen by mask and call 911.

Kim administered Romazicon to reverse the effects of the Versed, but did not notice that Adelle had gone into cardiac arrest. As such, Kim made no effort to resuscitate her. The ambulance crew arrived and transported Adelle to the hospital, where she was declared dead from possible air embolism.

The medical board noted that Kim was not certified in Advanced Cardiopulmonary Life Support, nor was she or anybody else on her staff qualified to perform an intubation or use crash cart equipment. Kim did not document the operative report for Adelle. Kim told the board that the police had told her not to make any further notes in her file.

The board did not suspend or yank Kim‘s license, instead noting that she was making improvements in her quality of care. She was instead placed under stipulations regarding her use of anesthesia in her office and her record-keeping.

Kim called her office "Landmark Women‘s Center", giving the impression that it was a clinic.

Now, let's listen for the sounds from the abortion lobby. Will they lament the closing of another "vital reproductive health care facility"? Will they deign to notice at all that this threat to women's lives has hung up her bloody curette?

Little Shop of Horrors

Seedy abortion mill.

Used to be a flower shop.

They interviewed a woman whose cousin had an abortion and bled for 4 weeks after the abortion and was informed by the abortionist that she shouldn't go to a hospital because they wouldn't know how to help her. The woman visited the clinic herself and describes some of the filthy conditions inside the clinic. She claims the bathroom didn't have running water, there was blood on the suction machine, the physician didn't require her to fill out any paper work and was willing to perform an abortion without getting the woman's informed consent and waiting 24 hours.

HT: Jivin' J

Anniversary: A grisly find

On July 13, 1926, a laborer on his way to work stumbled across a grisly find: the dismembered remains of a young woman, tossed along the side of a lonely road between two cemeteries near Boston. Boston police began their investigation, but had little to go on. Parts of the body were packed into two cardboard boxes, "tied by window cord in sailor knots." More of the body was in a burlap bag. Other parts of the woman's body were wrapped in Boston newspapers dated June 27.

"A pair of nile green hose and a white cotton nightdress, with a pink ribbon, the only clothing found, offered no clew to her identity," the New York Times said.

Dr. Leary, the Boston medical examiner, said that the young woman was approximately 25 years of age, 5'6" tall, weighing 120 pounds, with bobbed black hair and dark brown eyes. She had evidently been dismembered shortly after her death, Leary said. The dismemberment was expertly done, Leary said, indicating that the killer might be a skilled surgeon. Leary estimated that the young woman had been dead from 48 to 72 hours at the time of autopsy. Leary also did not at first release a definitive cause of death. He said that "blood poisoning" was likely and indicted that, as the New York Times said, "evidence pointed to illegal surgery."

"The only indication as to the identity of the murderer came from young men who saw a well-dressed, middle-aged man nervously driving an automobile in the vicinity" the previous night.

Nearly twenty families of missing women contacted the morgue in the first hours after the body was found, but the descriptions of their loved ones did not fit the victim. Police provided pictures of the victim to local papers for publication to aid in identification of the woman.

By July 15, the young woman had been positively identified as 20-year-old Edith Green, who had been an attendant at the Boston Psychopathic Hospital. Another employee, Bessie Landry, identified Edith by photographs of the victim and by describing a mole and her dental work.

Edith had been raised as a ward of the state, along with her two siblings. She got a job at the Boston Psychopathic Hospital as a day attendant on April 26, 1926. But the night of June 23, she left, never to return. She was next tracked to lodgings in Roxbury, where she took a room on July 8 and left her belongings there. "That same night," the New York Times said, "a young man called for her and took her away with him. She was never again seen alive."

Police began a search for the young man, who had obtained a marriage license for himself and Edith on July 3.

"Policeman visited the home of William J. Ford in South Boston," the New York Times said, "and took him and his brother and father to the morgue for questioning. Ford's mother collapsed when the police took her son into custody." Later reports indicate that 21-year-old James V. Ford, evidently William J. Ford's brother, was the "sweetheart" responsible for Edith's pregnancy.

Ford admitted to police that he had arranged for an abortion to be performed on Edith by Dr. Thomas E. Walsh. Ford said that Walsh had asked for his help in disposing of Edith's body, but that he had refused.

Walsh and his wife were charged with murder in Edith's death.

The search for culprits in Edith's death also netted a thoroughly intoxicated Dr. John Leo Hanson, who admitted to having been in Boston when Edith vanished, but who denied having any part in her death or dismemberment.



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

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Anniversary: Teen dies at the "Lime 5" clinic

Beverly Ann Moore, age 15, died 7-11-75 after abortion by Tuckey Hayes at Chattanooga Women's Clinic -- the "Lime 5" clinic.

Hayes assured Beverly's parents that she would be "all right" just fifteen minutes before she died.

Chattanooga Women's Clinic was written up for continued deficiencies even after Beverly's death. Noted flaws included (with dates of citation):

"Wrist, knee or foot controls not provided on lavatories used by physicians and nurses" (3-8-79)

No system for referring patients to other health care providers (3-8-79)

No emergency transfer arrangements (3-8-79)

Lack of written job descriptions (3-8-79, 10-10-89)

Lack of documentation of staff qualifications (10-10-89)

Inoperable emergency lighting (3-8-79, 3-12-87, 3-17-87, 4-5-93)

Re-use of disposable curettes (3-12-87)

Medications out-of-date (5-22-85, 3-12-87, 3-17-87, 10-10-89, 4-6-92)

Outdated IV solution (10-10-89)

Medications improperly stored (3-8-79, 3-12-87, 3-17-87, 6-18-87)

Unwrapped speculums stored in examining table drawer (6-18-87)

Used disposable curettes stored on shelf with clean supplies (6-18-87)

Blood in procedure table (10-10-89)

Dirty floor and equipment in lab (10-10-89)

"[O]ut of date sterile instruments are in autoclave area" (6-18-87)

"Sterile instruments in treatment room observed to have stains" (4-6-92)

Patient records lacking documentation of required testing for sexually transmitted diseases (10-10-89).

Anniversary: Fatal abortion, midwife implicated

On July 11, 1904, Mrs. Morris Swanson died at her home from an abortion performed there that day.

Midwife Constance Marie Anderson was arrested and held by Coroner's Jury on July 15.

Anniversary: Hospital abortion proves fatal

Virginia Wolfe, age 33, went to Methodist Women's and Children's Hospital on July 6, 1998, to have an abortion performed by Dr. Lillian Jones. Jones performed a suction abortion. During the procedure, she punctured Virginia's uterus and bladder. Virginia suffered massive hemorrhage, losing so much blood that her heart stopped.

Doctors repaired her bladder and removed her uterus, but Virginia's brain had already been damaged by the lack of oxygen.

Virginia was pronounced dead on July 10, 1998.

Anniversary: "I wouldn't take my dog there."

Guadalupe Negron, a 33-year-old mother of four from Honduras, went for an abortion at Metro Women's Center in Queens, New York, on July 9, 1993. She was accompanied by her niece.

A receptionist for the facility noted that after Dr. David Benjamin had performed Guadalupe's abortion at 10AM, she was moved to the recovery room and left unattended for over an hour. When Benjamin's wife, who acted as his assistant, brought Guadalupe into an examination room, she came out screaming "Oh my God! Oh my God!" and "Call the ambulance! Call the ambulance!" However, the ambulance was not summoned until 1:40 PM.

When paramedics arrived, they found Guadalupe naked and bloody, with a nurse screaming and trying to revive her in a small, unventilated room with an inadequate oxygen tank and no necessary equipment such as a blood pressure cuff. They also noted that Benjamin had inserted a breathing tube into Guadalupe's stomach instead of her trachea, causing stomach fluids to travel up the tube, into her mouth, and down into her lungs.

The paramedics also indicated that they were hindered in their attempts to save Guadalupe's life because Benjamin lied to them about the nature of her problem.

The autopsy report found that in trying to extract a 20-week fetus, Benjamin had lacerated Guadalupe's cervix and punctured 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.

Benjamin was indicted for second degree murder due to "depraved indifference to human life." One of the paramedics told a reporter, "I wouldn't take my dog there (Benjamin's clinic)." New York newspapers covering Benjamin's murder trial discovered that he had a long history of malpractice and had changed his name from Elias Bonrouhi to David Benjamin in order to cover up his record. Benjamin was convicted, and his license was revoked.

Great new book coming soon!

My Child, My Gift; A Positive Response to Serious Prenatal Diagnosis, from the pen of Madeline Pecora Nugent, author of the marvelous Having Your Baby When Others Say No!

From the forward:

As a former pro-choice obstetrician-gynecologist who had little regard for the sanctity of human life, it was only through the grace of God that my desire to protect the unborn, and help their mothers at the same time, occurred when I asked the Lord to come into my life in August of 2000. .... For years, I have. been waiting for a resource which I could offer my patients faced with a difficult prenatal diagnosis. My prayers have been answered in Madeline Pecora Nugent’s My Child, My Gift, A Positive Response to Serious Prenatal Diagnosis.

This book is a comprehensive guide for parents who are unfortunately given the “bad news” regarding their pre-born child with either an ultrasound or laboratory diagnosis of a potential or real congenital problem. It explains to them both secular and religious faith-based strategies on how to emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually prepare for and assimilate the multiple and various emotions they will have to reconcile, as well as how to deal with the mixed messages they will be receiving from family members, friends, physicians, and their own inner conflicting feelings.

Madeline utilizes both her personal experience and multitudes of interviews conducted with parents given severe prenatal diagnoses ....

From the preface:

All human life is precious, and the birth of a new baby is just cause for wild and exuberant celebration. Sadly, however, the birth of a baby who is considered “different,” as a result of one or more medical diagnoses, is often perceived as a “tragedy” by medical professionals and many in general society. As a result, the usual new-baby celebration is quashed, along with the hopes and dreams of the baby’s parents. When a baby’s potential differences are diagnosed before birth, the situation devolves even further: physicians, other experts, and even family members often urge the mother and father to terminate the pregnancy. Little thought is given to the joys and contributions this baby may bring to his/her family, or the world, in general. Instead, the focus is on “protecting” parents from the anticipated disappointment, grief, medical bills, or other difficulties this child’s birth may cause.

But on a daily basis, the love, concern, and joy of parents whose children are born with disabilities or differences explode the myth that parents need to be “protected.” Their children—regardless of how long they live and regardless of their medical diagnoses—bring joy to their families and make the world a better place, by teaching all whose lives they touch. In this book, Madeline shares the stories of many of these parents and their precious children.

....

.... Who can know, with absolute certainty, that a diagnosis is correct, that having a certain condition means the baby will live or die, and/or that a baby will never achieve this-or-that? No one has the right to deny a child and his/her family the hopes, dreams, and joys that are inherent to human life. And in my twenty years of experience in the disability field, I have met many parents whose children have defied the odds, made liars out of professionals, and made their families proud!

When my own son, Benjamin, was born seven weeks prematurely, the physician patted me on the shoulder, his eyes filled with pity, and muttered, “Well, I guess you can take him home and do the best you can…” Rather than feeling sad, I felt anger—he was insulting my baby son—and I was determined not to let others’ opinions nor my son’s diagnosis of cerebral palsy (and a few other conditions) rule his life! Today, Benjamin is a successful college student who was just inducted into Phi Theta Kappa, the national honor society for community colleges, and he recently won a national film award. Despite needing a power wheelchair, other assistive technology devices, and a variety of supports and modifications, he has always lived an “ordinary” and very fulfilling life. As a child, he was in “regular” activities, like Cub Scouts, T-ball, and drama classes, and was in general education classrooms at school (instead of being segregated in special education classes). His diagnosis cannot define who he is, nor his potential!

For too long, our children have been described as having “birth defects.” .... In today’s society, if we find a “defective” product in our homes, we return it to the store for a replacement or dump it in the trash. A history of language indicates that the word “defective” was not applied to human beings until the birth of the Industrial Revolution. Prior to that time, shoes, as one example, were lovingly made by a cobbler’s hands, and each shoe was unique. But with the rise of machinery and assembly lines, all shoes were expected to be “perfect,” and those that were not were labeled “defective” and were discarded. Somehow, society began applying that standard to human beings. Our children may be born with congenital disabilities or other conditions, but these certainly do not reflect “birth defects” and our children are not defective.

Some children may only be with us a short time, but their lives and their contributions are no less valuable than children who may live to grow old. I will add my testimony to that of others in this wonderful book: my life and the lives of my husband, daughter, and son have all been enriched because of what we have learned and experienced as a result of my son’s condition. There is not one thing I would change about my son: he is perfect just the way he is, as are all children, regardless of the diagnosis or prognosis.

Old faces resurface

Remember that seedy Atlantic City abortion mill that got shut down by the state? Guess who was working there -- and in the process of buying it?

Steven Chase Brigham!

I'm sorry, but I just had to laugh. That boy just pops up again and again in scandal after scandal. Like a malevolent Phoenix, he keeps rising from the ashes. This place got shut down for "violations that included a lack of a scrub sink and hot water for over a year, among other dangerous conditions." Says our boy Steve, "Sounds perfect!"

From OR West (links mine):

Brigham has been under investigation and discipline throughout his entire 20-year career. He voluntarily retired his medical license in Pennsylvania while under investigation just six years after graduating from Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1986. Since then, Brigham had medical licenses revoked in New York and Florida, and received disciplinary action in California and New Jersey. He served 120 days in jail in 1998 for Medicaid fraud.

Brigham lost his New York license after lacerating the cervix, uterine artery and uterus of a 20-year old patient and taking hours to realize it. The patient eventually suffered an emergency hysterectomy in what the Heath Department described as a ‘life-threatening’ incident in which Brigham did not seem to understand the severity of the situation.

A New Jersey judge ordered Brigham to stop advertising his abortions as “painless” and “safe.”

More on Steve:

• Said that he treated patient as 'a charity case'
  
• Performed 26-week abortion in office

And catch this: Who was he buying the place from? Alan Kline! The quack who killed Dawn Ravenelle at Eastern Women's Center!

Aren't those guys just two peas in a pod?

It would be an immense public service if somebody would take to blogging exclusively about Brigham, keeping track of what he's up to and building up a collection of articles, links, and documents about his history. This guy seems to want to be the Fast Eddie of the East Coast. We can't just casually look the other way

This might actually be a good project for a prochoice blogger, since Brigham is such a quack, and runs so many seedy, dangerous abortion mills, that only die-hard abortion fanatics exhibit any support for him at all. Warning women away would be a service I think most prochoice folks could do with a clear conscience and a glad heart.

And Kline might not be a bad one to keep an eye on as well.

Anniversary: Mother of four bleeds to death

Junette Barnes, 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 that day.

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.

Anniversary: 1929 abortion death

On July 8, 1929, 26-year-old Frances Rogers died from a criminal abortion. The source summary 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.



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

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Anniversary: Safe and legal in Temple University Hospital

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 anesthethesiologist 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.

Anniversary: Criminal abortion death, no perp implicated

On July 6, 1930, Mary Tulis, age 34, died in Chicago from complications of an abortion performed that day. She died at the scene of the crime. Marie La Montagne, who lived at the scene, was fingered in the abortion.

Dr. O.W. Sommer of Francis Willard Hospital had been brought to the scene by somebody when it became apparent that Mary had peritonitis. Neither Montagne nor Sommer is mentioned in the coroner's verdict.

TRA plugs Ashli's book, gets trashed by the "rational"

Beyond Expectations

Court rules against woman who used abortion to cover incest

Mississippi Court Rules Against Mother Using Abortion to Cover Up Incest

The Mississippi Supreme Court has ruled against a woman who tried to use abortion as a way to cover up her husbands crime of incest against the couple's 13 year-old daughter. The woman tried to use the state's parental consent on abortion law as a defense in her case, but court's ruled otherwise.
In 2004, Charlotte Sherron was sentenced to three years in prison and two years of post-release supervision for trying go hide her husband's crime of statutory rape. She took her daughter to an abortion facility after her daughter became pregnant from the incest.

This is why pregnant underage girls need to have their cases examined by child welfare, not swept under the rug by abortion facilities.

Though I'd like to know how the scumbag parents got caught.

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Wichita doesn't care much for the born, either

Lest you think Wichita's embrace of late term abortionist George Tiller reflects a mere indifference to fetal life, catch this: Kansas Store Video Captures Five Shoppers Stepping Over Dying Stabbing Victim

And it looks doubtful that there is anything the cops can charge any of them with. There's no law that says you have to call 911 when somebody is in mortal danger. But just because it's legal to step over an injured woman to reach the Slurpee machine, does that make it right?

Steven Mosher on what he saw in China

Anniversary: Teen dies after mom arranges criminal abortion

Dorothy Schultz, 19 years of age, lived with her parents in Tomah, Wisconsin. She had just graduated from high school in June of 1929 and was planning to take a job with the government in Washington.

In early June, Dorothy had gone to her mother with the news that she was pregnant and had missed two periods. On June 14, she was examined by Dr. Winter to verify that she was pregnant. On June 15 or 16, Dorothy's mother brought her to Dr. W. B. Parke in Camp Douglas to arrange an abortion. He examined her and agreed to do an abortion for $150. Dorothy's mother thought this was expensive but Parke assured her that he was competent and this was his usual fee. Dorothy's mother agreed and made plans to return for the actual abortion at a later date.

The trip was delayed until June 19 due to inclement weather. Dorothy's parents wanted to remain at Parke's home while he did the abortion, but he requested that they leave. Dorothy's parents then offered to stay at a Camp Douglas hotel, but Parke didn't like this plan, either. He assured Dorothy's parents that all would go well, that he'd do the abortion in the morning. He took their $150 in cash and sent them on their way.

Although Dorothy had suffered a sore throat about two weeks before the abortion, she was in apparent good health when her parents brought her to Parke.

The next day, Dorothy's mother fetched her daughter home. Dorothy seemed well but went to bed. But that evening she suffered chills. She continued to be ill, so a few days later her parents called Parke and told him of Dorothy's condition. He came to the Schultz home, bringing instruments with him, which he sterilized by boiling. He then performed a procedure to clean out Dorothy's uterus.

Parke came to Dorothy's home on at least two other occasions. On June 25, he found her condition to be so serious that he wanted to return to Camp Douglas to get medicine for her. Dorothy's parents wanted to call another doctor, but Parke told them to wait until after his return. After he left, Dorothy's parents called Dr. Winter. Dr. Winter found Dorothy delirious, with a 105 degree fever, and he suspeced an abortion. Parke returned to the house while Dr. Winter was still there.

Parke went to Dr. Winter's house after the 25th to ask after Dorothy. Parke said that he'd been very careful and didn't understand how Dorothy could possibly have an infection.

At first, Dorothy seemed to improve under Dr. Winter's care, but she then developed pneumonia. She died on July 3.

An autopsy was performed by Dr. Winter and Dr. Beebe. They found an enlarged uterus and dilated cervix, in keeping with a recent pregnancy. They found signs of infection and of instrumentation of abortion. Dorothy's reproductive organs were sent to a pathologist who found necrotic tissue. He concluded that the sepsis that started in Dorothy's uterus brought on the fatal pneumonia.

Parke went to Dorothy's house after her death to express his sympathy and to refund the $150 abortion fee to her parents. He also paid them an additional $850.

Parke testified in his own behalf, saying that the first visit to his office had been on or about June 8. He said that he'd not examined her at that time, but agreed to examine her to see if she was pregnant and if she could safely give birth. He said that he'd asked for $150 in case he had to hospitalize Dorothy, perform tests, or consult with other doctors. He said that after keeping Dorothy at his home overnight he sent her home without having performed any tests.

Parke also said that when Dorothy's parents brought her to his home on the 19th, she'd already attempted to perform an abortion on herself. He said that he'd only been providing her aftercare.

Parke was convicted of second-degree manslaughter in Dorothy's death.

Two failed attempts to kill ZEF leave woman with new perspective

I tried twice to abort my baby - but I'm delighted I failed

Yay, Paula!

HT: Jivin J

Anniversary: Criminal abortion kills patient, midwife

On July 2, 1900, Mrs. Sarah Bonda, age 20, died at her home as a result of a criminal abortion performed on her there that day.

When police went to arrest Mrs. Martha Heisig, a midwife, in connection with the death, she committed suicide.

Two Safe, Legal Anniversaries

Sheryl Cottone was 23 years old when she underwent a first trimester abortion in June of 1981. She was rushed to Veteran's Memorial Hospital in Waukon, Iowa, on July 1. She was pronounced dead on arrival. An autopsy found that she had died from an embolism that had lodged in her heart. Visit Sheryl's memorial here.

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"Audrey" was 44 years old when she underwent a first-trimester abortion in New York on July 1, 1971. During the abortion she went into cardiac arrest. Attempts to revive her failed; she died that day, leaving three chldren motherless.