Osathanondh's lawyer comments:
LAWYER: I think everybody worked hard yesterday in the court room and we ended up with a fair and just result.
REPORTER: How's your client feel, going off to prison today?
LAWYER: Well, I don't think he feels good about going off to prison, but I think he's glad to be able to get this behind him on the one hand, and as well to bring closure to the Smith family. He really does feel a tremendous amount of remorse as a result of this.
This is the first we've heard of Osathanondh taking any responsibility for what he did to Laura Hope Smith, a young woman with her entire life ahead of her. A string of choices -- her boyfriend's, hers, Osathanondh's -- ended that life, along with the life of her unborn baby. Laura and her boyfriend decided to have sex under circumstances in which they would not feel ready to welcome a baby. Laura decided, rather than turn to her church and her family for help, to end the life of her baby. Osathanondh chose to sell abortions rather than to help women overcome their fears, and to cut corners on staffing, training, and equipment, trusting instead to luck to preserve the lives of his anesthetized patients, and then when Laura stopped breathing he chose to delay calling 911 to get adequately trained help to her.
Laura's choices were based on a lot of things, including lies she'd been steeped in since childhood, growing up in American culture that teaches that sex is a consequence-free activity to be engaged in based on your momentary physical and emotional urges. A culture that teaches that abortion is a right, a responsible thing to do, an effective "reset" button that sets everything back to where it was before the pregnancy test came up positive, the mere removal of some problematic tissue. Laura's family had raised her to know better, but somewhere along the line, not enough was done to equip her to resist lies and temptation.
Laura has paid for her choice with her life. She will never have a chance to learn from her mistake, to repent, to live a new life based on grace and love.
Osathanondh still can.
He's not saying what made him decide to sell abortions for a living, rather than offer real hope to pregnant women. He's not saying if he really believed he was helping, if he was just out to make a quick buck, or whatever. He's not saying what made him decide to operate without adequate equipment, training, or staff. He's not saying why he chose to try to deal with his patient himself rather than quickly calling 911 to get trained help on the scene.
I'm working on developing a curriculum to be used in churches, to help young women like Laura avoid her fate, and the fate of other Christian women who end up weeping on the abortion table and wondering how this happened to them. These tragedies are entirely preventable. These young women can be reached, and given the tools they need to avoid ending up on the abortion table themselves. But it's an uphill battle, against the flesh, the world, and the Father of Lies.
And it was probably a combination of the flesh, the world, and the Father of Lies that put Osathanondh in prison.
He can still be reached as well. And I pray that during those three months he spends in prison, somebody reaches him.
For further study: Demolishing Strongholds
UPDATE: Former Doctor Gets Prison (including a video with a brief statement by Laura's father)
She arrived at the Smith household almost 18 years ago, a small raven-haired girl with tattered and dirty clothing, a black eye, and all her possessions in a plastic grocery bag, except for the doll she held in her hand. Tom and Eileen Smith wrapped the neglected, abused, and abandoned girl with their love, only to lose her later to a botched medical procedure.
....
Investigators discovered that the doctor’s office lacked basic resuscitation equipment, that he was not certified for cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and that he failed to monitor her vital signs.
Authorities also said he took great measure to conceal those facts, going as far as creating false CPR cards, remodeling his office, and buying the necessary equipment such as a defibrillator. When investigators arrived at his office, he told them that it was as it had been when Smith died.
....
Osathanondh was sentenced yesterday to 30 months in prison, but will serve only six months as the remainder of the sentence was suspended.
He was also sentenced to nine months’ home confinement to follow, and three years’ probation to start immediately.
He had faced up to 20 years in prison before the agreement. As a result of a separate civil trial, Osathanondh was ordered to pay the Cape Cod family $2 million.
....
The board alleged that Osathanondh had placed Smith under sedation without any means to monitor her heart rate, blood pressure, or the oxygen level of her blood.
The board said the doctor had no qualified person assisting him while Smith was under anesthesia. The only other person in the room was an office worker who had no training in CPR or other life-saving procedures.
The board added Osathanondh “failed to timely initiate a call to 911, failed to maintain an adequate airway,’’ and “failed to adhere to basic cardiac life support protocol.’’
....
Note -- Tom and Eileen Smith are prolifers. Prolifers who adopted one of those "unwanted" children. One of those "born" children prolifers supposedly don't care about.
Irony alert: Abortion advocates hold that the lives of "unwanted" children like Laura should be ended by abortion. Well, Laura's was.
ONE MORE UPDATE, courtesy of Eileen. This is the "prison" Osathanondh will be "doing time" in:
As Eileen said, it looks like a bed-and-breakfast! Osathanondh is getting a vacation, then an early retirement.
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