Not Even Pregnant; Quackery in New York

Not Even Pregnant: Chicago, 1989

Twenty-four-year-old Synthia Dennard went to Biogenetics in Chicago for a safe, legal abortion and tubal ligation on September 7, 1989. The surgery was performed by Inno Obasi.

Synthia began to hemorrhage during the surgery. A medical investigation later found that Obasi had "failed to summon help in a timely manner; refused to allow trained and skilled paramedics to attend to Synthia; refused to allow paramedics to transport Synthia to a hospital in a timely manner" and otherwise "allowed Synthia to bleed to death."

Synthia's survivors had to file a court order to keep the facility from destroying her records. An autopsy revealed that instead of removing a section of Synthia's fallopian tube, Obasi had removed a portion of an artery. The autopsy also revealed that Synthia, mother of two, had not been pregnant at the time of her abortion.

"Susanna Chisolm" and Brenda Benton also died after abortions at Biogenetics.

An Abundance of Quackery: New York, 1996

Tanya Williamson, age 28, died September 7, 1996 after an abortion performed by Moshe Hachamovitch. Hachamovitch and his staff overdosed Tanya for the abortion. She was still unresponsive when transferred to the recovery room where she was not provided with adequate equipment to monitor her condition. The insufficient staff were also busy with another patient and thus didn't provide Tanya with adequate medical supervision. Not surprisingly, she stopped breathing.

When Hachamovitch finally began tending to his patient, he delayed summoning emergency services while he provided inadequate and inappropriate treatment. When EMS finally arrived, they found Tanya in a state of cardiac arrest and not getting oxygen due to Hachamovitch using outdated and inappropriate equipment. They were unable to revive her, and she was pronounced dead that day.

Five other abortion patients are known to have died either under Hachamovitch's direct care or under the care of an employe at one of his clinics.

Luz Rodriguez
Allowed to bleed to death in 1986 under Hachamovitch's direct care in the Bronx.

Jammie Garcia
Fifteen-year-old Jammie died a horrible death after her safe, legal abortion at one of Hachamovitch's facilities in Texas in 1994.

Christina Goesswein
Hachamovitch brought her to his office at 4 a.m. to treat grave complications.She died on October 19, 1990.

Lisa Bardsley
Bled to death on the way home from her safe, legal abortion at one of Hachamovitch's facilities in Arizona in 1995.

Lou Anne Herron
Her pleas for help went unheeded as she bled to death in Hachamovitch's Arizona abortion clinic in 1998.