The patient, identified as "S. P.," didn't realize how far advanced her pregnancy was when she went to Ricke's clinic. The procedure should have taken 20 minutes, but dragged on for over three hours because the fetal head got stuck in the woman's vagina.
"He told me to be calm, that I would feel a slight pinch," S.P. said. "I felt the pull.... There was a lot of noise and the pulling went on for a while. He stopped. They told me, 'Honey, you're a lot further along than we thought....'"
Several times Ricke left the woman with a female employee who tried to comfort her.
When S.P. screamed in pain, Ricke told her to be quiet because she was scaring the other patients. When she asked for medication for the pain, Ricke told her that he didn't have any. She begged Ricke to take her to a hospital, but he told her that no hospital would take her. At one point he threw his hands in the air.
S.P. asked Ricke to call an ambulance for her. He asked her if he should crush the fetal head so he could get it out, then reached in with his hand and tried to grab it. He got his hand stuck. "He was pulling and tugging. He told me to relax so he could get his hand out. When he finally got his hand out, he yelled at me because his hand hurt. Then he started pulling again." S.P. said she kicked Ricke, then finally closed her legs and refused to let him manhandle her any further.
Ricke finally had S.P. transported to the hospital in an employee's car, with the majority of the fetus dangling outside her body. Ricke completed the abortion in the hospital using general anesthesia. It turned out that S.P.'s unborn baby was of more than seven months' gestational age and had weighed more than 2 1/2 pounds.
Sources:
- "Witness recalls unheeded pleas during abortion," Tucson Citizen, August 13, 1987
- "Abortionist pleads for career, vows improvements, Tucson Citizen, August 13, 1987
No comments:
Post a Comment