Diane Watson was 27 years old when she went to Hedd Surgi-Center in Chicago for an abortion on August 29, 1987.
Although Diane was over 12 weeks pregnant, Rudolph Moragne proceeded with the abortion, in violation of state regulations.
Diane had seizures and went into cardiac arrest at the clinic. Moragne and the other physicians present -- Henry Pimentel, Ester Pimentel, and Calvin Williams -- failed to perform CPR.
Diane's autopsy report attributed her death to "seizures due to anesthesia during an abortion," and made note of the recent pregnancy. Diane's death certificate, however, not only makes no mention of the abortion, but has the "no" box checked for whether or not the decedent had been pregnant during the previous three months.
Diane's family filed suit. A doctor reviewing the case said that Moragne and Hedd staff "deviated from the accepted standards of care [and] failed to appropriately and timely diagnose and treat intraoperative complications which resulted in her death."
Source: Cook County Circuit Court Case No. 87 L 24404, death certificate no. 617011; postmortem report Case #575 August 1987
Filthy and Substandard in Chicago, 1987
Diane Watson was 27 years old, a mother of two, when she went to Hedd Surgi-Center in Chicago for a safe and legal abortion on August 29, 1987. Although Diane was over 12 weeks pregnant, Rudolph Moragne proceeded with the abortion, in violation of state regulations prohibiting outpatient abortions after 12 weeks. He ended up hitting a vein when injecting anesthetics. Diane had seizures and went into cardiac arrest. Moragne and the other physicians present -- Henry Pimentel, Ester Pimentel, and Calvin Williams -- failed to perform CPR.
Diane's autopsy report attributed her death to "seizures due to anesthesia during an abortion," and made note of the recent pregnancy. Diane's death certificate, however, not only makes no mention of the abortion, but has the "no" box checked for whether or not the decedent had been pregnant during the previous three months.
Diane's family filed suit. A doctor reviewing the case said that Moragne and Hedd staff "deviated from the accepted standards of care [and] failed to appropriately and timely diagnose and treat intraoperative complications which resulted in her death." The clinic, Diane's family asserted, lacked the proper equipment to handle emergencies and nobody had been monitoring Diane's vital signs during the procedure.
The state Health Department had already been investigating Hedd for numerous deficiencies. Pimentel ended up paying out $1.8 million (over $6 million in 2020 dollars) in six malpractice suits, including a $500,000 (c. $1.16m)settlement to Diane's family.
Another abortion patient, Magnolia Reed Thomas, bled to death when Moragne failed to diagnose her ectopic pregnancy when she came to him at Hedd for a safe, legal abortion. Pimentel's license was suspended in 1990 for fraudulent insurance billing. He had already been banned from the state's Medicaid program for "grossly inferior care." The clinic's license was finally revoked in 1991, and Pimentel was ordered to sell it due to problems with sanitation and infection control -- including mold on the breathing tubes and mouse droppings in the procedure rooms -- and expired medications.
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