August 2, 1937: Sisters in Medicine Implicated in Abortion Death

Plenz's ad in the 1904 Chicago Tribune

Midwife Sophie Mann and her sister, Dr. Gertrude Plenz, were both indicted in the August 2, 1937 abortion death of 25-year-old Mary Kissell, the divorced mother of a little girl. 

I can only find snippets about Mary's death. Evidently she went to her family doctor after the abortion. He examined her and sent her to Cook County Hospital on July 17, 1937. She died on August 2.  

Mann, a midwife, preferred instructing her patients to take hot baths, use a hot water bottle on the abdomen, and use a concoction involving vinegar. Dr. Plenz had been implicated in the abortion death of Margaret McCarthy in 1904 and Sarah Cushing in 1905.

Watch Third Death for Dr. Plenz on YouTube.