February 11, 1992: High Risk Abortion in an Outpatient Setting

Danette Adele Perguson, a 19-year-old medical assistant, submitted to a safe, legal abortion on February 11, 1992, at the hands of Dr. Robert H. Tamis of Phoenix, Arizona. 

As far as I can tell, the facility, Abortion Services of Phoenix, was jointly owned by Tamis and his wife, Beverlee.

Danette had a rare condition called Pyruvate Kinase Deficiency , a hereditary blood disorder that made her a very high-risk patient for an abortion. Dr. Thomas Murphy Goodwin, a high-risk OB/GYN, pointed out in later court proceedings that any abortion on a woman with PKD should have been done in a hospital, and special steps should have been taken to prevent possible fatal clots from forming in the blood stream.

During the abortion, Danette stopped breathing, and paramedics were summoned.

The Maricopa County deputy medical examiner determined that Danette died from a pulmonary embolism, which is when blood flow in the lungs is blocked by material such as a clot.

Tamis later made the news in 1981 when he and his partners, Robert Weschsler and Mark Gross, performed a saline abortion at Doctor's Hospital in Phoenix, resulting in the March 20 birth of a 2 lb 9 oz baby girl. Tamis and his partners said that they had been "fooled" when examining the patient and had believed her to be only 19 weeks pregnant. The baby, however, proved to have been about 32 weeks of gestation.

Tamis actually seemed to believe in total reproductive choice for women, at least when he could make money from it. He also ran a sperm bank and an IVF clinic. 

Watch High-Risk Abortion in Clinic Proves Fatal on YouTube.
Watch High-Risk Abortion in Clinic Proves Fatal on Rumble.

• Perguson v. Tamis, 937 P.2d 347 (Ariz. Ct. App. 1996)