Exploring AbortionDocs: Joseph Henry Kennedy III

I've often said that if the abortion-rights movement care about women as much as they say they do, it would be prochoicers, not prolifers, running the AbortionDocs website, where information of any kind -- good, bad or neutral -- is gathered about abortion practitioners and facilities. 

I decided to scroll through and see some of the offerings and found a doozy -- Joseph Henry Kennedy III.

Let's take a look, shall we?

Start with documents from the New York medical board:

Patient A, age 21, had been admitted to Lincoln Hospital for acute pelvic inflammatory disease. At around 1:00 am on November 25, 1987, Patient A was asleep in her hospital room, and her roommate was in the TV room. Kennedy told Patient A to lift her pajamas so he could examine her. "He examined her stomach, grabbed her under her arms, lifted her as though he were hugging her, put her head on his shoulder and kissed her on the lips." Patient A pushed him away in disgust and told a nurse. The nurse summoned Kennedy to Patient A's room, where he apologized and told her not to "do this to him." Patient A also reported the incident to the police.

Patient B, a 24-year-old woman, had been admitted to Lincoln Hospital for severe morning sickness (hyperemesis gravidarum). At around 3:00 on the morning of November 24, 1987, Kennedy came into her room while her roommate was asleep. He kissed her on the cheek and rubbed her hands in a way she found disturbing, "as if he were making a pass at her." He came by in the early morning hours the following day, again while Patient B's roommate was asleep. He grabbed her hands and rubbed them, left the room, then returned and rubbed her feet in a manner that she found very disturbing. Patient B reported these creepy nocturnal visits to both the hospital and the police. 

Patient C was 21 years old as well. Kennedy had admitted her to Lincoln Hospital for acute pelvic inflammatory disease and asthma. During her admission examination on November 23, 1987, Kennedy asked her "about her sex life and whether her husband made love to her in a normal fashion." Patient C found the questioning inappropriate and refused to answer. At around 3:00 on the morning of November 25, Patient C awoke to find Kennedy kissing her, with his hand in her underwear touching her genitals. When he saw that Patient C had awakened, Kennedy told her he'd come to put in an IV, though he didn't have any equipment with him. He left the room and returned with the IV equipment, and as he put in the IV he asked her how she made love, then sat on her bed and played with her toes while asking her to show him how to properly make love. He asked her for her name and address so he could see her outside the hospital. Patient C refused and called for a nurse. Patient C reported this creepy encounter to both the hospital and the police.

The medical board found all three women credible and revoked Kennedy's license.

Let's move on to how the Alabama Medical Board responded when they learned what had transpired in Kentucky:

Aside from his "unexplained absences from the hospital emergency room," superficial and inadequate patient assessments, and administering an inappropriate dosage of Actifed to a toddler, "Dr. Kennedy propositioned a female patient, followed her to her car and attempted to hold her hand, hug her, kiss her, and sexually fondle her."

Finally, let's look at Tennessee:

AbortionDocs mentions this but doesn't provide the source, so I found it in newspaper archives: "N.Y. fugitive faces illegal abortion charges here," The Tennessean, April 16, 1988. Kennedy was caught "performing a felonious abortion" after he was caught practicing illegally at a Nashville clinic and four hospitals. Evidently Kennedy had fled the state and was wanted on the charges related to the sexual abuse of the three patients at Lincoln Hospital.

Kennedy was caught performing abortions without a medial license at Family Planning Center for Reproductive Health at 210 19th Ave. N. in Nashville. Kennedy had also been working for Pri-Med, an agency based in Memphis that provided hospitals with emergency room physicians. It was Pri-Med that had placed Kennedy in the four different hospitals even though his license had expired in Tennessee and had been revoked in New York.