Monday, January 26, 2026

January 26, 2001: Failure to Monitor and Resuscitate

Grok AI illustration
On January 22, 2001, 19-year-old Melissa Lynn Heim went to Access Health Center in Downers Grove, Illinois. 

Melissa was given "twilight anesthesia" with a drug cocktail including Versed, Fentanyl, and Brevital for a safe, legal abortion. The procedure was started at about 11:45 a.m. and was finished at about noon. 

After the abortion, Melissa was moved to the recovery area. She went into cardio-respiratory arrest about half an hour later, at around 12:32 pm. 

An ambulance was summoned, and Melissa was resuscitated by the paramedics and transported to the hospital. Due to the brain injury she had suffered while she wasn't breathing, she died on January 26. 

Access Health Center

Her survivors filed suit against Access, doctors Victor Espinosa and Alfonso Del Granado, and nurse Pat Hurt, holding that they had failed to monitor Melissa properly in recovery and failed to resuscitate her quickly enough to save her life.

Watch Was Melissa Properly Monitored? on YouTube.

Source: Cook County Circuit Court No. 03 L 000694

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