February 3, 2006: Death at the Good Kind of Fake Clinic

The Kind of Fake Clinic Pro-Choice Organizations Support

Like many abortion "clinics", Dr. Romeo Ferrer's private practice, Gynecare Center, presented was presented deceitfully to the public. A patient making an appointment there would likely believe she was in a licensed clinic, not a doctor's office. (Their website, in fact, described the facility as "a modern, clean clinic designed to provide quality healthcare for women and girls of all ages in the Maryland area," even though, as the medical board noted, the facility was only a private doctor's office and not licensed as a clinic.)

The Last Choice She Would Ever Make

Denise Crowe

Denise Crowe, a 21-year-old black woman, didn't go to work at the DMV with her mother, Stephanie White, on February 3, 2006. She told her mother that she had a cold so she was going to stay home. 

But that wasn't her plan. Instead, Denise dropped her 3-year-old developmentally disabled son, Latrell, off with a babysitter and drove to Ferrer's clinic-looking office at 877 Baltimore-Annapolis Boulevard in Severna Park, Maryland.  for an abortion on February 3, 2006. She was 16 weeks pregnant and brought $800 to pay for the procedure. Her stated reason for the abortion was, "can't afford it right now."

Denise was healthy and had no medical history that would place her at high risk. Denise had required care in the past for a miscarriage, and had aborted two previous pregnancies. 

"She thought she'd just have it done and nobody would know," her mother, Stephanie White, later told the Baltimore Sun.

Further Dishonesty in the Policies

Not only was Ferrer deceitful in advertising his private practice as if it was a licensed and inspected clinic, he was deceitful in his written policies. They stated:

As ordered by the physician, the sedation will consist of but not limited to: 2.5 mg to 5 mg of Versed and 50 mg to 200 mg of Demerol combined together and diluted with 8 cc of sterile water. The dosage will be adjusted according to the patient's weight, response, and state of consciousness. The patient's blood pressure and pulse will be monitored every 5 minutes. The pulse oximeter will be used at all times. Oxygen will be given by mask if oxygen saturation is below 85%, at the rate of 3 - 4 liters per minute.

A Lengthy Process With Multiple Drugs

Romeo Ferrer

Ferrer started the abortion, a D&E, at about 1:00 p.m., using ultrasound to help him visualize the baby as he dismembered it. However, contrary to his written policy, he did not use a pulse oximeter, nor was Denise's blood pressure being checked every five minutes. 

Twenty-five minutes into the procedure, Ferrer was still pulling fetal parts out of his patient, and administered 20 units of Pitocin via diluted in 500 cc of IV solution. 

Five minutes later, he added 125 mg of Demerol and 5 mg of midazolam (Versed, a short-acting sedative and amnesia-producing medication). 

Because "pt. was still reacting to pain", Ferrer administered additional doses of Demerol and midazolam about five minutes later. It wasn't until 1:45 that Ferrer completed the abortion.

The First Sign of Trouble

Denise was moved to the recovery room, where at 1:47 a "surgical assistant" noticed signs of cyanosis (blue coloring) in Denise's fingernails. A nurse assistant was unable to get a blood pressure or pulse reading on Denise, and told Ferrer. He gave a verbal order for 0.4 mg Narcan, which was administered by the nurse assistant. Narcan is a drug to counteract narcotics.

Resuscitation Efforts Start

At 1:50, Ferrer began efforts to resuscitate Denise, including performing CPR, then having an assistant take over CPR while he administered intracardiac epinephrine. Five minutes after Denise was discovered to have no pulse, somebody finally called 911 while Ferrer continued resuscitation efforts, maintaining an open airway with the non-professional method of head tilt and chin lift. Ferrer did not use an airway or endotracheal tube, and did not provide Denise with supplemental oxygen, as is customary with professionally-administered CPR.

Skilled Professionals Step In to No Avail

The medics arrived at 2:00 to find Denise still unresponsive and without a pulse. The medics used an oxygen mask and additional drugs as they transported Denise to Anne Arundel Medical Center. There, emergency room staff continued the attempts to resuscitate her, to no avail. She was pronounced dead at 2:57 p.m.

The autopsy found no underlying physical reason for Denise's heart to have stopped. The cause of death was given as "Meperidine intoxication" (an overdose of Demerol).

His Peers Find Fault

The Maryland Medical Board investigated the case and found that Ferrer had failed to properly provide and monitor the anesthesia during the procedure. He "pushed" the risky medications quickly when he should have been slowly administering the subsequent doses and monitoring Denise's response. The second dose of medication was also deemed to be excessive. His resuscitative efforts were deemed inadequate. Due to these shortcomings, the Board stripped Ferrer of his license. Ferrer indicated to the board that he would not fight the move.

Defending a Fake Clinic

In spite of these findings, the National Abortion Federation defended Ferrer. NAF spokeswoman Melissa Fowler told the Annapolis Capital that abortion is safe due to "specialized quality care provided by clinics like Gynecare Center." This indicates that Gynecare, in spite of having a dangerous doctor and not actually being a clinic, was a National Abortion Federation member.

A Devastated Family

Denise's orphaned son

Denise's mother, who was going blind, did not share NAF's dismissive attitude towards abortion deaths. She took in little Latrell and told Catholic Review that the child was understandably devastated. "He cried for almost two years on the third of the month when his mother died. He slept with me. I would wake up and he would be seating. He'd be calling for her."

Watch Ferrer's Fake Clinic on YouTube.

Sources:

• White vs. Ferrer
• Maryland State Board of Physicians Case No. 2008-0135
• Letter from Ferrer to Maryland State Board of Physicians, September, 2010
• "Family of woman who died in botched abortion wants laws changed," Catholic Review, January 19, 2012
• "Grieving mother wants regulations tightened at Maryland abortion clinics," The Catholic Review interview, YouTube, posted January, 2012