Summary: Yvonne Tanner, age 22, died August 14, 1984 after an abortion at a notorious safe-n-legal California abortion mill.
Background
 |
| Inglewood Women's Hospital reopens as a clinic |
Inglewood Women's Hospital was one of the abortion hospitals that sprang up after California legalized abortion in 1967, allowing them to be done on demand as long as they were performed in hospitals. Even after 1973, when Roe vs. Wade overturned the California law requiring abortions to be performed in hospitals, women routinely spent the night either for observation or because they were undergoing multi-day saline abortions.
The Legalization Fairy did not sprinkle safety dust over Inglewood. In 1973, 17-year-old Kathy Denise Murphy was the first abortion patient die. The next was 22-year-old Lynette Wallace, who died in 1975. Elizabeth Tsuji followed in 1978. Then Cora Mae Lewis died in 1983.
Inglewood had been shut down by the state of California multiple times, but they just repeatedly reopened under a slightly different name. Inglewood General Hospital, Inglewood Hospital, Inglewood Women’s Hospital, Inglewood Women’s Clinic, West Coast Medical Group and West Coast Women’s Medical Group were all rebranding attempts by Inglewood after being shut down and reopening.
In May and June of 1984, inspection reports found the following violations at Inglewood:
- clients had complications, but “none” was listed in complication section of surgical log
- two surgical logs had no entries, just a blank under complications
- laminaria inserted by unlicensed staff
- consent for laminaria insertions not checked
- two patients’ physical exam forms and history forms contained different information
- unlicensed staff doing tentative gestational diagnosis
- no documentation of physician being notified of ruptured membranes
- one aide inserted laminaria, another was documented as doing it
- no documentation of observations of client having seizures
- patient charted as in acute distress and unable to get blood pressure, but distress not described and no reason given for inability to get blood pressure
- entries in charts written over and/or not dated
- no stripchart EKG in post-anesthesia recovery room
- written policy for flash autoclave not followed
- the facility was advertising outpatient and emergency services although it was not licensed to provide those services.
- surgical suite shelving laden with dust and lint, surgical suite ceiling ventilation grid encrusted with grayish material
Inspectors noted that Inglewood “does not have enough surgical equipment, nor does it appear that staff is properly sterilizing their equipment as evidenced by comparing the hospital’s surgical log with the number of surgical sets available.” They also noted that nurses, practitioner, and physician assistant lacked assignment of clinical privileges.
Yet Another Death
Yvonne Tanner died next. The 22-year-old mother of one had been born in New Orleans, according to public records. She would have had no idea what sort of place she was walking into.
Yvonne had an abortion performed by Stephen Pine and/or Morton Barke July 10, 1984 at Inglewood; Yvonne went into a coma immediately after the abortion, and died August 14, 1984. Her death certificate indicates coma, hypertension, and urinary tract infection. (death certificate, LA Superior Court Case No. C555261)
The Mill Ground On
The last known death at Inglewood was Belinda Ann Byrd, a 37-year-old mother of three who died in 1987.
One month after Belinda Byrd's death, Inglewood was closed for three days by the state. It immediately re-opened as West Coast Women's Medical Group, a clinic. As a clinic, the new entity was not required to have a state license.
Of the young women who died at Inglewood Women's Hospital, Lynette Wallace, Cora Mae Lewis, Yvonne Tanner, and Belinda Byrd were Black, Elizabeth Tsuji of Asian descent, and Kathy Murphy most likely white. To say that this hospital was particularly deadly to young Black women would be an understatement.
Watch "Grist for the Abortion Mill" on YouTube.
Sources:
- "Abortion Facility : Hospital Called Out of Control, Closed by State," Los Angeles Times, February 11, 1988
Veteran pro-life investigator Kevin Sherlock asks people of good will to help him have Planned Parenthood prosecuted for profiteering from the rapes and incests of underage girls many thousands of times each year.
Sherlock has pulled the police records of hundreds of cities and has pulled the child protective services records of multiple states to prove Planned Parenthood staffers are violating mandated reporting laws designed to protect girl victims. But there is more to be done. Sherlock will make sure more and more evidence gets to federal and state prosecutors who care about protecting girls from abusers and profiteers.
Sherlock has talked to many girls and young women who trust him. Their stories and the forensic evidence shows most of them undergo pill abortions or humiliating invasive surgical abortions due to fear or ignorance or pressure or coercion. He treats the girls or women carrying children or devastated from their abortions as friends and neighbors in his home town, not afterthoughts.
Thank you for doing what you can to help girls and fight sexual predators and rape profiteers.
No comments:
Post a Comment