Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Only Eight Counts

Gosnell ran an abortion clinic in Philadelphia and was a prolific prescriber of Oxycontin.[1]  His behavior is not uncommon.

 In 2011, he was reported to be well known in Philadelphia for providing abortions to poor minority and immigrant women.[16] It was also claimed that Gosnell charged $1,600–$3,000 for each late-term abortion.[18] Dr. Gosnell was also associated with clinics in Delaware and Louisiana. Atlantic Women’s Services in Wilmington, Delaware, was Dr. Gosnell's place of work one day a week. The owner of Atlantic Women's Services, Leroy Brinkley, also owned Delta Clinic of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and facilitated the hiring of staff from there for Gosnell's operation in Philadelphia.[19]

In 2011, Gosnell, along with his employees, was charged with eight counts of murder resulting in part from gross medical malpractice in treatment of patients at his clinic, as well as 24 felony counts of illegal abortions beyond the 24 week limit, and charged with 227 misdemeanor counts of violating the 24-hour informed consent law. The murder charges related to a patient who died while under his care and seven newborns said to have been killed after being born alive during attempted abortions. In May 2013, he was convicted on three of the murder charges, 21 felony counts of illegal late-term abortion, and 211 counts of violating the 24-hour informed consent law.

Gosnell has been described as a serial killer, with ABC's Terry Moran saying "Kermit Gosnell is probably the most successful serial killer in the history of the world."[3][4][5][6]
“Janice Staloski of the Pennsylvania Department of Health, who personally participated in the 1992 site visit, but decided to let Gosnell slide on the violations that were already evident then. She eventually rose to become director of the division that was supposed to regulate abortion providers, but never looked at Gosnell despite specific complaints from lawyers, a doctor, and a medical examiner. After she was nonetheless promoted, her successor as division director, Cynthia Boyne, failed to order an investigation of the clinic even when Karnamaya Mongar died there. Senior legal counsel Kenneth Brody insisted that the department had no legal obligation to monitor abortion clinics, even though it exercised such a duty until the Ridge administration, and exercised it again as soon as Gosnell became big news. The agency’s head lawyer, chief counsel Christine Dutton, defended the department’s indifference: 'People die,' she said.”
“Lawyers at the Pennsylvania Department of State behaved in the same fashion. Attorneys Mark Greenwald, Charles Hartwell, David Grubb, Andrew Kramer, William Newport, Juan Ruiz, and Kerry Maloney were confronted with a growing pile of disquieting facts about Gosnell, including a detailed, inside account from a former employee (Marcella Choung, 2001[24]), and a 22-year-old dead woman. Every time, though, they managed to dismiss the evidence as immaterial... until the facts hit the fan.” 
In part as a result of the grand jury report on Gosnell, in late 2011, Pennsylvania passed a law, SB 732, that places abortion clinics under the same health and safety regulations as other outpatient surgical centers. Among those who supported the bill was Democrat Margo L. Davidson, whose cousin Semika Shaw died as a result of procedures done by Gosnell.[115][116] Davidson specifically linked her support for the additional regulations to her cousin's death, which she attributed to poor medical practices.[117]
Gosnell managed to continue in his murderous practice in large part because the pro-choice bias in government and media and the judicial system repeatedly gave him a pass when he should have been jailed. 
 On May 15, 2013, Gosnell was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Reports from around the industry suggest Gosnell was not an outlier.
Delaware – Complete Failure to Regulate Abortion Clinics and Practitioners
2013
  • On April 10, ABC Philadelphia news reported that two former nurses at the Planned Parenthood of Delaware abortion facility quit their jobs, citing unsafe, unsanitary conditions, and “a meat-market style of assembly-line abortions.”[1]
  • On May 29, Jayne Mitchell-Werbrich and Joyce Vasikonis testified before the Delaware state senate and called the clinic conditions “ridiculously unsafe,” and said women were at risk for hepatitis and AIDS.
  • Planned Parenthood of Delaware suspended surgical abortion procedures at their Wilmington and Dover clinics as a result of ongoing investigations by the state Division of Professional Regulation and the state Division of Public Health.[2] 
  • Since January alone, five women were sent to the hospital from with complications from botched abortions.[3]
  • Disgraced former Planned Parenthood Delaware abortionist Dr. Timothy Liveright is shown to be operating in clinics in New Jersey,[4] Pennsylvania[5], and California.[6]
2011
  • Kermit Gosnell also performed abortions in Delaware, where abortion facilities are not subject to inspections.
  • After news of Gosnell’s case broke, fellow abortion providers Drs. Albert Dworkin and Arturo Apolinario had their licenses suspended for failing to report Gosnell for performing late-term abortions at Atlantic Women’s Medical Services in Wilmington, DE, where he worked one day a week.[7] 
  • Apolinario, like Gosnell, is charged with prescribing drugs illegally.[8]
  • Both Atlantic Women’s Medical clinic locations were permanently closed (before a hearing could take place) after an agreement was reached between the Delaware Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline and clinic owner Panzy Myrie, a woman who portrayed herself as a medical doctor in advertisements - though she holds no license in Delaware.[9]
Maryland – Death at the Hands of Notorious Late-Term Abortionist Leroy Carhart, Clinic Shut- Downs, Unlicensed Abortionist Operating Out-of-State
2013
  • On February 7, Jennifer McKenna Morbelli, a 29-year-old kindergarten teacher from New Rochelle, NY, died “due to or as a consequence of Amniotic Fluid Embolism following Medical Termination of Pregnancy.”  The medical examiner’s office confirmed that a botched 33-week abortion killed Mrs. Morbelli.[10]
  • When she was 31 weeks pregnant, Mrs. Morbelli sought an abortion from Dr. Leroy Carhart in Germantown, MD.  Carhart left town shortly after the abortion procedure and was reportedly unavailable when Mrs. Morbelli began to experience shortness of breath and chest pains - which led to a delay in her emergency care.[11]
  • In March, the Maryland Department of Health and Hygiene suspended the licenses of three surgical abortion clinics.  All three are affiliated with abortion business owner Steven Chase Brigham.[12]
  • Inspections of the abortion clinics revealed they were continuing to violate state health and safety laws after the initial violations that prompted the state investigations in the first place.
  • After a brief period of being reopened, in May the clinics once again lost their licenses after inspectors discovered that all clinics routinely administered the drug Misoprostol to cause abortions in women who were past 11 weeks gestation, "even if the patient has not be evaluated by a physician, and even if no physician is available on site."[13]

  • Abortionists Mansour Panah and Iris Dominy had their licenses suspended on May 29, 2013 for their involvement in the death of a patient at the Baltimore abortion clinic where they were employed[14].
    • The Maryland Board of Physicians (MDBP) lifted Dominy’s suspension on August 29, 2013[15].
    • She is not permitted to use sedation techniques in her procedures, but is permitted to still practice medicine. 
    • Mansour Panah, Medical Director of a Steven Chase Brigham abortion clinic, where Dominy also worked, was returned his license completely on July 18, 2013.

    • In April 2010, an 18-year-old New Jersey woman was critically injured during an abortion at a Steven Chase Brigham clinic in Elkton, MD. She was airlifted to Baltimore hospital from Brigham’s facility.[16]
    • The Maryland Board of Physicians found that the woman, who was 21 weeks pregnant, had first been treated in Voorhees, N.J., where her cervix was dilated.  She was then told to drive 60 miles in her car to Elkton, MD, so doctors could complete the abortion[17].
    • After the woman's uterus ruptured, state officials said, the woman was put into Brigham's rented Chevrolet Malibu and driven to Union Hospital in Elkton.
    • The Maryland Board of Physicians stated that the patient was slumped in a wheelchair, nearly unconscious, outside the emergency room while Riley argued with hospital staff, who demanded their identities before treating the woman.
    • Elkton police searched the clinic but could not find medical records for the woman. During the search, police did find 35 late-term fetuses, some 20 to 35 weeks old, in a freezer.
    • The abortionists involved, Dr. Nicola Riley and Dr. Steven Chase Brigham are now prohibited from practicing in Maryland.  Dr. Riley's medical license was suspended in September 2010 by Maryland authorities.  Dr. Brigham, who did not even have a Maryland license, was barred from practicing in the state.
      • Both abortionists had previously lost their licenses to practice medicine or run clinics in other states, including New York and Pennsylvania.
  • At the Associates in OB/GYN Care LLC on North Calvert Street in Baltimore, where one patient suffered a fatal cardiac arrest, the physician was not certified in CPR and a defibrillator at the facility did not work, according to state officials in a letter to the General Assembly. The other two clinics that lost surgical privileges, located in Landover and Silver Spring, are also owned by Associates in OB/GYN Care and also had licenses suspended for issues related to the ability to respond to life-threatening problems during surgery.[18]
  • In November 2011, late-term abortionist James S. Pendergraft and his accomplice Harold O. Alexander were caught operating an illicit late-term abortion mill in Forestville, MD.
    Pendergraft – who is not licensed in Maryland – was caught on tape.[19] On August 22, 2012 the Maryland State Board of Physicians suspended Harold O. Alexander’s license for a minimum of three months.[20]
Pennsylvania – Gosnell’s House of Horrors and Clinic Shut Downs
2013
  • On May 13 abortionist Kermit Gosnell was found guilty of the murder of three newborn children and the negligent death of one patient.[21]
    • He had been charged with eight counts of murder including seven babies who were born alive and then killed with scissors. Prosecutors said that he made millions of dollars over 30 years, performing as many illegal, late-term abortions as he could. [22]
2012
  • American Women's Services, Pittsburgh[23], and Allentown Medical Services, Allentown[24], closed because complaints revealed violations that could not be fixed.  The Department of Health said that the former owner of Allentown Medical Services, Dr. Steven Chase Brigham, “showed a ‘serial’ disregard for health regulations.”[25]
  • Allegheny Women's Center closed rather than meet the inspection regulations.[26]
2011
  • In 2011, Abortion as an Alternative Inc., which had clinics in Bensalem and Philadelphia, closed.[27]
  • The clinics were operated by Dr. Soleiman M. Soli.  The Department of Health found “drugs decades past their expiration dates, inadequate or inoperable equipment, poor record-keeping and mishandling of fetal tissue.”[28]
  • Allentown Medical Services in Allentown was cited for “preparing to use unsterilized instruments on patients, having drugs and single-use devices that were past their expiration dates, and for splattering blood on the walls and on the floor of a scrub room freezer.”[29]
2009
  • On November 19, Karnamaya Mongar, a 41-year-old immigrant from Bhutan, and a Virginia resident, died as a result of an abortion she received at the hands of now infamous Philadelphia abortionist Dr. Kermit Gosnell. The medical examiner’s report indicates that Mrs. Mongar died as a result of an overdose of Demerol.[30] She was 19 weeks pregnant.
  • A Gosnell clinic worker assisted in administering local anesthesia and when Mongar’s face turned gray and her breathing slowed, Gosnell continued to perform the abortion and did not order that 911 be called until after the procedure was finished.[31]
  • Gosnell could not resuscitate Mrs. Mongar himself as his defibrillator was broken.[32]
Virginia – 80 Violations Even with Notice of Inspection 
2013
  • On June 27, 2013, a woman was taken away by ambulance from Nova Women’s Health Center in Falls Church, VA.  She was hyperventilating and in need of advanced life support.
  • Following this event, on August 2, the Falls Church facility underwent a licensing inspection where it was found that the facility violated a number of codes.[33]
  • Nova Women’s Health Center, the busiest abortion clinic in Virginia, closed when its lease was terminated via a lawsuit by the property owners on the grounds that the abortion clinic created a nuisance.
    • According to the lawsuit filings, Nova patients were regularly inside the building “lying down in corridors…and, in some instances, even vomiting.” One filing said witnesses would testify that this was a daily occurrence.[34]
    • Previously in 2007, the state Board of Health reported evidence of negligence and abuse at Nova Women’s Health Center clinic including: failing to provide follow-up care, keeping inadequate records, and improperly handling and dispensing drugs.  Abortionist Mi Yong Kim was forced to surrender her medical license, but continued to operate the clinic. [35]

2012
  • Virginia Health Commission inspection reports obtained by The Family Foundation through the Freedom of Information Act reveal unsafe and “utterly disgusting” conditions in Virginia abortion clinics.[36]
    • Blood-stained medical equipment and operating tables (Falls Church Healthcare Center, Falls Church)[37]
    • A doctor doing exams with unwashed hands (Alexandria)[38]
    • Improper disposal of fetal remains including frozen blood and remains at the bottom of the freezer, after contents had spilled out of a unclosed plastic bag (Tidewater Women’s Health Clinic, Norfolk)[39]
    • Staff failure to disinfect blood-stained equipment and recovery cots between patients (Roanoke Medical Center for Women, Roanoke)[40]
    • Splattered, dried blood in different colors and thickness on exam table and between exam table cushions (Roanoke Medical Center for Women, Roanoke)[41]
      • Improper storage and dispersion of drugs (Falls Church Healthcare Center, Falls Church)[42]
      • Staff failure to properly sanitize equipment and distinguish between dirty and clean instruments (Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Virginia, Virginia Beach)[43]
      • The director of Tidewater Women’s Health Clinic in Norfolk, Dr. David Peters, claimed that the inspectors’ observations were flat wrong and none of the violations affected patient care.  The violations found at his clinic included spilled blood and “products of conception” (fetal remains) being stored in the freezer.[44]

2009
  • Abortionist Mi Yong Kim of Nova Women’s Health Center performed an abortion on a woman with an ectopic pregnancy. Although the woman was told the procedure was successful and was sent home, the ectopic pregnancy later ruptured and caused a painful, life-threatening emergency for the woman. [45]
    • Previously, in 2002, a patient died as a result of an air embolism at the hands of Mi Yong Kim. Kim improperly sedated the woman, failed to realize the patient went into cardiac arrest, and subsequently did not attempt to resuscitate her.[46]
New Jersey – License Suspended in Bi-State Abortions, Planned Parenthood Sex-Trafficking Scandal
2011
  • Planned Parenthood in Mercer County, NJ was inspected and found to be in non-compliance with safety regulations.
    • The state Board of Health found several violations including: improper use of syringes and compounds, improper training and qualifications of staff on pain management and health care counseling (including abortion services), failure to have infection control program in place, failure to require physical exam for staff, failure to test staff for rubella and TB, improper use and sterilization of medical instruments and devices, including a vaginal ultrasound, failure to maintain hot running water in patient care areas, and many more.[47]
    • In February of 2011, an employee of Planned Parenthood of Central Jersey, in Perth Amboy, NJ, was caught on videotape by Live Action aiding and abetting an undercover investigator posing as a sex trafficker of minor girls as young as 13.
      • Amy Woodruff referred the alleged pimp and prostitute to the Metropolitan Medical Association if ever in need of an abortion where “their protocols aren’t as strict as ours and they don’t get audited the same way that we do.”[48]
      • When asked how long after the abortion until the girls can engage in sex again, Woodruff says “minimum of 2 weeks.” When asked what the girls could do to make money, Woodruff advises, “Waist up, or just be that extra action walking by.”[49]  
      • Woodruff was fired after Live Action’s investigation became public.[50]
2010
  • Steven Chase Brigham, who has operated facilities in Maryland, loses his only remaining medical license when the New Jersey Board of Medical Examiners suspends it, calling him “a clear and imminent danger to public health.”
    • In 1996, New Jersey regulators try to revoke Brigham's license for botching bi-state abortions. An administrative judge reinstates the license.[51]
2007
  • Metropolitan Medical Associates in Englewood, NJ, a late term abortion clinic, was shut down for botching an abortion and almost killing a woman.  When the state went in, they found filthy and unsanitary conditions and shut down the clinic. It later reopened.[52]
West Virginia- Abortionist Forcibly Aborts, Leave Fetal Remains Inside Mother
2013
  • Itai Gravely, a 26-year-old woman, filed suit against the Women’s Health Center of West Virginia and abortionist Rodney Lee Stephens after Stephens allegedly forced Ms. Gravely to proceed with an abortion against her will and then left her dead baby’s head inside her womb.[53]
    • Ms. Gravely changed her mind about the abortion after adequate anesthesia could not be administered.
      • Dr. Stephens ordered clinic workers to physically restrain Ms. Gravely as he proceeded with the abortion.
      • The next day, Ms. Gravely was rushed to the emergency room where it was discovered that dismembered body parts, including the head of her child, had been left in her womb.
North Carolina – Dead Insects, Dirty Instruments and Improper Drug Use
2013
  • On July 31, the FemCare abortion clinic was cited for 23 violations, including a lack of weekly checks on emergency medical equipment and poorly maintained anesthesia equipment.[54]
  • On July 5, the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services ordered The Baker Clinic for Women, an abortion clinic in Durham, to close after finding safety violations.
  • The clinic failed to ensure quality control was performed in blood banking and also failed to perform quality control testing on 108 patients that received Rhesus testing.
  • On May 13, 2013, A Preferred Women's Health Center abortion clinic in Charlotte was closed after state officials revoked its license to operate on May 10, calling it emergency action to address "an imminent threat to the health and safety of patients."[55]
  • Previously last December, inspectors from the N.C. Dept. of Health and Human Services found dead insects, blood splatters and dirty surgical instruments inside the abortion facility.[56]
  • This time, they found that the facility was improperly administering chemical abortions and improperly examining post-abortive women before they were discharged from surgery. Women were being told to drink methotrexate, originally a chemotherapy drug now also used to abort a baby at less than 9 weeks gestation, when it is supposed to be administered by injection.[57]
Illinois – The Death of Tonya Reaves
2012
  • On July 20, 24-year-old Tonya Reaves died following a second-trimester abortion at a Chicago Planned Parenthood.[58]
  • Autopsy results reveal that Ms. Reaves died as a result of a hemorrhage following a botched surgical abortion.  The autopsy reported that she was a healthy woman at the time of her abortion but that she suffered an “extensive” perforation of her broad uterine ligament with a possible severing of her left uterine artery as a result of the abortion procedure.[59]
  • The autopsy also revealed that the abortion was incomplete as the medical examiner discovered that pieces of placenta had been left attached to her womb, despite the dilation and evacuation (D & E) abortion performed by Planned Parenthood.  Reports indicate that Planned Parenthood ignored instructions by an emergency dispatcher to call 911.[60]
Michigan – Decrepit Clinics Shut Down, Criminal Abortionist Covered by Board of Medicine
2013
  • In August 2013, Flint’s Feminine Health Care Clinic closed for unspecified reasons.
  • This is nearly three years after the lawsuit a patient filed against the doctor and his assist at the facility[61] for forcing her to have an abortion after she changed her mind.
  • A 20-year-old woman, Caitlin Bruce, alleges that Dr. Alberto Hodari of the Feminine Health Care clinic in Flint performed an abortion on her even though she screamed for him to stop[62].
    • Ms. Bruce claims that she told him to stop that she didn’t want to have the abortion anymore[63].
    • Ms. Bruce asserts she was held down and her mouth was covered by a staff member.
  • In January 2013, an abortion clinic in Muskegon, MI was shut down by the fire marshal over conditions the city described as potentially “dangerous to human life or the public welfare.”[64]
  • Dr. Robert Alexander’s abortion clinic was closed after police discovered "filthy" and unsanitary conditions throughout the clinic, including “blood on the floor and walls in multiple locations.”[65]
    • Photos taken by the police reveal unsanitary conditions, including stained medical equipment near an examination chair, trash near lab equipment and discarded in a storage room, and water stains and holes in a leaky ceiling.  The investigator also reported “blood dripping from a sink p-trap in a room used by patients.”[66]
    • Other violations noted in the fire marshal’s inspection include improper disposal of syringes and needles, unsterilized medical equipment, as well as the “dumping of chemicals and other liquids down drains without proper authorization and approvals.”[67]
    • In May, local media reported that in 2009, the Michigan Board of Medicine received a complaint about botched abortions at Alexander’s clinic, including one that ruptured a woman’s uterus, causing bleeding but still resulted in the birth of a live child, but the board did not investigate it.
      • Then Michigan Board Chairman Dr. George Shade Jr., Alexander’s mentor, determined that no investigation was necessary.
      • Dr. Alexander served prison time in the 1990’s for selling illegal prescriptions.[68]
  • Two more clinics (in Livonia and Detroit) were closed in March.  Both clinics were owned and operated by abortionist Dr. Reginald Sharpe. 
    • The Livonia clinic was exposed several years ago for the dumping of fetal remains in a dumpster outside the facility.[69] 
    • Dr. Sharpe’s medical license was suspended in 2005 for performing an abortion beyond 24 weeks.
      • Dr. Sharpe was sued three years later, after his 26-year-old patient died of complications following her abortion.  It was later revealed that the abortion had resulted in the perforation of the woman’s uterus, cut a uterine blood vessel, and lacerated her intestines and liver.[70]
2010
  • In February 2010, the bodies of 17 aborted babies were discovered in a business dumpster outside the WomansChoice abortion clinic near Lansing. Investigations revealed that the owners were Richard and Maggie Remund, owners of another clinic where the bodies of 47 aborted babies were discovered in a dumpster in 1989[71].
    • Additionally, the business dumpster contained medical records, including patient logs with full names and insurance information, bloody surgical material, and used urine specimen cups labeled with the names of the patients.
2009
  • In March 2009, the Board of Medicine found several of the staff (including abortionist Dr. Alberto Hodari) to been negligent in the shocking 2003 death of Regina Johnson and were fined consequently[72].
  • 7 months later, in October, a Bureau of Health Systems inspection found the Womancare of Southfield to be substandard.
    • The clinic was cited for incompliance with state surgical facility standards, including no oxygen available for patients, no emergency call system, and an insufficient recovery room.
    • Between 2007 and 2009, the Bureau of Health Systems cited 3 abortion clinics licensed as free standing surgical facilities (Birth Control Center Inc. in Sterling Heights, Feminine Health Care of Flint, and Womancare of Southfield) for noncompliance with state regulations for surgical facilities regarding the administration and storage of medication.
    • Violations at the Womancare Clinic were found to be especially deplorable during a 2009 inspection[73]. Violations included:
      • No physician’s order for a medication that had been sent home with a patient and no physician signature verifying several other medication orders.
      • Hallway cupboards with medications and an unsecured refrigerator with medications in patient areas where patients are left unattended.
      • Unsecured medications included Ketamine, a controlled substance often sold illegally as a “club drug” and used as a date-rape drug.
      • Narcotics logs were insufficient or nonexistent.
      • In one startling example, at the Birth Control Center Inc. in Sterling Heights, the abortionist Richard Goldfine scrubbed his hands for procedures in a sink which was holding unsterile equipment used for emptying and processing waste and fetal remains.[74]
      • In 2009, a Grand Rapids Ob/Gyn filed an allegation against abortionist Robert Alexander citing his gross negligence in attempting an abortion on a woman who was 26 weeks pregnant[75].
        • The OB/Gyn treated the patient who came into the hospital still pregnant following the incomplete abortion.
        • The patient told the OB/Gyn that Dr. Alexander’s office had called her multiple times to offer her a refund of the abortion fee, plus an additional $200.
        • The woman did not accept and retained an attorney.
2008
  • It was uncovered in 2008 that abortion clinics in the Detroit area were disposing of biohazard waste and patient records simply by dumping them in common trash receptacles[76].
  • Three locations (WomanCare of Southfield in Lathrup Village, WomanCare in Sterling Heights, and WomanCare of Downriver in Southgate) had bloody surgical material and a total of over 200 patient records in the trash. These patient records included photocopies of drivers’ licenses, insurance forms, and lab reports.
    • The Lathrup Village location had the remains of 18 aborted babies in the trash.
  • At the Woman’s Choice Clinic in Lansing, Dr. Ronald Nichols was in the middle of performing an abortion when he determined the gestational age to be 20 weeks and stopped the procedure, despite already having rupturing the fetal membranes[77].
    • Dr. Nichols advised the patient, who was bleeding and in pain, to drive 80 miles to his Bloomfield Hills abortion clinic to complete procedure.
    • When she refused, Nichols forced her to sign a waiver.
    • Patient drove home and was taken by her family to the hospital where the staff confirmed the rupture of fetal membranes.
    • The patient’s 20.5 week baby died in utero the following day.
    • The Board of Medicine found Nichols to be negligent and incompetent, fined him $10,000, and ordered him to perform 100 hours of community service.
  • At the Womancare Clinic of Southfield, a patient alleges that she received no local anesthesia and tried to stop procedure due to her extreme pain[78].
    • The patient was allegedly held down and female assistant put hand over the patient’s mouth.
Ohio – More Clinic Shutdowns and Staff Failure
2013
  • In July 2013, the Ohio Department of Health closed Capital Care Network for failing to meet state regulations that protect a pregnant woman’s health. [79]
  • The clinic was warned in April of its potential closure after it was discovered to have multiple health and safety violations.
    • During Capital Care’s annual inspection, investigators cited multiple violations under 10 various inspection categories ranging from cleanliness, surgical procedures and staff requirements.[80]
    • Among many violations, the abortion facility failed to perform TB testing, used unqualified and untrained staff, failed to meet sanitary standards and failed to properly keep patient documentation and had dozens of other operational and medical failures.[81]
Louisiana – More Connections to Gosnell
2010
  • In 2010, the Delta Clinic was accused by the Department of Health and Hospitals of failing to ensure the clinic had a “quality assurance program.”
    • The Delta Clinic of Baton Rouge is the former employer of Gosnell employee, Eileen O’Neill, who was also arrested in Philadelphia.[82]  O’Neill was introduced to Gosnell by Delta’s owner, Leroy Brinkley, who also owned Atlantic Women’s Services in Wilmington, Delaware.[83]
    • The report indicated that the clinic did not provide women adequate protections for their privacy and did not monitor patients receiving sedation “regarding their cardiac status, respiratory status and level of consciousness during the medical procedure.”[84]
Texas – Worse than Kermit Gosnell, Barbaric Photographic Evidence of Abortion’s Brutality
2013
  • In Austin, Texas, on August 14, 2013, a patient is rushed into an ambulance from the Planned Parenthood abortion clinic.
  • This is the eighth known medical emergency incident requiring ambulance transport since the 78,000 sq. ft. abortion facility opened in May, 2010.[85]
  • In May, Operation Rescue released a report revealing that 3 former staff members of the Aaron Women’s Clinic in Houston had come forward with evidence of horrific late term abortions conducted by abortionist Douglas Karpen[86].
  • The informants provided photographic evidence (taken on their cell phones) of illegal late-term abortions[87].
  • The photos depicted two babies aborted well beyond the legal limit of 24 weeks in Texas. Their necks had been cut.  The physical condition of the babies reveals that it is likely that the babies had already been born when they killed.
  • Testimony from the former workers indicates that Dr. Karpen was committing both very late term abortions and infanticide.  Patients would be administered doses of Cytotec, a drug that causes strong and unpredictable uterine contractions, to induce labor and then the abortion would take place.
  • “When he did an abortion, especially an over 20 week abortion, most of the time the fetus would come completely out before he cut the spinal cord or he introduced one of the instruments into the soft spot of the fetus, in order to kill the fetus,” stated former surgical assistant Deborah Edge.  According to Edge, babies born alive were a common occurrence.
    • According to Edge, sometimes Karpen would kill the babies by “twisting the head off the neck.”
    • The whistle blowers also contend that numerous other abuses took place at Aaron Women’s Clinic including:
      • Falsification of ultrasounds to produce younger fetal ages of babies over the legal limit or older fetal ages to extract more money out of women.
      • Fraudulent billing practices.
      • Surgical equipment not properly sterilized and reuse of disposable instruments.
      • Unqualified workers drawing and administering drugs.
      • Hiring nurses through a temp agency to work only on days when inspections are scheduled.
      • Mistreating and inappropriately touching women while under sedation.
      • Sexual harassment.
      • The Harris County District Attorney’s office has announced that they are currently investigating the matter[88].
  • Records obtained by Texas Right to Life[89] reveal that 14 Texas abortion clinics have been cited for serious health violations between July 2011 - 2012. Violations included:
    • Unsecured, open vials and unlabeled syringes were stored throughout abortion facilities.
    • Methotrexate, a dangerous drug used for abortion, was left open, unsecured, and unlocked in a room, in violation of state and federal law. 
    • Instrument packages in a treatment room had broken sterile seals and vials containing Lidocaine were not sterile. 
    • Patient records indicating that patients were released without vital signs being taken.
    • Expired equipment and medications being used.
2011
  • The Texas Commission of Environmental Quality (TCEQ) found in June that Whole Women’s Health of Austin abortion had improperly disposed of fetuses[90][91].
    • The clinic had sent the aborted babies to a medical waste contractor, which subjected them to steam disinfection along with other medical waste generated at the facility. The contractor then sent the waste to a landfill.
    • The law forbids human body parts, fetuses or products of abortions from being disposed of in landfills.
  • TCEQ cited Whole Women’s Health in McAllen, TX in September 2011 for the improper disposal of human remains after the discovery of unborn babies in dumpsters outside the clinic[92].
    • Private medical records were also discovered in the dumpsters.
Arizona – Abortionist convicted of Sexual Abuse and Inappropriate Conduct
2003
  • Dr. Brian Finkel was convicted on 22 counts of sexually abusing patients over 17 years. During Finkel's three-month trial, a parade of victims told of sexual abuse that included twisting their nipples, kissing them or fondling them inappropriately during exams.
  • Finkel performed more than 30,000 abortions over the past 20 years and was a national figure in the 1990s through his frequent appearances on network talk shows.[93]

Florida – Late-Term Abortionist Who Has Failed to Protect Babies Born Alive Continues to Operate
2013
  • The Florida Board of Medicine indefinitely suspended the medical license of late-term abortionist James Scott Pendergraft, and closed one of his Orlando abortion clinics.
    • After merely paying a fine, Pendergraft re-opened his abortion clinic performs abortions seven days a week. [94]
2011
  • Pendergraft owns five late-term abortion clinics in Florida and had his medical license suspended five times for repeated botched abortions.[95]
    • Pendergraft's medical license is also suspended in Virginia, and expired in Maryland and the District of Columbia.[96]
    • In July 2011, Pendergraft, who has also been convicted of “attempted extortion …mail fraud ... conspiracy to commit extortion, mail-fraud, and perjury[97],” was party to a lawsuit in which the jury awarded a plaintiff $36.7 million. The lawsuit stemmed from a 2001 botched abortion in which a baby girl was born alive and has suffered lifelong handicaps.[98]
    • He employs abortionists throughout the state of Florida who do late-term abortions that can exceed $2000.
      • These abortions are taking place even while his license is under suspension.[99]
      • Pendergraft’s associate, Randall Whitney has testified that babies have been born alive and delivered in the toilet all the time and many times are “still alive, wiggling around in the toilet.”[100]
2005
  • WORLD Magazine reported that an abortion at one of Pendergraft’s clinics resulted in a woman giving birth to a “live pre-term baby” who died “after abortion workers refused to render aid or call for emergency help.”[101]
    • The woman saw her baby curl up as though cold, then “screamed for clinic workers to call 911”. When they wouldn’t a friend of the woman who had undergone the abortion called 911 on her cell phone.[102]
Alabama- Botched Abortions and Clinics Operating Illegally
2013
  • On August 8, 2013, New Women All Women Health Care, located in Birmingham Alabama, was dealt a permanent injunction after the Alabama Department of Public Health filed a law suit, claiming abortionists, Diane Deriz and Bruce Norman, did not have the necessary licensing to operate the Birmingham abortion clinic.[103]
2012
  • In January 2012 in Birmingham, New Woman All Women abortion facility sent three women with botched abortions to the hospital[104].  Paramedics had to hand-lift a partially clad woman from a narrow doorway and down several steps to an awaiting gurney because New Woman All Women did not have a gurney-accessible entrance.  
    • The Alabama Department of Public Health issued a 76-page deficiency report[105], citing, among other violations:
      • Clinic staff was not properly trained to provide safe quality patient care.
      • Failure to have policy and procedures related to medication errors and the administration of medications. This resulted in the hospitalization of three abortion patients on January 21, 2012, with one patient placed in ICU.
      • There was no documentation that the two abortionists employed by Derzis were even qualified to do abortions.
      • Abortionists made illegible notations on patient charts that made determining critical information about patient care impossible. In several cases, the abortionist’s notes about patient care and/or condition were completely false.
      • Lack of documentation of medications administered.
      • Inaccurate preparation and administration drugs resulting in overdoses or inadequate pain management.
      • Use of equipment with inspection dates from 2007 or no inspection date at all.
      • Failure of on-call nurse to return patient calls, document correct dates on reports, or notify the physician of patient problems.
      • In April 2012, the health department announced that New Woman All Women had been ordered to surrender its license by no later than May 18, 2012, noting that the Alabama Department of Public Health “performed a comprehensive investigation of New Woman All Women Health Care in Birmingham in response to a complaint received in January 2012.
        • This investigation revealed significant failures in maintaining compliance with the Rules of the Alabama State Board of Health for the safe and effective provision of care[106].”
        • New Woman All Women illegally re-opened in March,[107] despite the state’s denial of its two applications to reopen for business on August 27, 2012 and September 17, 2012. 
          • On March 19, 2013, the Alabama Department of Public Health announced that it was conducting an investigation into whether New Woman All Women was operating as an unlicensed abortion/reproductive health center[108]. 
          • On March 26, 2013, the state sued to shut down New Woman All Women, saying that the facility was acting as an abortion provider without a license.
            • On May 31, 2013, New Woman All Women owner Diane Derzis withdrew her motion to dismiss the case, which had argued that the Alabama Department of Public Health had no jurisdiction to enforce health and safety regulations[109].
            • A hearing is set for August 5, 2013[110].
  • In 2012, Roberta Clark filed charges against Planned Parenthood for negligence for a botched abortion after the abortionist failed to diagnose her tubal pregnancy, which ruptured 25 days later and required emergency surgery.  Clark is now infertile[111].
    • “Clark was given a suction abortion, after which she continued to complain of nausea, vomiting, and pelvic pain. The pathology report that indicated no fetal parts were identified in the tissue specimen that had been submitted for inspection that same day. Clark was not informed of this nor is there a record of her receiving any follow-up care from [abortionist] Umoren or Planned Parenthood[112].”
    • In Tuscaloosa, the Alabama Department of Public Health found that the West Alabama Women’s Center failed to meet its own sterility standards for hand washing, glove usage, cleaning of supplies, and safe use of sharps containers.  The deficiency report also noted that needles lay on the floor[113].
      • Alabama state health inspectors found that Alabama Women’s Center for Reproductive Alternatives in Huntsville did not clean exam tables between abortions, dispensed expired medication, and failed to comply with state informed consent laws[114].
Mississippi- Woman Sent to Hospital after Judge Blocks Safety Standards  
2013
  • On August 23, 2013, after it was discovered to fall short of state and health and safety regulations, Jackson’s Women’s Health  Organization has since then been presented with an appeal.[115]
  • On August 7, 2013 abortionist Bruce Elliot Norman of the Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the last open abortion clinic in Mississippi, sent a woman to the hospital. This clinic remains open after a judge blocked a law that would have ensured continuity of care for abortion patients in the event of a medical emergency.
    • Ironically, clinic owner Diane Derzis and Norman were in court on August 5 for a suit filed by the Alabama Department of Public Health alleging that they were operating an illegal, unlicensed abortion clinic in Birmingham.[116]
Missouri- More Medical Emergencies as a result of patients visiting PlannedParenthood
2013
  • August 21st, 2013, a patient from a Planned Parenthood clinic was rushed to a local hospital. This was the 19threcorded medical emergency documented by Operation at this particular Planned Parenthood abortion clinic since 2009.

[37] Ask for PDF file
[42] Ask for PDF file
[74] Michigan Department of Community Heath, Statement of Deficiencies, Birth Control Center, Inc., November 08, 2007, Pg. 3
[75] Allegation filed by unknown OB/Gyn with the Bureau of Health Professions, June 12, 2009, File No. 43-112676 
[77] In the Matter of Ronald A. Nichols, M.D., File No. 43-08-109430. Complaint, Paragraph 13. 
[78] Allegation filed with the Bureau of Health Professions, August 18, 2008, File No. 43-08-109481. Hospital records obtained by RLM. 
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Sunday, May 12, 2013

Created Equal

A clever multi-field science fellow noted the non-verbal components of human interaction ... and taught a robot how to do them!

The eyebrow lift and forward lean that means interest, the cross-torso arm movements that defends against.  The robot was a winner in experiments with people; they felt like it really understood ...

Beyond that, others have experimented with robot detection and response to those human expressions, even learning from them.  That's a robot learning(!!!) from human expression and discovering acceptable behavior in the social context illuminated from the expressions only!   What a fascinating opportunity for a foray into the unknown.


Intriguing questions emerge about the significance of artificial intelligence and how it compares to its human counterpart.
Will we eventually create our equals?
Robots are programmed, of course.  Humans are programmed as well after a fashion.
In us, there are the programmed basics of breathing and heartbeat; things that are built in before birth that we don't have to learn.  Then there are things we learn over time (we're being programmed?) like skills and facts and behavioral norms.  Some are difficult things to learn like grammar or roller skating or driving a car, but once acquired they require little thought.
Are we all directed along rigid lines by the past, programming over which we have had no control?  Or is there in humans a different element than what might be possible in a machine?
The relevant question for which science currently has no adequate answer involves the nature of our mind as a computational center. Does it function according to programming?  
    Of course.  
Does that therefore suggest that we are on a fixed path according to our programming?
     Of course.
Are we then safe in assuming we have neither choice nor free will to choose against our programming.
     That would be the only logical follow-on, and in its narrowness and implications, it's a bit troublesome.  
As we observe our own minds, we are each persuaded we have a choice.  I will or I won't.  I should because ..., so....
We recognize the limits of our culture, our education, and our own sensibilities, but we're still persuaded that within those real constraints, we can choose.

If we are programmed and without choice, we have no culpability in any harm we might do.  Neither do we have any claim to virtue in the good we might do.

The question of free will ... ranks amongst the three or four most important philosophical problems of all time.

It ramifies into ethics, theology, metaphysics, and psychology. The view adopted in response to it will determine a man's position in regard to the most momentous issues that present themselves to the human mind. On the one hand, does man possess genuine moral freedom, power of real choice, true ability to determine the course of his thoughts and volitions, to decide which motives shall prevail within his mind, to modify and mould his own character? Or, on the other, are man's thoughts and volitions, his character and external actions, all merely the inevitable outcome of his circumstances? Are they all inexorably predetermined in every detail along rigid lines by events of the past, over which he himself has had no sort of control? This is the real import of the free-will problem.
 ~NewAdvent.Org
  
From Free Will by Sam Harris
A belief in free will touches everything that human beings value. It is difficult to think about law, politics, religion, public policy, intimate relationships, morality - as well as feelings of remorse or personal achievement - without first imagining that every person is the true source of his or her thoughts and actions. Yet science today suggests that free will is an illusion.

Will we eventually create our equals?  Or is there something about humanity that isn't programmable? The immediate future will not likely provide us an answer that resolves the debate.  The diverse positions among scientists, philosophers, and the general public suggest many hold positions of preference rather than of evidence and objective reasoning.  Serious inquiry elicits emotional intensity and fear on many fronts.  Soon though; soon.  We'll need to understand our own position in the melee.

Curious what scholars say on the subject?
Here's the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy on the free will.


... do you have moral freedom, the power to choose? Can you choose the course of your thoughts? Can you decide which motives will prevail within your mind?  Can you deliberately modify and mould your own character?
Good news; we can.  Of course.
There are many things for which science
 has as yet no explanation. From art to music
to love and the unplumbed depths of
nonverbal content, little insight is
 offered by the supposed
computation process.

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Thursday, May 9, 2013

Engulfed in Flames


Beginning with Louis XIV, France is the European superpower. Embarking on a series of wars that overextended their resources, the thousand-year old kingdom of France is in financial trouble. Tax revenues are inadequate to cover the cost. How did they solve the problem?

With the highest national tax rate among the countries of Europe at the time, France still spent half of the budget servicing their debt.



 The king's advisers were fired, one after another, for recommending an equitable tax reform. Finally with the king's consent, the controller general of finance, Charles de Calonne, recommended France begin taxing the previously exempt nobility. The nobility refused, even after Calonne pleaded with them during the Assembly of Notables in 1787. None of the wealthy were willing step up and pay their share of the cost to have a governed country.



In desperation, the king called for a meeting of the ancient Estates-General whom he hoped would resolve the national crisis. The 'three estates' were the aristocracy, the clergy, and everybody else, the first two being tax exempt, and each estate having but one vote.

 How did they solve the problem?  They didn't, and it didn't work out well for them.  As the wealthy isolated themselves in luxury, they were engulfed in the flames of revolution in 1789.
 
King Louis XV's comment, après moi le déluge, ("After me, the deluge,") predicting the revolution to come.  It was both visible and avoidable, but without change it was inevitable.

The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed within three years. French society was shattered; class-based privilege evaporated as persistent masses in the streets and peasants in the countryside fought back.  The death toll: 16,594 were executed by guillotine, and 25,000 more summarily executed across the country.  The monarchy, aristocracy, and religious leaders were summarily cast aside to eventually be replaced by new principles of liberté, égalité, fraternité  (liberty, equality, and brotherhood).  Referred to as, "The Reign of Terror," it was not a peaceful transition.  More than a century would pass with the country in upheaval and war.

 So, the lesson of history...

The government favored the wealthy, and working folks carried the burden.

None of the wealthy were willing to pay their share of the cost.  Instead they rode on the back of the working class, and the country went down the drain.  

So the 99% got angry over unequal treatment and they fought for change.  The country fell apart and they spent decades rebuilding it from scratch.  

Is that the lesson?  Nah, couldn't be.  Congress would tell us if it was.  They're smart, and they watch out for us regular folks and for our country.



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Saturday, May 4, 2013

Gabby Douglas and her hair!




 



Stunning!  Absolutely perfect.  Breathtaking!  Extraordinary precision and power. 

All are descriptors a serious gymnast might deeply appreciate.  After years of preparation for which there is no adequate description of the demands and sacrifice, sixteen year-old Gabby Douglas exploded onto the international stage as a champion.  She thrilled the world! 


A side-conversation erupted almost immediately on twitter and elsewhere even before the competition was over.  Criticism of her hair was rather wide-spread.  Her hair?  Thousands, then tens of thousands of comments about her hair.

As a guy, to me this makes no sense at all.  She's in a high-intensity physical routine, and her hair just needs to stay out of the way.  Guys like me don't care or even notice such things beyond the 'out of the way' requirement.  Apparently, though, it was a matter of some concern to others.
Interestingly, some of the roots for such comments are perhaps traceable.
"..., the insecurities that would lead a middle-aged black woman to hiss her teeth at the thought of a black female Olympian with less-than magnificent hair became so easy to understand. 

They are the same insecurities that cause my (usually very enlightened) mother to act like a wrinkled shirt is the end of the world. She doesn't want me to go out in the world (read: in front of white people) looking messy. Not only does she want me to perform well, she wants me to look good doing it – to leave no room for the criticism that she feared growing up in the 1960’s."
Suddenly, I remember.  I grew up white through the 50's and 60's.  I remember those years fondly until I remember the 'white' and 'colored' water fountains at the store.  The "criticism that she feared" was all too present.

Curious how many generations it takes to get beyond such a wicked root?  All from the thought that one person might somehow be above another just because of color or race or class.

You've spoken of being the target of bullying and racism in your gym in Virginia and also growing up. How did you deal with that?
"It was a long time ago. It was very painful to be made fun of, but I have a forgiving heart, I forgive them, and I've moved past that."

 Gabby Douglas and her Olympic championship are all the more spectacular;  I smile as I think about it.  We're so proud of her, of her family, of her community, and of her nation as it continues to progress.  
She's more than a champion.  She's an inspiration and role model and the leading edge of the good for which we all hope.  Thanks, Gabby.

 Now there are no longer insiders and outsiders, upper and lower, black or white or brown or whatever, just the one human race, thank you Father.

 UPDATE:  Summer Olympics 2016, she's still incredible and shines brightly among the many she's inspired.
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Thursday, May 2, 2013

The Grocery Bill


The thrifty plan for a family of four is $146 a week, according to this month's USDA report.  A liberal plan is calculated to be $289.  The numbers are generated as a baseline for determining food assistance levels.

At the beachfront, fishermen bring in their catch of small fish.  
The larger fish are rare these days having been depleted by
 wealthy countries fishing illegally in African waters.
Breadfruit; tastes like a
foam-rubber pillow, but
it's a staple.
In most of the world, that much money would be such a blessing.  For 80% of humanity, the typical family will have a total income that's too small to cover the thrifty plan.

An income of $65 per month is common, and food is not inexpensive.  The all too common result is malnourished children and hungry families.

The pictures here are from a more fortunate country; the climate is tropical and the land is fertile.  For much of sub-Saharan Africa, it's more difficult.
The capital city's marketplace 

The commonly low income isn't due to a lack of effort. Most folks work harder and longer hours than folks in the developed world. Chores for children occupy a portion of every day and often conflict with school. Even places that have clean water still require someone to carry it to the house.

Most folks live simply, most often in houses they build themselves.  Their hope is for staying healthy and feeding their children.  Both are increasingly difficult tasks in a now-global economy dominated by billion-dollar plays in the international finance market.  The price they pay for corn meal is determined in Chicago, New York, and London financial districts.

There are reasons to be thankful if you're living in the developed world, and there are opportunities to be a help-bringer here and elsewhere.  Ask.


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