Haskell, the PBA pioneer, is unlicensed, and NAF seems okay with that

Pro-Life Law Firm Works to Shut the Doors on Illegal Abortion Center in Ohio (italics mine)

On Friday, February 29, ... the Thomas More Society, will reveal in a press conference that the Ohio Department of Health has revoked the license of the Women's Medical Center in Dayton, Ohio on February 14, 2008. This abortion facility, the last in Dayton, is owned and operated by Dr. Martin Haskell, nationally known for his pioneering and promotion of the partial birth abortion method. Despite having its license revoked, the facility is still in operation illegally. The Thomas More Society is preparing a Citizens Action Lawsuit to ask the courts to close the center if it continues to operate in violation of state laws. ....

Haskell's abortion facility performs approximately 2,600 abortions annually and has not been able to comply with Ohio's requirement that clinics not within a hospital must have a hospital transfer agreement to properly care for patients who are injured during abortions. This legal requirement applies to all free-standing surgical facilities in Ohio, not just abortion facilities. Dr. Haskell tried unsuccessfully to obtain an agreement; however because he is not an OB-GYN and does not have admitting privileges at any Dayton-area hospitals he was denied.

....

Haskell has been fighting state officials since 1999, when it was first discovered by a routine records search that he was operating without a license. Dr. Haskell brought his case before state and federal trial and appeals courts as well as state agencies and has repeatedly lost his bid to evade licensing and compliance with Ohio law. ....

Note: Despite not being licensed by the state, despite not having admitting privileges at a hospital, this abortion mill still manages to be a member of the National Abortion Federation. Check their "provider" search page.



Elsewhere on NAF's web site, they guide you through how to find a high-quality abortionist. The number one question on their list is, "Is the provider licensed by the state?" In the case of at least this member, the answer is a resounding "NO!" And it has been "NO!" since at least 1999.

Further down the page, NAF assures visitors:

In order to become a member, a clinic must complete a rigorous application process. Member clinics have agreed to comply with our standards for quality and care, updated annually in our Clinical Policy Guidelines, which set the evidence-based standards for abortion care in North America. NAF periodically conducts site visits to confirm that our clinics are in compliance with our guidelines.

Here's where it gets really interesting: I went through the Clinical Policy Guidelines, and didn't find anyplace a requirement, or even a recommendation, that the facility be licensed the the state. Ditto for any requirement or recommendation that the physician have hospital admitting privileges. So I guess operating illegally, and just shipping her off to the emergency room and foisting off her care on whoever is on duty there, fit in with how NAF does things.

I also didn't notice -- though I didn't read through very thoroughly so I might have missed it -- any requirement that transfers be done by ambulance, or that the patient's condition be adequately relayed to the hospital staff.

Does anybody else find this creepy at best?

While we're on the topic of Haskell, here are summaries from my notes on him:

HASKELL, Dr. (William Mudd) Martin

A deposition regarding Marty Lynn R. has Haskell admitting that at his facility, pregnancy tests are performed "Most times, but not necessarily," prior to an abortion. Haskell admitted failure to perform differential diagnosis for a presenting problem of post-abortion tenderness, chills, and fever. In Marty Lynn's case, he said, he performed an exam, then administered antibiotics. (Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas Case No. 92-2709; American Medical News 7-5-93)

Medical news story reports he says most of the abortions he does are done for reasons other than medical indications, and that his qualms about third-trimester abortions are "only for technical reasons, not for emotional reasons of fetal development." A news article indicated that a witness who allegedly observed 17 other procedures told police that one infant girl of 21 or 22 weeks gestation had emerged alive before the procedure had been completed, and survived approximately 20 minutes on September 21, 1989. The police did not prosecute because it was the student observer's word against Haskell's. Haskel claimed that her complaint was a personal attack because he does abortions. The student responded, "I don't want this to sound like I'm a freak antiabortionist. I don't want to sound like a radical," but said that she had gotten permission to observe abortions because she thought she would like to be nurse or doctor specializing in abortions. (Associated Press 12-11-89)

Pamela F. alleged that she underwent an abortion February 29, 1988, at The Women's Center, Cincinnati. She faulted Haskell with negligence resulting in missed or septic abortion requiring hospitalization and incursion of large medical bills. (Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas Case No. A8901734)

Tena C. alleged that she underwent an abortion by Haskell at Women's Center, Cincinnati, October 7, 1977. She faulted Haskell with failure to take a proper medical history, failure to provide informed consent, failure to make a proper diagnosis, performing a negligent abortion procedure, and failure to advise her of proper post-operative instructions. These shortcomings, she said resulting in pain, emotional distress, and permanent injury. A deposition in this case indicates retained fetal parts, a tear in Tena's uterus and bladder, infection, sepsis, and medical bills in excess of $7000. Tena settled out of court. Haskell admitted in a deposition regarding that Tena's questions were answered by the receptionist, not by a doctor. Haskell described his receptionist as "a lay person that has had some experience in the methods we follow at the Women's Center."(Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas Case No. A7802715)

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Anniversary: Planned Parenthood patient bleeds to death after abortion

Diana Lopez, age 25, was 19 weeks pregnant when she went to a Planned Parenthood for an abortion on February 28, 2002. She was 19 weeks pregnant. Before the day was over, Diana had bled to death. She left two sons, 4-year-old Frankie and 2-year-old Fabian, motherless. The taxpayers of California paid for the fatal abortion, courtesy of Medi-Cal.

After the abortion, Diana had been rushed by ambulance to County Women‘s Hospital, where a hysterectomy was performed and Diana was given five units of whole blood in a futile attempt to save her life. The autopsy noted that Diana had hemorrhaged from a perforation of her cervix. Diana‘s husband, David, filed suit, alleging that the abortionist‘s haste caused severe lacerations that killed his wife. The suit says that Diana‘s abortion was rushed through in ony six minutes, although Planned Parenthood‘s own web site says such a procedure should take 10 to 20 minutes. The lawsuit also blames Planned Parenthood for proceeding with an abortion even though her hemoglobin levels were abnormally low prior to the procedure.

The family‘s attorney also noted that in 2000, the same Planned Parenthood rushed another woman though a similar 6-minute abortion, lacerating the patient‘s cervix, rupturing her uterus, perforating her sigmoid colon and causing the loss of 2 liters of blood. Planned Parenthood also delayed three hours before transferring the patient to a hospital. Fortunately, this patient survived her ordeal. A review of Los Angeles County civil cases indicates that this patient was probably Kimberly Thomas, who sued on April 19, 2002, after her abortion by Joseph Marmet. Kimberly‘s suit was one of roughly 50 filed against the Los Angeles Planned Parenthood from 1983 to 2002. The medical board took no action against Marmet.

The medical board took no action against Diana‘s abortionist, Dr. Mark Maltzer, either. However, the California Department of Health Services investigated the facility and cited Planned Parenthood for (links are to cases with similar issues at Planned Parenthood):

• Failing to institute a necessary change in medical protocol relating to the use of laminaria (used to expand the cervix) in the dilation and evacuation procedure.
  
• Lacking the evidence to show a completed assessment of the competency and credentials of the physician who carried out the abortion.
  
• Inadequately advising against a potentially dangerous second-trimester D&E procedure based on low hemoglobin levels.
  
• Failing to follow proper surgical abortion policy and procedure by administering Cytotec to the patient on day one of the two-day abortion procedure, when policy requires it to be administered 90 minutes before the abortion procedure.
  
• Failing to inform Planned Parenthood‘s governing body of any adverse outcome related to patient care within the facility.
  
• Failing to notify the Health Department of a patient's death within 24 hours of the occurrence.
  
• Keeping incomplete records describing the services provided to Diana Lopez.

The fact that the Planned Parenthood has made "corrections" to satisfy the state does not satisfy Diana‘s family. "It was wrong. It was wrong," said Judy Lopez, Diana‘s older sister. "She was healthy. She was fine."

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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Anniversary: Planned Parenthood referral proves fatal

Andrea Corey was 31 years old when she died of post-abortion infection on February 28, 1993. Se had been referred by nearby Planned Parenthood to Southern Tier Women's Services in New York for an abortion. Andrea had sent home after her abortion with retained tissue that caused the infection that took her life.

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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Anniversary: Woman killed by safe, legal aboriton in the US Virgin Islands

According to Priests for Life, Diane Adams died from a botched legal abortion on February 28, 1992. They cite a March 5, 1992 article in the Virgin Islands Daily News. They cite one other death, that of Rosael Rodriguez, from that article.

Human Life International mentions that abortionist Angel Acevado Montalvo was charged with manslaughter in two cases of maternal deaths from abortion, then also notes that after his conviction, Montalvo went right back to business doing abortions. Rosael Rodriguez and Diane Adams are most likely the two women referred to by HLI.

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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RIP, WFB

Conservative Writer, Commentator William F. Buckley Jr. Dies at 82

Editor, columnist, novelist, debater, TV talk show star of "Firing Line," harpsichordist, trans-oceanic sailor and even a good-natured loser in a New York mayor's race, Buckley worked at a daunting pace, taking as little as 20 minutes to write a column for his magazine, the National Review.

Yet on the platform he was all handsome, reptilian languor, flexing his imposing vocabulary ever so slowly, accenting each point with an arched brow or rolling tongue and savoring an opponent's discomfort with wide-eyed glee.

....

"Mr. Buckley," one non-fan wrote in 1967, "you are the mouthpiece of that evil rabble that depends on fraud, perjury, dirty tricks, anything at all that suits their purposes. I would trust a snake before I would trust you or anybody you support."

Responded Buckley: "What would you do if I supported the snake?"

I'm confused

I got this from Lifenews.com:

Hotline Founded After Woman's Suicide Now Directs Callers to Abortions

A crisis hotline established after a woman committed suicide following an abortion was meant to help women like her. Now, the suicide prevention phone number is in the hands of a New York City agency that is using it to direct women in crisis pregnancy situations to abortion centers.

Reese Butler established the hotline after his wife Kristin, who suffered from bipolar and borderline personality disorders, committed suicide after she had an abortion.

Her physician presented abortion as the only decision in a complicated pregnancy. After tremendous grief following her death, Butler said he felt god leading him to establish the number for others in crisis.

But when I looked up Kristin Brooks Rossell, I found a bunch of pages saying she committed suicide after postpartum depression.

What's the story here?

Milwaukee teen pregnancies: 71% from statutory rape!

Extreme 'Shock Ads' Disgust Consumers to Make Their Point — and Consumers Are Disgusted

United Way ads showing a little girl's face atop a busty woman's body to fight teen pregnancy and statutory rape created an uproar online that got them yanked before they went to print.

....

The campaign was launched to battle the worrying 71 percent of teen pregnancies in Milwaukee that arise from statutory rape, according to the nonprofit powerhouse.

Yikes! And are these statutory rapes actually reported? Or is the number an estimate based on polls of PP customers?

See the ads here. (They mix the order of the ads in the slideshow; click through to find them.) Personally, I think they're right on-target.

Equally dead. Equally tragic?

On February 27, 1926, 36-year-old Anna Welger died in her home from complications of an abortion performed that day. Theresa Struhala was indicted for felony murder in Anna's death. Struhala's profession is not listed. John Welger, whose relationship to Anna was not disclosed, was booked as an accomplice, but was later released.

"Roseanne" Roe, age 37, died February 27, 1971, in a New York hospital where she had been admitted earlier in the month for a safe, legal saline abortion. Roseanne left four children motherless. She had begun having siezures and vomiting after the abortion was initiated, and had aspirated on the vomit and developed the pneumonia that ended her life.

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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Respect for bodily autonomy?

ABC News has published a Top Ten List of critters that give painful stings or bites or such. The stonefish packs quite a whallop:

"I got spiked on the finger by a stonefish in Australia … never mind a bee sting. … Imagine having each knuckle, then the wrist, elbow and shoulder being hit in turn with a sledgehammer over the course of about an hour. Then about an hour later imagine taking a real kicking to both kidneys for about 45 minutes so that you couldn't stand or straighten up. I was late 20s, pretty fit physically and this was the tiniest of nicks. Got sensation back in my finger after a few days but had recurrent kidney pains periodically for several years afterwards."

The report continues, "Other stories describe sting victims wanting to have their stung limb amputated from their body."

Now, here's the question: If a doctor is at hand, with the capacity to provide the requested amputation, should he:

A. Perform the requested amputation. The patient has a right to make decisions about his body. The patient is in such horrible pain, and it would be cruel and condescending for the doctor to refuse the request.

B. Inform that the pain is self-limiting, and that the desire for amputation will abate when the pain does.

Now, many of you would scoff, saying that patients would realize that the pain is self-limiting and will go away. But what if he didn't?

That's the situation of many women contemplating abortion. Panic and rejection are normal in early pregnancy, often accompanied by the idea that an abortion would be the best way to proceed. But these feelings are normal and typically self-limiting. They go away with time.

Ought not a responsible physician inform the woman requesting abortion that, like the stonefish-stung patient, she is in the throes of something that is self-limiting, that will pass?

Why aren't women told this? Why is the normal ambivalence and rejection of early pregnancy instead treated as some sort of "proof" that the woman is truly unready or unfit to welcome her baby?

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Consumer Culture: Hey, it's all about choice!

Accuracy of gender test kits in question

"I wouldn't have had an abortion, but there are women out there who experience really big disappointment," said Jolene Sodano, a stay-at-home mother in Nazareth, Pa., whose daughter was mistakenly identified as a boy. "They really want to give their husbands the little boy they want, or a little girl, and they will abort based on these results."

Children as a consumer good, redux.

HT: World Magazine Blog

A hard habit to break, I guess

Abortion Practitioner Laurence Reich Arrested for Practicing Without License

This guy was a real piece of work. He surrendered his license in order to halt an investigatio of his sexual abuse of patients. But evidently abortion is a hard habit to break, because he got caught practicing without a license at Bertha Bugarin's string of seedy abortion mills. Bugarin was arrested herself for performing abortions without a license, evidenly when her supply of quacks ran out.

Anniversary: Criminal abortion death in Massachusetts

On February 26, 1924, a woman not named in the Westlaw summary died of septicemia in a Massachusetts hospital. I'll refer to her as "Patsy" Roe. She had been hospitalized since February 11 from complications of an abortion performed on February 6 by Ida Cantor, whose profession I have been unable to determine. A jury found that Ida used improperly sterilized or non-sterile instruments in the abortion.



For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion

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Baldness gene identified: Should we screen and abort?

Gene discovery may lead to new baldness drugs

Researchers have identified a gene linked to hair loss that could lead to new drugs to treat baldness.

The gene is responsible for a rare hereditary form of hair loss known as Hypotrichosis simplex, a condition affecting 1 in 200,000 people, in which people begin going bald in childhood, the researchers reported in the journal Nature Genetics.

Why is it that when they can spot a "bald gene", the talk is about developing a cure, but when they can spot Down syndrome, it's all a search-and-destroy mission?

Surely this premature hair loss is a social and psychological burden for those afflicted. "It's treatable," you may scoff. "Why, you can just wear a wig, if nothing else!"

Yeah, and cleft lip is treatable. It's still used as a justification for abortion. As is polydactyly (having extra fingers or toes). Anything that allows somebody to point at an unborn child and say, "Ew! This one is DIFFERENT!" is grounds for getting out the forceps. Why not a bald gene?

If doctors were pushing for prenatal screening so that the "condition" can be "caught early" and a "termination" scheduled, would we recognize the bigotry? If some university professor told his students that all mothers at risk of having a baby with the baldness gene should be tested as soon as possible, and the affected fetus promptly done away with, would we recognize the bigotry?

Is there any flaw too trivial to be worthy of a search-and-destroy mission to eliminate those who have it?

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Okay, what's up with the numbers here?

I was curious about survival records for babies with anenecphaly. I found First-year mortality and survival among infants with selected congenital anomalies in Texas, 1995 to 1997

Anomalies with the lowest survival were anencephaly (5.13%), trisomy 13 (7.41%), and trisomy 18 (10.29%).

Am I reading this right? Because this looks as if 5% of the babies with anencephaly lived at least one year! This, if it's true, it flies in the face of everything else I've seen.

I wish I had access to the full article, so I could find out more. Another bit of research found that 5% of anencephalic babies lived more than 5 days. So it seems a bit odd that another study would find that same percentage surviving a full year! A study in Singapore found the longest survival to be 16 days.

Prolonged survival of two anencephalic infants. -- "Two infants with anencephaly survived for 7 and 10 months without the need for prolonged assisted mechanical ventilation."

I've been also looking for updates on Marcela de Jesus Galante Ferreira, who survived at least five months and is considered a total miracle. I haven't been able to confirm that she's still alive or that she died.

But everything still points at a 0% 1-year survival rate. This site indicates a 5% one week survival rate, far from a 5% one-year survival rate.

A miracle is born

Fernando Parrado was one of the two young rugby players who made the impossible trip out of the heart of the Andes, to find rescue for their teammates left behind at the site where their plane had crashed ten weeks earlier. The story of the crash, the search, and the survivors has been told in book and film. Those of you who have read the book or seen the film will no doubt remember the moment when Nando stood atop the mountain, where he had expected to find a vista of a green valley, and saw nothing but more mountains.

I long wondered: How did he find any hope to go on? How did he not let despair crush him where he stood? What was it that goaded that half-starved, desperate young man off the mountain to save not only himself, but his friends?

In his new new book, excerpted here, Nando shares the answer. It's on the final page of the excerpt (emphasis mine):

In that moment, all my dreams, assumptions, and expectations evaporated into the thin Andean air. I had always thought life was the natural thing, and death was simply the end of living. Now, in this lifeless place, I saw with terrible clarity that death was the constant, and life was only a short, fragile dream. I felt a sharp and sudden longing for my mother and sister, and for my father, whom I was sure I would never see again. But despite the hopelessness of my situation, the memory of him filled me with joy. It staggered me—the mountains could not crush my ability to love. In that moment, I discovered a simple, astounding secret: Death has an opposite, but it is not mere living. It is not courage or faith or will. The opposite of death is love. How had I missed that? How does anyone miss that? My fears lifted, and I knew that I would not let death control me. I would walk through that godforsaken country with love and hope in my heart. I would walk until I'd walked all the life out of me, and when I fell, I would die that much closer to home.

And listen to an interview with Nando here.


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Anniversary: NAF abortion leaves young woman in fatal coma

On February 24, 1993, 23-year-old Venus Ortiz underwent an abortion of her approximately 15-week pregnancy, evidently performed by a Dr. Leiber, at National Abortion Federation member Eastern Women's Center.



A suit filed on Venus's behalf alleged that there was negligence in administering anesthesia to Venus, and failure to establish an airway. Brevital, fentanyl, and midazolam were administered in dosages and manners contrary to standards of practice, causing Venus to suffer a synergistic reaction.

Eastern's staff failed to promptly diagnose and attend to cardio-pulmonary arrest. Eastern's notes of 5:35 PM indicate "2:35 PM end of surgery ... we noticed patient's ashen color and the pulse oximeter tracing and digital readout were gone from the monitor." Emergency medical services were called. The reading of Venus' blood pressure at that time was 90/55; four minutes later it was recorded as being 146/62.

Venus was transported by ambulance to a hospital, accompanied by Dr. Cyrus, Dr. Goodman, and/or Dr. Jeffrey P. Moskowitz. However, the damage had already been done. Venus was left in permanent need of respirator, with profound brain damage. Venus remained in a coma/vegetative state. She was hospitalized a little over five months before being transferred to permanent nursing home care.

To further underscore Eastern's neglect of patients' needs, the suit also noted that although this was her 4th abortion, Venus had not been referred to a social worker.

Venus remained in a permanent vegetative state for the remainder of her life. She died in New York on December 16, 1998 at the age of 29.

Two other patients, Dawn Ravenelle and Dawn Mack, also died of complications of abortions done at Eastern Women's Center.

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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Yikes! OT - Fire video

This demonstration video illustrates "rollover" or "flashover". The room goes from having a fire in it to being an absolute inferno in a matter of seconds. And no, your eyes aren't playing tricks on you -- the smoke itself catches fire. Moral: Get out of a burning building quickly!


From Living Room To Inferno In Under 2 Minutes - The most amazing home videos are here

Before their time

Organs harvested before their time

Brain death is defined as "irreversible coma with absent brainstem reflexes (such as reactions of the pupils to light and other 'automatic' reflexes)."

Yet, "irreversible" implies that doctors can predict the future of a patient in coma; but medical science hasn't reached this degree of perfection. In newspapers as well as in medical books and journals, I've read about many patients who seemed to be in a permanent coma but who then woke up days, months, or even years after doctors incorrectly make the diagnosis of irreversible coma.

Likewise, "absent brainstem reflexes" simply means that the brainstem isn't working properly and generating electrical impulses. But this can be due to what I would call "sleeping" brain cells. Damage to the cells (for example, from lack of oxygen or nutrients) can make them temporarily too weak to generate nerve impulses or EEG signals. With reversal of the damaging condition, the brain cells often heal and resume normal function.

....

Other diagnostic factors such as "low body temperature (hypothermia), sedative or paralytic medicines, or the presence of severe metabolic disorders . . . might confuse the diagnosis of brain death." according to Doctors Steven Laureys and Joseph J. Fins....

....

In an internet report ... neurologist Lawrence Huntoon, M.D., Ph.D., editor-in-chief of the "Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons" writes, "In plain, straight talk, the survey indicates a high likelihood that some patients are being 'harvested' in some hospitals before they are dead! In hospitals with aggressive transplant programs (hospitals make a huge amount of money on transplant cases), making sure a patient is dead before going to the 'harvesting suite' may be viewed as a minor technicality" (http://www.aapsonline.org/newsoftheday/0010 "Top hospitals typically disregard brain-death guidelines").

....

It's a very good idea to designate an agent for healthcare, to make decisions on your behalf when you're unconscious or aren't able to do so yourself. The International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide (ITF) http://www.internationaltaskforce.org/ has very lucid Advanced Health Care Directive language adapted the meet the requirements of different states.

No law or person should demand the life of an innocent person, under any pretext. Whether a person is unborn, disabled or extremely ill, I believe life is sacred and is our most fundamental right.

Searches: PP petition signer, abortion scars, and Rosie Jimenez

Leslie Geissinger was one of the people who signed the Planned Parenthood petition using a bogus story of a non-existent CPC in a scare campaign and attack on centers that offer women actual help instead of taking their money and scraping them out. Leslie added the comment, "Don't mix health care and political/moral agendas." Well, then you don't want to support Planned Parnthood, because they are a political/(a)moral agenda wrapped up in the illusion of health care.

Abortion scars

Rosie Jimenez is the young Texas woman who believed the abortion lobby and paid with her life.

Two criminal abortion anniversaries, including stupid crook trick

On February 23, 1944, Amelia Cardito, 34-year-old mother of 4, died in a New York hospital from complications of an illegal abortion that had been performed on Valentine's day in the office of Dr. Anthony Renda. Renda, author of three books on obstetrics, may have been a smart doctor, but he was a stupid crook. He implicated himself when he called police to complain that Amelia's widower was shaking him down for funeral expenses. Renda was sentenced to 7 years in Sing-Sing for Amelia's death. Amelia's abortion was typical of pre-legalization abortions in that it was performed by a physician.

On February 23, 1928, 26-year-old Miss Martha Washington died in Chicago from an illegal abortion. The person or persons responsible were never identified or prosecuted.



For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion

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