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Kermit Gosnell Associate
Has License Suspended By Dave Andrusko Two more physicians who worked with Kermit Gosnell have been caught up in the legal web that ensnared the 70-year-old abortionist charged with eight counts of murder. Writing in the (Delaware) News Journal, Jonathan Starkey reports that the State Department and the state Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline pulled the license of Arturo Apolinario on Friday. Apolinario has worked as the medical director of Atlantic Women’s Medical Services’ abortion clinic which is located in Wilmington, Delaware. The attorney general’s office initial request for an emergency suspension failed to meet the standard of “clear and immediate danger,” according to the Board, but after the office filed an amended complaint on March 5, the Board agreed, meaning that pending a hearing, Apolinario will not be allowed to practice medicine. "The Attorney General provides compelling reasons to suspend immediately the license of Dr. Apolinario to protect the public health," said Delaware Secretary of State Jeffery Bullock in a statement. "This new complaint clearly demonstrates that there is a significant link between Dr. Apolinario and Dr. Kermit Gosnell. Dr. Apolinario failed to adequately perform his duties as medical director, permitting Dr. Gosnell to engage in illegal and unethical behavior under his supervision and, ultimately, putting patients at grave risk.” The complaint stated, according to Starkey, that while working as medical director of the Atlantic Women’s Medical Services’ clinic, he should have known that “Gosnell would routinely begin illegal late-term abortions at Atlantic, then transfer the patients a day, or days, later to his West Philadelphia office.” Apolinario participated in the transfers, the complaint said, “and should have known the dangers that were posed to patients.” Those dangers included “deplorable conditions, substandard patient care, and improper administration of drugs.” “The complaint states that Apolinario failed to take any reasonable steps to stop Gosnell from removing or destroying reports and willfully disregarded his legal duty to report Gosnell's unprofessional conduct,” according to the Newark Post. "Physicians have a legal and ethical responsibility to report unprofessional conduct by other physicians," said Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline President Moore. "In this situation, not only did Dr. Apolinario fail to report Dr. Gosnell's conduct but, as the medical and laboratory director of the Wilmington clinic, he allowed such activity to continue.” Earlier this month, state officials also suspended Albert Dworkin's license. Dworkin was allegedly the obstetrician of record at the Gosnell's West Philadelphia clinic. Please send your comments to daveandrusko@gmail.com. If you like, join those who are following me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/daveha. |