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Pennsylvania Abortionist
Retires After Scathing Inspection Report By Dave Andrusko There is a reason Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell could be about to go on trial on eight counts of murder: “The Department of Health’s decades-long neglect of its duty to ensure the health and safety of women undergoing medical procedures in abortion clinics is in stark contrast to its policies and practices with respect to procedures performed in other types of health care facilities,” according to the Philadelphia Grand Jury’s 261-page report. In other words, as documented repeatedly in the report, “official neglect that allowed these crimes and conditions to persist for years in a Philadelphia medical facility.” A story in the Associated Press (AP) today details how it doesn’t have to be that way. Just two days after he “received scathing reports and was ordered to suspend performing abortions,” abortionist Soleiman M. Soli said he was closing his two “Abortion as an Alternative Inc. clinics” and retiring. First question: How did the AP learn about this? “The reports were provided to The Associated Press by the office of Gov. Tom Corbett more than a month after state officials disclosed the results of inspections of 22 other Pennsylvania abortion clinics following a January Right-to-Know Law request by the AP,” according to the AP’s Mark Scolforo. So what had they discovered? “Problems at Soli's clinics were found after Pennsylvania regulators renewed long-dormant routine inspections of free-standing abortion clinics around the state in the wake of the investigation into Gosnell and his staff,” Scolforo reported. “Problems” is putting it mildly. Last fall when inspectors from the Department of Health went to Soli’s abortion clinic in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, what they found bore an uncanny resemblance to the many gross inadequacies the Grand Jury documented inspectors found at Gosnell’s Women’s Medical Society abortion clinic in West Philadelphia. For example, “An Oct. 26 inspection report of Soli's Bensalem facility found that drugs and equipment required to resuscitate abortion patients were missing and that it took Soli and a secretary 10 minutes to figure out how to use the clinic's oxygen tank, the mask for which was found covered in dust.” That on top of poor record-keeping (his notes were so illegible that inspectors said it took Soli several minutes to decipher them), drugs whose expiration dates had expired in the 1970s and 1980s, and inadequate or inoperable equipment. The story goes on and on and on with examples. According to inspectors the ultrasound machine, microscope and blood pressure cuffs had not been inspected, certified or calibrated. Outside the Bensalem abortion clinic, tissue from aborted babies was left in unsecured containers for collection "for an undetermined length of time with potential exposure to the public." And did I mention that inspectors reported that Soli kept his lunch in the same refrigerator as the clinic’s drugs? Or that the pipes were exposed in the only bathroom because it lacked ceiling tiles? Or that inspectors said, "Opened, uncapped needles were also observed lying directly on the floor under the cabinet with the identified medications”? The AP story reports that the 73-year-old Soli was ordered to cease to perform abortions at both his clinics and “to file plans of correction.” He chose to retire instead. I need your feedback on both Today's News & Views and National Right to Life News Today. Please send your comments to daveandrusko@gmail.com. If you like, join those who are following me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/daveha. |