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NRL News
Injured
Women Continue to Sue Planned Parenthood Planned Parenthood bills itself as “the nation’s most trusted provider of sexual and reproductive health care.” However, some women are alleging that they have suffered major injuries at PPFA clinics and are suing the nation’s largest abortion chain. (See also the sidebar.) Last August, a 40-year-old Nebraska woman (identified as “Jane Doe”) filed a lawsuit against Planned Parenthood of Nebraska and Council Bluffs and Dr. Meryl Severson. She alleged that the abortionist operating on her at the Lincoln clinic botched the job, causing her to suffer a great deal of pain and requiring her to undergo an emergency hysterectomy at a nearby hospital (Lincoln Journal-Star, 9/1/07). According to her lawsuit, on August 17 the woman was taken into the operating room where Severson began the abortion, even though an ultrasound indicated she had a tilted uterus. Almost immediately after the suction was turned on, the patient felt pressure in her uterus and complained of excruciating pain. She told the staff to stop the abortion, the Lincoln Journal Star reported, but the abortionist said they couldn’t. Three staffers held the woman down while Severson completed the abortion, the lawsuit claimed. After passing out in the recovery area and suffering the first of three seizures, the woman was taken by Lincoln Fire and Rescue to the Bryan LGH Medical Center East, where a physician determined that the woman had experienced a “catastrophic perforation” of the uterus during the abortion. Doctors there performed an emergency hysterectomy because of the “extensive nature of the trauma,” according to documents submitted with the lawsuit. A doctor who signed a summary of the incident said, “Had she not received emergency care when she did, it is my professional opinion that the patient could have hemorrhaged to death,” the newspaper reported. Planned Parenthood of Nebraska told the Associated Press (AP) that the abortion had been performed “with great care” and a lawyer for the group said that the woman had already had an elective abortion and was counseled again about the medical risks (AP, 11/29/07). In the lawsuit, the woman sought $38,850 to cover medical expenses, along with additional compensation for lost wages and for pain and suffering. Settlement of the suit was announced late last month. Because the settlement was confidential, full details were lacking. Planned Parenthood’s attorney did tell the newspapers that the settlement was a compromise and involved no admission of liability or fault (Lincoln Journal Star, 3/28/08). Shortly on the heels of the Nebraska case came word of another lawsuit. This time it was filed against Planned Parenthood’s Washington, D.C., affiliate Shantese Butler, a minor, and her mother Emma Jean Butler assert that the teen suffered “severe, life threatening, life altering and permanent injuries” while under the care of the staff and physician employees of Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington, D.C. (Document 1, Case 1:08-cv-00231-RBW, filed 2/12/08 in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia). The suit alleges that after being raped at age 13, the minor and her mother went to Planned Parenthood’s D.C. clinic for an abortion on September 7, 2006. Less than 24 hours after the abortion, the teen became “very ill” and sought help from the emergency room at Civista Medical Center (La Plata, Maryland) on September 8, presenting with “severe abdominal pain and peritonitis.” A CT scan showed a significant amount of bleeding, prompting emergency surgery, the suit alleges. During the surgery, the suit continues, it was discovered that, “as a direct and proximate result of the termination procedure performed by Defendant,” Shantese Butler had suffered the following injuries: “severe abdominal bleeding, severe vaginal injury, severe injury to the cervix, significant uterine perforation, and a small bowel tear.” The suit also alleges that a “significant portion of the fetus” was found inside the teen’s abdomen despite the abortion that was to have been completed the day before. Due to the injuries suffered at the hands of Planned Parenthood, the suit claims, “the minor Plaintiff, Shantese Butler, is now infertile for the rest of her life.” The suit seeks $50 million in damages for injuries suffered as a result of medical negligence, for pain and suffering, and for future medical care. In its official answer to the charges, filed in April, Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington, D.C., Inc. acknowledged that Shantese Butler “sought and obtained medical care” at its D.C. location on or about September 7, 2008, but denies any further allegations regarding her injuries. It repeatedly said that it lacks information as to the nature or cause of the injuries (Document 7, Case 1:08-cv-00231-RBW, filed 4/3/08). As an opening in what may be drawn-out legal negotiations, that might be expected. But other elements in the response are quite revealing. Though the suit was filed on behalf of both the minor and her mother, Planned Parenthood says in its response that it “Admits that Defendant owed a duty to Shantese Butler to conform to the standards of care, and denies that it had a direct duty to her mother.” Consistent with its long-standing opposition to parental involvement laws, Planned Parenthood asserts that it has no obligation to a teen’s parent. Beyond its denials of direct culpability, Planned Parenthood’s response offers several of what it terms “additional defenses.” Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan D.C. asserts that “Plaintiff’s claims are barred by the doctrine of informed consent,” that “Plaintiff’s claims are barred by the doctrine of assumption of risk,” and that “Plaintiff’s claims are barred by the doctrine of contributory negligence.” The D.C. affiliate does not spell out how these apply to the specifics of the case, but the citation of these “doctrines” appears to open the door to the defense, offered to the press in the Nebraska case above, that the client was told of and assumed the risks associated with the abortion procedure, as well as to additional claims that the minor (or others involved in her care) somehow may have done something injurious or failed to do something important to her safe recovery. Neither a trial nor a settlement had been announced as of press time. Though it admits on its web site that “there are risks with any medical procedure,” Planned Parenthood says that complications like infection, injury to the cervix or other organs, and incomplete abortion (retained tissue in the uterus) are usually “simple to treat with medicine or other treatments.” It says that “very serious complications which may be fatal” are “extremely rare” (“Abortion Procedures,” www.plannedparenthood.org, accessed 6/4/08). Whether rare or not, these are hardly the only women to suffer at the hands of a Planned Parenthood abortionist (see sidebar). Nothing here shows us the frequency of these adverse events. But the suits do serve to illustrate how Planned Parenthood treats women who claim to have been injured at its clinics, not with sympathy and support, but with callous denials and subtle intimations that the woman herself may have done something wrong. Hardly what one might expect from “the nation’s most trusted provider of sexual and reproductive health care.” |