Sunday, December 13, 2009

New Jersey: $1.9M settlement in botched abortion

From the "Abortion is a shady business" file:

Metropolitan Medical Associates in Englewood, among the state’s largest abortion clinics, reached a $1.9 million settlement with a woman who suffered massive hemorrhaging, a coma, a stroke and a hysterectomy after she had an abortion at the facility in 2007.

How the hell do you botch an abortion so badly that a woman ends up in a coma?


The incident led to an inspection by the state, which shut the facility down for more than a month until improvements were made.

Who in their right minds would ever wanted to be treated there ever again?
Rasheedah Dinkins filed the suit in 2007 against the facility and two doctors, Keith Gresham, who was Dinkins’ attending physician, and Nicholas Kotopoulos, who assisted after Dinkins started to bleed excessively.

Dinkins, then 20, visited the clinic in January of that year for a second-trimester abortion. The Englewood clinic is one of only a few in the state to perform second-trimester abortions.

In coma three weeks

Hours after the procedure, Dinkins, back at home in Newark, became sluggish, then was unable to walk or talk. Her mother called for an ambulance, and, by the time it arrived, Dinkins had passed out.

At Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, doctors gave her transfusions and removed her damaged uterus. She suffered a stroke and her left lung collapsed from the severe blood loss. She needed a respirator and tracheotomy. Dinkins was in a coma for three weeks.

Newark Beth Israel filed a formal complaint with the state, saying it was concerned the abortion may have been done improperly.

Gee, ya think???

"We learned from the case that their volume of procedures was one factor that led to this problem," said Roseland-based lawyer Adam Slater, who represented Dinkins. "When you do too many procedures, you start to lose sight of the fact that these are all separate patients and separate procedures."


I.E. They were an abortion mill. You see where pro-lifers get the name?

Dinkins had "greater-than-expected bleeding, they couldn’t stop it, they eventually took extraordinary measures to stop it, and then they sent her home," Slater said.

Ah, the care and compassion. How do you not see a stroke, collapsed lung (???) and coma coming?

"They should have sent her to Englewood Hospital, which is less than a mile away, where they would have examined her and found she had a uterine rupture.

I'm no expert, but wouldn't that be the first suspicion? And wouldn't this have showed up on an ultrasound?

After the incident was reported, state inspectors found dirty forceps, rusty crochet hooks used to remove IUDs and a quarter-inch of dark red "dirt and debris" under an examining table in the Engle Street clinic.

Eeeeeew!!! Too cheap to buy new equipment, sterilize instruments and hire competent cleaning staff.

Wasn't Morgentaler disciplined for similar breaches?

The state let the facility reopen in March 2007.

Under the same management?

"However, there’s always inherent danger in any medical procedure," Capese said.

That's always what they fall back on, right? The woman ended up in a coma for goodness sakes-- that's not the typical danger you expect from an abortion, even a 2nd trimester one.

"The facility has an excellent treatment record, and they have served tens of thousands of patients without incident. That doesn’t negate the sympathy the facility has for any problems this patient may have experienced."


The proof is in the pudding.


Slater said Dinkins has made an "extremely good recovery" from her injuries.

I bet her fertility hasn't recovered.

The suit also named the National Abortion Federation, a group that Metropolitan Medical Associates belongs to.

NAF. Why am I not surprised?


Here's something I want to know. Abortionists have a reputation for being alcoholics and abusing drugs. Were these guys mentally compromised when they did this abortion?

There's a pattern with abortion clinics. They're always dirty and unhygienic.