The Horror of Substandard Medical Care in Georgia, Part I

About this time last year, Atlanta Women’s Medical Center injured a woman. The state investigated and found the center had violated a number of regulations including failing to meet the requirements of its elevator waiver, failure to properly monitor patients and chart their medical condition, and failure to properly sterilize instruments. While the Center was not penalized in any significant way when the Healthcare Facility Regulation Division issued its report in January of this year, the state did deny the renewal of their elevator waiver on August 30, 2012 and ordered the center to “ensure AWMC is in compliance with all of the rules and regulations governing ambulatory surgical centers”.

Brian Looby, Division Chief of Healthcare Facility Regulation affirmed the decision on October 1, and the decision was affirmed for a third time November 8, 2012 by Avery Flower, Deputy Division Chief of the Healthcare Facility Regulation Division. Yet, Atlanta Women’s Medical Center continues performing abortions and has not been “in compliance with all of the rules and regulations governing ambulatory surgical centers” since August 30, 2012. Yesterday, November 16, 2012 another woman was injured at the Atlanta Women’s Medical Center. According to the ambulance dispatcher, they did not tell him there was no elevator in the building. Some twenty five minutes later, the patient was brought down stairs in what looked like a chair.

We do not know, yet, the extent of the injury to the patient. What we do know however, is that another woman was injured by a facility clearly out of compliance with the laws of this state. Despite having a number of strong laws on the books that govern how those in the medical profession are to comport themselves, Georgia has chosen to ignore those abortionists that violate those same laws and in the coming days I will give concrete examples of how the state of Georgia is another Pennsylvania.

Two years ago, there was a late term abortionist in that state that operated what even the Pennsylvania District Attorney called a “house of horrors”. To say that the condition of that center was squalid is more than an understatement. There had been complaints initiated with the State that were ignored year after year until 2010 and by then things were so bad even the Drug Enforcement Agency begged for action by the state. The horror of abortion in Georgia rises to that level in my opinion. The stories I am hearing from patients who have been harmed and from former staff of these dens of death are stuff horror stories are made of.

I believed Governor Deal had no idea of the extent of the issue in this state. So I attempted to meet with him and/or his Chief of Staff. My meeting request was denied and the scheduler for his Chief of Staff never bothered to return any of my numerous calls. It is now not hard for me to imagine he does know and is choosing to do what so many others have done and are doing, ignoring the fact that Georgia women are being injured at the abortionists' hands.

Since Roe v. Wade established abortion in America, there have been more than 1.2 million abortions in Georgia. I do not know how many of these women came out of an abortion den diseased because many of these doctors operate in unsanitary blood spattered environments. I do not know how many women will never be able to have children because the doctors did not exercise a minimum standard of care and perforated her uterus or bowels or one of the other common injuries women face at their hands. What I do know is that the hands off abortionists policy of the State of Georgia has allowed thousands of women to be injured. I can only pray that one of them was not your mother, daughter, aunt, niece or cousin. I can only pray that you will join us in calling for these abortionists to be brought into compliance with the laws of the state so that more women will not be subjected to the horror that is substandard medical care in Georgia.