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.

Eric Holder’s Connection to Georgia – An Endgame Maneuver?

Georgia has many good laws on the books, some of which seek to ensure the services provided are not compromising a woman’s health – the Woman’s right to Know is one such law. Another law attaches criminal penalties to any physician that performs "a second trimester abortion outside of a licensed hospital, a licensed ambulatory surgical center, or a health facility licensed as an abortion facility by the Department of Community Health". It was this provision of Georgia law that sent Michelle Wolven of Eagle Watch and I on a quest to find the legal basis for late term abortionist Tyrone Malloy’s performing second trimester abortions in Georgia. While searching for licenses, we stumbled upon a connection between Attorney General Eric Holder and Tyrone Malloy. It seems his wife and sister-in-law own the property out of which Malloy was indicted for Medicaid fraud.

Some have questioned why a big deal is being made of this fact. After all, they say, landlords typically do not know what their tenants are doing. Perhaps that is true in the typical landlord/tenant relationship. But this landlord is married to the Attorney General of the United States. And this Attorney General launched a task force to crack down on Medicaid fraud, the very act for which this tenant was indicted. The Attorney General has not prosecuted one abortion provider through this task force. And this Attorney General, after being contacted for comments about his wife’s relationship with the indicted doctor, changed tax and deed records, removing his wife’s name. These aggressive steps to remove his wife’s name from the records cause us to ask why. Is there a bigger picture we are missing – other than the obvious conflict of interest?

I think so. Shortly after President Obama won his first term in office the abortion community gave him a 100 day plan. In that plan they requested the President “Establish parity between the income level at which a woman is eligible for pregnancy care and the income level at which she is eligible for family planning services under Medicaid”. They explained that “Bans on public funding for abortion services have severely restricted access to safe abortion care for women, disproportionately affecting poor women, women of color, and certain immigrant women. The President’s budget should strike language restricting abortion funding for (i) Medicaid-eligible women and Medicare beneficiaries (Hyde amendment); (ii) federal employees and their dependents (FEHB program); (iii) residents of the District of Columbia; (iv) Peace Corps volunteers; (v) Native-American women; and (vi) women in federal prisons”. (Advancing Reproductive Rights and Health in a New Administration, page 6). Clearly the abortion industry is asking for removal the Hyde Amendment that prohibits billing taxpayers for abortions.

Tyrone Malloy's case could be the first of many to try and do so. By appealing to Georgia’s Supreme Court he immediately challenged his indictment, refusing to enter a plea, and questioning the constitutionality of the laws under which he was indicted. I can only wonder if Malloy's indictment is being used by the abortion industry and the Attorney General to achieve what Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said was one of the purposes of the Roe v. Wade case i.e. “that Roe was going to be then set up for Medicaid funding for abortion.” (Place of Women on the Court, New York Times Magazine, July 7, 2009). I can only wonder if this is the case the Obama Administration is promoting, through the longtime family friendship of the Attorney General with abortionist Malloy, to implement the request made by the abortion lobby in the 100 day plan given to the President at the start of his Presidency. I pray that pro-life attorneys are gearing up to stop this latest attack on use of taxpayer money to fund abortion giants like Planned Parenthood. I pray that pro-life Congressmen of every stripe are prepared to address this attack by strengthening our laws against endgame maneuvers such as these. I pray that taxpayers are alert and will push back against the use of tax dollars to target "poor women, women of color, and certain immigrant women". I pray we are all alert and fighting back against the termination of innocent lives.

Electing Republicans - Are They Friends or Foes of Abortion?

In the forty years since the legalization of abortion in 1973, there have been five Republican and three Democrat Presidents. In fact Roe was decided when Richard Nixon was president and he not only supported it but initiated the population control agenda that has been steeped in the industry since its inception. At least three of the five Republican Presidencies were undergirded with a Republican Senate and House for parts if not all of their terms. During this same time period, Republican Presidents appointed, and the Congress confirmed many of the Supreme Court Justices, appointments most thought would ensure the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Yet we have had fifty five million babies die at the abortionist’s hands and, it is hard to see any progress at a federal level to stem the tsunami that has consumed 1.2 million or more babies every year since 1977.

Around the country, states have more Republican Governors than ever before if not in history certainly in recent times. And, the number of Republican lead state houses has increased giving Republicans more leverage than ever. Yet, fifty five million babies have died at the abortionists’ hands and progress at the state level has not stemmed the tsunami that consumes 1.2 or more babies every year since 1977. The abortion industry has enjoyed hands off practices for almost forty years. Even states that have enacted solid pro-life legislation such as Georgia have taken a step back and turned a blind eye to the laws on the books. Putting on the uniform of the Republican Party has served no purpose other than getting candidates elected. Once elected, these candidates who pledged to show leadership, who pledged to end abortion, become a part of the political establishment repeatedly allowing abortionists to operate at the edge or outside the law.

I was horrified when I read about Kermit Gosnell and his house of horrors last year. Despite years of complaints to the state from physicians, patients and others, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania turned a blind eye and allowed Gosnell to operate each and every day for more than fifteen years, injuring women, murdering babies (he induced labor, delivered live babies and then snipped their spinal cords with scissors) and finally murdering women. Only then, did the Commonwealth move to clean up abortion in that state. Only time will tell if they really cleaned it up or again are turning a blind eye.

And what about Georgia, the state in which I live? Since 1973 1,206,940 babies have died by abortion. For most of those years, the state was led by a Democrat Governor and legislators that proudly support abortion and those who promote it. When Republican Sonny Perdue road in on the wave of pro-life and other votes, suddenly for the first time in more than 180 years, a Republican was leading the state and quickly the Senate and House followed suit, with more Republicans being elected or Democrats switching party. Good news for the pro-life community right? Not so much. The horror that is abortion in Georgia is unfolding every day and the picture is murky, shedding little light on how many of the abortionists in this state are even in business!

As was the case in Pennsylvania, there is a trail of injured women all across the state. Reports of squalid conditions, terrorized women, and passing infections through dirty instruments are common here. Calling state agencies such as the Department of Community Health or Department of Public health to get answers to the simplest of questions has become a morass of lawyers, dragging the questioners deeper and deeper into the darkness that is abortion in this state.

I cannot imagine that Governor Deal knows how ugly abortion in Georgia is. After all, his election was all about being pro-life. So I have requested a meeting with him to report what we are finding and to see if something can’t be done to reign in the lawlessness in which abortion in this state rests.

In the meantime, I think every pro-life abolitionist should begin to examine the strategies being used to end abortion in America. Perhaps putting on the Republican suit is not working - especially for the 55 million babies that have died at the abortionist' hand. Perhaps we need a new strategy that will rip open the bloated and innocent blood filled belly of the abortion industry.

A Wonderful Thing in Georgia

A wonderful thing happened in Georgia on October 1, 2012. The Department of Community Health affirmed the denial of the waiver request of Atlanta Women's Medical Center located at 235 W. Wieuca Road, Atlanta, Georgia. This facility performs abortions up to twenty four weeks and regulations required that facilities such as these that are located on the second floor must have an elevator. This center does not, hence the request for the elevator waiver. After obtaining the waiver it became apparent they were not taking care to meet its requirements because when investigated it was determined they routinely failed to escort patients down the stairs after surgery and on at least one occasion failed to inform the 911 operator there was no elevator which delayed the EMTs in getting an injured patient out of the building. So it is wonderful news that the waiver was denied – the health of women was routinely being put at risk each and every time they failed to meet the waiver's provisions. Thank you Governor Deal and Commissioner Cook for putting Georgia's women first!

As excited as I am about the affirmation, I cannot and could not answer the questions that have been coming in about AWMC's status. Is AWMC still doing abortions or were they shut down? As of this writing they are still doing late term abortions, putting the health of Georgia women at risk and I can find no information online about what happens in these instances. Does the state issue a cease and desist order telling them to shut it down? Is there some kind of grace period they have to bring themselves into compliance with the ambulatory surgical center regulations? Can they just say they are no longer performing second trimester abortions and remain open doing only first trimester? These are questions I have no answers to. I have several calls into the Department of Community Health and I will ask these questions if anyone returns even one of those calls. Stay tuned. If I get answers I will pass them on to you . . .

Action Alert – Georgia Women Put First!!!!

A little more than a month and a half ago, I began writing about Georgia women being in danger because an abortion center, Atlanta Women's Medical Center chose to ignore the requirements for two story ambulatory surgical centers. They refused to install an elevator claiming an undue hardship (despite bringing in more than three million dollars of revenue each and every year), and safety of their staff over the safety of the women on whom they had just performed surgery. Today I ask you to join me in thanking Governor Deal (404-656-1776), and Commissioner Cook (404-656-4507) for taking action to deny the ongoing waiver to this facility that had put thousands of Georgia women at risk each year.

 

The Department of Community Health, on August 30, 2012, declined to renew the waiver because the center "failed to supply facts, financial, architectural, or otherwise, showing why it would not currently be feasible to construct an elevator, relocate to the first floor or otherwise come into compliance with the requirements of Rule 290-5-33-10 (f) without causing undue hardship. They were also cited for failing to assess the patients and provide an escort down the stairs after the surgery as well as failing to document that patients were escorted down the stairs as required in the waiver.

The Department of Community Health allowed for and accepted a request for an administrative review of the August 30^th decision. On October 1, 2012, DCH affirmed the decision to deny a waiver.

All across America states are finding that abortionists have failed to exercise reasonable standards of medical care to the patients that seek their services. Many facilities when inspected have been found to be squalid, and some are known to pass diseases and infections to the patients. It is more than heartening to see that our state is unwilling to allow abortion providers to flagrantly violate state laws and provisions for ambulatory surgical centers. Join me in applauding the willingness of leaders in our state to take steps to ensure patient safety in a procedure that routinely injures women and terminates the lives of children. Please call the Governor and Commissioner Cook. Let them know we appreciate their leadership on this issue.

Running to the Battle: Help Make Georgia Safe

I was interviewed on the Dave Madeira radio program this morning (http://bit.ly/QeXhih) and the discussion left me heavy as I recounted how many young girls and women are silently carrying the weight of their decision to terminate the life of their child. Many do not feel they can talk about their experience in the abortion center because of the deeply imbedded shame we feel once our wombs are emptied of the child. On the show I recounted the testimony of a young teen who without her parents' or any adult in her sphere of influence knowledge, terminated her child and for two years carried the weight of it until that Saturday when we prayed with and for her. She took off running around the Church, exclaiming her freedom from the burden she had been carrying, now celebrating that she was no longer bound. While I can rejoice that she was freed, and I do, my heart was heavy as I remembered there are so many more women and girls that still carry the shame and weight of their experience in one of America's abortion chambers.

With all this heaviness hovering around me, I happened upon this article: http://bit.ly/OL6ps1 . Even the title is gruesome so I ask that you click on the link and it will take you to the story. While reading this horror story, I received an email from someone in Georgia wondering how the State can be held accountable and ensure they are inspecting and monitoring abortion centers. As you know, there is an open review of Atlanta Women's Medical Center that was found to have violated a waiver the state had granted seven years ago. In addition to having violated the waiver it was determined they routinely put patient safety at risk even failing to properly sterilize instruments and chart patient treatment. (Note: they have changed their name. Could they be planning an end run around the Department of Community Health by reorganizing as a doctor's office? Please tell me no!). The state denied their new waiver request, but they continue to operate even putting patients at risk. A wheel chair bound woman had to navigate the steps because they continue doing business with no elevator. I shudder to think what would have happened if they needed to get her out quickly. Her wheel chair was in the car of the driver that brought her to the clinic.

I have also written about another abortion center that is allowed to operate as a doctor's office rather than a surgical center. Based on patient testimonies, the so-called doctor accepts Medicaid to pay for abortions. He uses a narcotic so strong that women cannot immediately wake up from the procedure, some not waking up for more than twenty four hours. He fails to properly complete abortions causing women to have to return for a second procedure or as was the case with one woman, experiencing three to four days of in-hospital antibiotic treatment so the infection can be brought under control in order to complete the procedure. Because this is a doctor's office there is no state oversight unless a patient files a complaint with the medical board. And as was the case with this patient, those complaints may mysteriously disappear allowing the abortionist to continue operating without repercussion for violation of patient safety and laws. It is even thought that someone notifies the physician of complaints before an inspector shows up so that he can fix whatever may be wrong inside the clinic – including sudden fires that destroy records and equipment even though no person is ever identified for what was deemed arson. Hmmm.

Let's add insult to injury, take a look at this article: http://bit.ly/UQGfY4 about a clinic in Alabama. And guess what? The owner of this facility has a clinic in Columbus, GA. Is that clinic putting women's health at risk as well? The abortionist was the subject of a 76 page scathing report that included charges of failing to properly train staff or document the credentials of those allowed to perform abortions. I can't help but wonder what kind of treatment and record management of that treatment is happening in Columbus.

In each of these cases complaints had to be brought by those outside of state government. Unless a pro-life activist or patient filed a complaint, we have idea if the state knows the condition of one abortion center much less the 18 or so that are operating, some as surgical centers, and some as doctor's offices. These abortionists could hurt women routinely and the citizens of Georgia would never know because of a clear lack of oversight. Georgia has at least two abortion centers that do not appear to be registered with the state, nor do they appear to be reporting the numbers of abortions performed, both violations of Georgia law. Yet you can Google them on the net and see they are performing abortions every day. We have to assume it is with the State's blessings because they have been reported and the Governor, we are told, is confident his Commissioner and staff are taking appropriate steps.

What can citizens do when the state refuses to bring any level of accountability into an industry that is the least regulated yet most dangerous? Perhaps you can help document breaches of our laws; take pictures of violations and video them as well. Perhaps you are able to set aside 10 minutes to make phone calls, or send letters and emails to the Governor and your legislator. Perhaps you can attend rallies, willing to speak out. And/or, you can refuse to vote for those that will not show leadership on an issue so vital to women's health. Perhaps you can run for office yourself. Now is not the time to back down or back up. It is time to run to the battle for the health and welfare of women in Georgia. Are you willing? Let me know.

The Nightmare Continues

And I am still in in. I cannot let go of the images that were painted in my mind as I listened to the horror that young woman experienced. I cannot imagine how she felt when she learned her baby, now dead, was left inside her and she could not reach the doctor. I wonder what it will take to shake things up enough in Georgia so that the government will begin enforcing the laws on the books. Abortion centers throughout the state are subjected to less inspection and regulation enforcement than nail salons! And when violations are found, our government refuses to take action that will move the state toward the standard of care most women expect. You may recall that the Atlanta Women's Medical Center was cited for failing to sterilize instruments according to policy and failing to properly chart patient records. If one abortion center that is licensed is this reckless in its standards of care, I am sure the other abortion centers, especially those that are not licensed, are putting patients at risk because they fail to properly sterilize the instruments and properly monitor and document patient care. 

According to the Georgia Department of Human Services, Division of Public Health, Georgia ranks among the top 10 states in the United States with high case rates for chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis¹. It is not hard to imagine that some of these cases of sexually transmitted diseases are caused by the unregulated abortion centers and doctors' offices (whose primary business is abortion) that do not properly sterilize equipment. I can imagine that some of these doctors and centers do not have an AUTOCLAVE, the equipment most physicians use to sterilize instruments. Without that piece of equipment, the doctor must rely on some antiseptic that I cannot imagine is strong enough to thoroughly clean the instruments, particularly those that have been contaminated with blood.

 

I am reminded of the abortionist that was arrested in Philadelphia, PA after he murdered a woman and seven babies. His facility and practice was described as a filthy fraud². The Pennsylvania District Attorney rightly categorized the case as a disregard of the law and disdain for the lives and health of mothers and infants. Yesterday I wrote about just such a case here in the state of Georgia. Clearly the doctor in that case cared less about the mother and her health than he did about rushing through her procedure – so much so that he left the baby behind. I wonder if the inside of his facility is as squalid as the one described by the PA attorney general. Has he patched equipment together with duct tape as Gosnell did (see pictures in the Pennsylvania DA report – warning, they are graphic and disturbing). Is there blood in and on the instruments as they reused the equipment time and again without sterilizing it?. Because Georgia is failing to hold abortionists accountable for the surgical care they provide every day, there is no way to know how many women have come away from this abortion center and others infected or harmed in some way. Perhaps we should ask those women to come forward and tell their stories. It is time to force our Governor, Legislators, and even ourselves to face the horror that is abortion in Georgia.

 

1. http://health.state.ga.us/pdfs/epi/gers/Nov08GER.pdf
   
2. http://www.phila.gov/districtattorney/PDFs/GrandJuryWomensMedical.pdf