Arizona Abortionist Loses License After Two Botched Abortions
News Briefs
Arizona Abortionist Loses License After Two Botched Abortions
An Arizona abortionist who has been involved in two botched abortions has had his license revoked, the Arizona Board of Medical Examiners said earlier this month. John Biskind, 72, agreed to give up his license rather than face a continuing investigation.
Authorities began investigating Biskind after a June 30 incident in which he tried to perform a partial-birth abortion and wound up delivering a full-term baby girl. The baby suffered a skull fracture and two deep lacerations on her face, but doctors said she had no other serious injuries. A Texas couple is reportedly planning to adopt her.
Dr. Edward Sattenspiel, a member of the state medical board, said it was impossible to believe that Biskind could not tell that the baby’s 17-year-old mother was 37 weeks pregnant instead of the claimed 23 weeks.
Biskind is also under investigation for his role in the death of 32-year-old LouAnn Herron, who bled to death from a punctured uterus after Biskind performed a late-term abortion on her in April. Heron was about 26 weeks pregnant when Biskind performed the abortion, despite an Arizona law that makes abortions illegal after viability. A former clinic employee saidthat she heard Biskind tell a medical assistant to take the ultrasound from a different angle so Heron would appear to be less than 24 weeks pregnant.
Clinic employees said Herron was left to bleed for three hours before an ambulance was called, despite a medical assistant’s pleas for the supervisor to call 911. They also said that Biskind left the facility about an hour after the abortion and that there was no nurse on duty in the recovery room.
Officials have said that Biskind’s agreement with the medical board will not effect the criminal investigation into the two incidents. A-Z Women’s Center in Phoenix, which employed Biskind, has been closed, along with two other clinics owned by clinic CEO Dr. Moshe Hachamovitch.
Judge Closes Georgia’s Biggest Abortion Clinic
In May, Georgia Superior Court judge William Alexander responded to complaints from state officials by shutting down Georgia’s biggest abortion facility. The Department of Human Resources said Midtown Hospital in Atlanta was “overcrowded, understaffed and dirty” and showed “a complete disregard for, or the inability to care for, the health and safety of its patients.”
Midtown Hospital performed more abortions than any facility in Georgia–7,465 in 1996, according to the DHR. The state is pursuing efforts to close the clinic permanently.
Criminal Charges Against Abortionist Dismissed
A California abortionist with a long history of problems with state officials was cleared in June of charges that he was practicing medicine without a license. The judge ruled that prosecutors could not prove that Gordon Sean Goei, who was arrested in May after a botched abortion, had read the notification that his license was suspended. His roommate testified that he hid the letters informing Goei of his suspension to protect him from “bad news.”
Goei’s license was revoked in 1997 after a series of reprimands from the state medical board, but a judge instead placed Goei on seven years probation on the condition that he get more education and take exams. Failing an exam led to his suspension in March. The medical board has yet to determine if he can keep his license.
Abortion Clinic Must Pay Woman $700,000
A Canadian judge has ordered staff members at a Halifax abortion clinic to pay more than $700,000 in damages to a woman who was seriously injured in a car accident following an abortion.
Wanda MacPhail, 37, testified that after her abortion she sat for an hour in a “zombie-like” state without being offered any kind of counseling or support from the staff. She said that on her way home from the clinic, she lost control of her car and crossed the center line, striking another vehicle. The judge ruled that MacPhail was traumatized by her abortion and should not have been permitted to undertake the 40-kilometer drive home.
NOW Backs California Abortionist in Murder Trial
The national leaders of NOW (National Organization of Women) are publicly supporting California abortionist Bruce Steir, who will soon face murder charges in the death of 27-year-old Sharon Hampton. Hampton bled to death from a punctured uterus after Steir performed an abortion on her in December 1996.
A clinic employee told police that during Hampton’s abortion, Steir said he thought he had “pulled bowel” but that he would “just put it back.” Prosecutors say Steir had to have known that he punctured Hampton’s uterus since that was the only way he could have reached her bowel.
Steir, who admits that he made a “terrible mistake” during Hampton’s abortion, surrendered his medical license in March 1997 after complaints of negligence during other abortions, including three in which women had to undergo surgery to repair injuries. Predictably, the National Abortion Federation and the California Abortion and Reproductive Rights League are also backing Steir.
