Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Planned Parenthood Badness

Since PP's in the news so much, I'm digging through my notes to find examples of badness by PP affiliates. Some of these will go back a long way, which indicates a pattern of bad behavior. 

Delaware League for Planned Parenthood, a NAF member, was sued by patient A.C. She consulted with PP because it "held itself out to be a qualified options counselor for pregnancy." She faulted PP with failure to provide options other than abortion, which they indicated was appropriate due to her age; failure to notify her of the development of her fetus, and failure to disclose critical biological information material in the decision-making process. PP then referred her to Wilmington Medical Center for an abortion, which was performed by John F. MacGuigan. A.C. suffered injuries during the abortion causing permanent infertility. 

Patient G.G. sued after she'd been referred to Inglewood Women's Clinic by Planned Parenthood without being offered a choice of facilities. Her abortion was performed by Dr. Dupont at Inglewood. G.G. required a second curettage on July 11, 1973, and total abdominal hysterectomy July 13, 1973. Dupont's notes indicate "minimal" blood loss, no perforations noted, "patient taken to recovery room in satisfactory condition, apparently having tolerated the procedure well." 

Patient J.K. filed suit after she'd been referred to Inglewood by Planned Parenthood for an abortion performed by Dr. Perlow in 1972. Perlow failed to diagnose that J.K. had an ectopic pregnancy. A week after her abortion she called back to Planned Parenthood due to pain,. They told her to call West Coast Medical Group. They gave her an appointment in one week, but before the appointment the pregnancy ruptured. She required surgery. The surgeon found her abdomen full of blood and blood clots. J.K. had to be placed in the Intensive Care Unit overnight because she was in critical condition. J.K said that Planned Parenthood failed to check the qualifications of the facility before providing a referral. "They told me that the abortion was a quick and simple procedure and that no problems could result," I wasn't warned...that the doctors performing the abortion had so many other abortions to do that realistically it would be hard for them to do anything with care, and "I was sent to an abortion mill." 

Pittsburgh Planned Parenthood had their attorney threaten to file suit against patient M.E. when she filed suit against them for misdiagnosing her as pregnant, resulting in an unnecessary 1988 abortion. Her suit alleged that the misdiagnosis was due to "confusion of urine samples between patients" and nurse-midwife improperly performing an exam and counseling M.E. to undergo an abortion. 

Patient T.B., age 23, alleged that she underwent an abortion at Planned Parenthood in Los Angeles on January 29, 1988. She suffered a lacerated uterus, hemorrhage, surgery, hospitalization, loss of child-bearing capacity, and emotional distress. 

Planned Parenthood in Merrillville, Indiana, hired James T. Howard as a part-time abortion doctor without first learning that he was on an agreement not to perform elective abortions in order to avoid prosecution for botching an illegal 6-month abortion in his Bloomington office. 

A Planned Parenthood in D.C. was sued by patient A.A., age 28. A.A. said that she went to Planned Parenthood on February 25, 1992, for birth control pills. A.A., who speaks only Spanish, was led to a procedure room by a Spanish-speaking employee who had her disrobe, put her in stirrups, inserted a speculum, and left the room. Planned Parenthood staffer Marc Jerome entered the room and initiated a vacuum abortion procedure. A.A. screamed for him to stop, but Jerome "ignored the obvious pain and terror" of his patient, and continued with the procedure. Jerome had gone into the wrong room and failed to correctly identify which patient he was about to operate on. The suit noted that A.A. "suffers continuous flashbacks and crying episodes," particularly due to her strong religious opposition to abortion. Planned Parenthood successfully blocked the woman's attempt to file suit anonymously, on the grounds that the suit "does not involve an abortion, or a woman's right to privacy when choosing to obtain an abortion. The female plaintiff in this case was not pregnant...did not seek and did not obtain an abortion." I'll grant that she didn't seek an abortion, but PP was more than willing to provide her with one anyway. Imagine if that poor woman had been fool enough to trust PP to provide prenatal care!

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