By Marie McCullough
Inquirer Staff Writer
The arrest of West Philadelphia abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell on charges of murdering a patient and seven newborn infants has thrown an unusual spotlight on Pennsylvania regulators who, a Philadelphia grand jury concluded, "should have shut him down long ago."
But Pennsylvania's system of oversight - or lack of it, in the grand jury's view - may not be unusual.
For five months last year, New Jersey regulators received complaints that abortion doctor Steven Brigham, 54, was running a secret, cash-only, late-term abortion business using a risky interstate scheme - one for which he was disciplined in the 1990s.
Just as in the Gosnell case, regulators took no public action against Brigham - until a police raid forced them to.
New Jersey officials declined to comment for this article, as did the law firm representing Brigham.
Prosecutors, public health experts, and others say these cases illustrate a host of problems, including a feeble complaint system, spotty clinic inspections, poor communication among oversight agencies - and the reluctance of doctors to punish their own.
"In general, the discipline of doctors in this country is a disaster," said physician Sidney Wolfe, director of health research for Public Citizen, a consumer-advocacy group.
In Public Citizen's annual look at rates of serious disciplinary actions by state medical boards, New Jersey and Pennsylvania rank among the least aggressive, having acted against fewer than three in every 1,000 physicians between 2007 and 2009.
Beyond patient safety, abortion regulation is tangled in moral, political, and commercial issues.
Consider that Brigham's latest travails - license suspension in New Jersey and a criminal probe in Maryland - have not halted his abortion enterprise, called American Women's Services. The toll-free phone lines are taking calls for its clinics in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia - and a recent addition, Pensacola, Fla.
"Businesses aren't regulated that well, but they should be, especially businesses that affect the public health and well-being," said Leonard Glantz, a health law professor at Boston University.
More dangerous
Abortion goes from being brief and low-risk for the mother during the first three months, when the fetus is tiny, to being increasingly dangerous as the fetus grows.
At about 15 weeks - long before the full-term point of 38 weeks - abortion is a protracted process. The first day, the fetal heart is given a lethal injection, and the woman's cervix is slowly dilated using absorbent rods. The next day, the woman receives labor-inducing drugs, then undergoes surgery to remove the fetus, intact or in pieces.
Recognizing the incremental complexity, the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services has a two-tiered system. Abortions through 14 weeks can be done in the equivalent of a doctor's office, no license necessary. Beyond 14 weeks, the facility must be licensed as an outpatient surgical center, complete with an ambulance service, biennial inspections, and a highly trained doctor.
None of Brigham's six New Jersey clinics is licensed to do surgery, so, rather than lose business, he evaded the rules, prosecutors say. He initiated late-term abortions in Voorhees; the next day, he led car caravans of patients, in labor, to Elkton, Md., for surgery.
In Pennsylvania, the jury found, outpatient-surgery centers are covered by 50 pages of safety rules, including regular inspections. However, regulators have chosen to interpret the law as not applying to abortion facilities.
Regulators, the jury report says, "have tied their own hands and now complain that they are powerless."
A year ago, after the raid that revealed awful conditions at Gosnell's clinic, Gov. Ed Rendell ordered a resumption of annual inspections, which had not been done for 15 years. Of the state's 20 freestanding clinics, 14 have been ordered to fix problems, none egregious.
Viable fetus
Pennsylvania - like 40 other states, but not New Jersey - outlaws abortion after 24 weeks, the point when the fetus usually becomes "viable," able to survive outside the womb. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that abortion of a viable fetus may be banned unless it is necessary to save the woman's life or health.
Understandably, there is confusion about what is and isn't legal. Gosnell's patients testified that they did not realize their post-viability abortions were prohibited.
They also testified that because they were anesthetized, they didn't know he delivered their fetuses alive, then killed them by severing their spinal cords with scissors.
Why this gruesome deviation from the standard practice of giving the fetus a lethal injection in the womb?
Gosnell's employees said that he tried giving injections, but that his shots missed the target, so he gave up.
Relying on complaints
Regulators say that to protect the public, they rely on complaints from patients, employees, even reporters.
"We're all pretty much complaint-driven" in the United States, said William L. Harp, executive director of the Virginia Board of Medicine. "When a complaint comes in, then we have ability to investigate."
In Brigham's case, just as in Gosnell's, complaints were not enough.
Elizabeth Barnes, director of Cherry Hill Women's Center, a South Jersey abortion clinic, said she wrote to New Jersey's medical licensing board in June 2009 detailing her suspicions that Brigham was starting third-trimester abortions in Voorhees and finishing them in a clandestine clinic, probably in Maryland.
In response, Barnes said, an investigator talked to her, off and on, for months. Yet no official action was taken against Brigham.
Barnes' suspicions should have rung bells. In the 1990s, Brigham did late-term abortions that straddled Voorhees and New York City.
In 1994, New York authorities took his license in that state for botching two abortions, one begun in Voorhees. They called him "undertrained," with "submarginal abilities" and "not the slightest recognition of his deficiencies." New Jersey prosecuted Brigham for those same cases, plus four more. But Brigham's appeals ultimately reached an administrative judge who found him "sincere" and "credible," and reinstated his license.
Brigham's latest contrivance became news in August after a New Jersey woman, 18, went to Elkton police.
She told them of her unexpected Aug. 13 odyssey from Voorhees to Elkton, of an abortion that left her so critically injured that she had to be airlifted to a Baltimore hospital for emergency surgery.
On Aug. 17, police raided the Elkton clinic - a storefront operation with no sign, that had opened about a year earlier - but could not find her medical records. They did, however, find 35 late-term fetal bodies and parts, none with records.
New Jersey subsequently suspended Brigham's license pending a revocation hearing in April. In Maryland, where he has never been licensed, authorities say a criminal investigation into possible felony charges is ongoing.
Abortion businesses
In most states, a doctor who is barred from performing abortions can still have an abortion business.
Brigham is an example. Although Elkton is closed, three American Women's Services clinics are open in Maryland. So are six in New Jersey, two in Virginia (where he has never had a license), and two in Pennsylvania.
People on both sides of the abortion debate say this shows the need for better interdepartmental and interstate communication, as well as ways to flag dubious corporate practices.
Jennifer Boulanger, executive director of the Allentown Women's Center, who has helped patients and others file complaints about care at American Women's Services clinics, said, "If a person owns lots of corporations at the same address for the same business, that should be a red flag for possible deceptive practices that warrant further investigation."
Corporate records connect Brigham to dozens of entities, including the Caring Corp. and the Peaceful Corp. Many use the Voorhees address, 1 Alpha Ave.
Last March, a new company that uses the Voorhees mailing address opened an abortion clinic in Pensacola, Fla., records show. The owner of the building is another new company that lists Brigham's wife, Krishni Dethabrew, as an authorized representative.
Florida revoked Brigham's license in 1995 after learning of New York's action.
"There is nothing in Florida law that would prevent Dr. Brigham from having part ownership in these entities," e-mailed Shelisha Durden, spokeswoman for the agency that oversees health facilities. "Unless there are specific allegations (such as practicing medicine in Florida without a license), there is nothing for the agency to investigate."
The Pennsylvania Health Department tried to get tough after repeatedly sanctioning Brigham for employing unlicensed caregivers.
In July, the department ordered him not to have an "equity interest" in abortion clinics or to "directly or indirectly" register any in the state. (He is appealing the order.)
But then the department proceeded to approve the new owner of his Allentown and Pittsburgh facilities: a new company headed by his mother, Judith Fitch, 71, of Toledo, Ohio. She hung up twice when called for comment.
Does the family tie defy the order?
Spokeswoman Holli Senior checked with agency lawyers, then e-mailed: "The department's decision does not apply" to Fitch's company.
Showing posts with label post-abortion help. Show all posts
Showing posts with label post-abortion help. Show all posts
Friday, July 8, 2011
Abortion doctor says New Jersey, Maryland can't discipline him
By Marie McCullough
Posted on Sat, Oct. 9, 2010
Inquirer Staff Writer
Abortion doctor Steven Brigham, who has been accused of negligence and misconduct for starting late-term abortions in New Jersey and completing the procedures in Maryland, contends the two states have no grounds to discipline him.
In legal papers filed Thursday with New Jersey regulators, Brigham says the state can't punish him now because he's doing the same thing he did when it prosecuted, and exonerated, him in the mid-1990s.
"Ludicrous," New Jersey Deputy Attorney General Jeri Warhaftig, who is leading the current prosecution, said in a legal response. The previous ruling "did not relieve [Brigham] of the burden of exercising good medical judgment or the obligation to play by the rules."
In Maryland, Brigham has been charged with practicing medicine without a license. He filed legal papers there contending that he didn't need a license because he was simply "engaging in consultation."
He asked the Maryland Board of Physicians to dismiss his case and allow him "to continue providing demonstrations, training, and assistance to Maryland doctors who seek his expertise and guidance."
The board had no comment on Friday.
Brigham, 54, owns a Voorhees-based chain of abortion clinics called American Women's Services. It operates in New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia, and, until earlier this year, was in Pennsylvania.
He transferred his four Pennsylvania facilities to a newly created company headed by a close relative, and is appealing that state's revocation of his ownership rights for persistently employing unlicensed caregivers.
Brigham has spent much of his 20-year career fighting lawsuits and disciplinary actions. The latest investigations - which authorities say could result in criminal as well as regulatory charges - were launched after one of the bistate abortions went awry in August.
The patient, an 18-year-old New Jersey woman who was 21 weeks pregnant, suffered a punctured uterus and bowel at Brigham's Elkton, Md., clinic. She had to be airlifted to a Baltimore hospital for emergency surgery to repair her uterus and bowel. She and the surgeon subsequently filed complaints against Brigham, according to medical records and documents released by investigators.
Investigators allege that Brigham exploited the complex process of late-term abortion at the expense of patients' safety: in Voorhees, he allegedly inserted absorbent rods called laminaria to widen patients' cervixes over 24 hours or more, and gave their fetuses lethal injections. The next day, he allegedly gave the patients a drug to induce labor, then led them in an hour-long car caravan to Elkton for extraction of their dead fetuses.
One patient, documents show, didn't make it to Elkton. She began having severe abdominal pains at night in her hotel and was rushed to Virtua Hospital in Voorhees, where she delivered a dead fetus.
Prosecutors say Brigham's scheme was intended to evade New Jersey safety rules. None of Brigham's six New Jersey clinics is permitted to do abortions after 14 weeks because they do not meet outpatient surgery requirements.
In his legal papers, Brigham argues that the question of whether he may legally insert laminaria in Voorhees was decided by New Jersey regulators in 1996 - in his favor. (New York, however, revoked his medical license there for "gross incompetence" in performing late-term abortions, two of which were initiated in Voorhees.)
"The repeated investigation and harassment by [the attorney general], even after [Brigham] was exonerated by the New Jersey State Board of Medical Examiners in 1996 for the very same alleged wrongdoings that are now claimed again, raises real questions as to the good faith" of the allegations, his legal papers say.
Warhaftig, in her response, said the 1996 decision did not address his current conduct, which allegedly includes killing fetuses and giving the labor-inducing drug in Voorhees.
"If anything, those earlier actions drew a line in the sand," she wrote. Brigham "has stepped over, far over, the board's line and his conduct poses a clear and imminent danger to the public."
Warhaftig also cited records and testimony that undercut Brigham's contention that he was just "consulting" in Maryland: the completion of an abortion for a woman who was almost eight months pregnant happened on a day when a young physician Brigham was training "was not present in the clinic."
Brigham, whose New Jersey license has been temporarily suspended, has a hearing Wednesday before the New Jersey Board of Medical Examiners. The board will consider his argument that it cannot prosecute him. It will also consider the attorney general's request to strip his license for good.
Posted on Sat, Oct. 9, 2010
Inquirer Staff Writer
Abortion doctor Steven Brigham, who has been accused of negligence and misconduct for starting late-term abortions in New Jersey and completing the procedures in Maryland, contends the two states have no grounds to discipline him.
In legal papers filed Thursday with New Jersey regulators, Brigham says the state can't punish him now because he's doing the same thing he did when it prosecuted, and exonerated, him in the mid-1990s.
"Ludicrous," New Jersey Deputy Attorney General Jeri Warhaftig, who is leading the current prosecution, said in a legal response. The previous ruling "did not relieve [Brigham] of the burden of exercising good medical judgment or the obligation to play by the rules."
In Maryland, Brigham has been charged with practicing medicine without a license. He filed legal papers there contending that he didn't need a license because he was simply "engaging in consultation."
He asked the Maryland Board of Physicians to dismiss his case and allow him "to continue providing demonstrations, training, and assistance to Maryland doctors who seek his expertise and guidance."
The board had no comment on Friday.
Brigham, 54, owns a Voorhees-based chain of abortion clinics called American Women's Services. It operates in New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia, and, until earlier this year, was in Pennsylvania.
He transferred his four Pennsylvania facilities to a newly created company headed by a close relative, and is appealing that state's revocation of his ownership rights for persistently employing unlicensed caregivers.
Brigham has spent much of his 20-year career fighting lawsuits and disciplinary actions. The latest investigations - which authorities say could result in criminal as well as regulatory charges - were launched after one of the bistate abortions went awry in August.
The patient, an 18-year-old New Jersey woman who was 21 weeks pregnant, suffered a punctured uterus and bowel at Brigham's Elkton, Md., clinic. She had to be airlifted to a Baltimore hospital for emergency surgery to repair her uterus and bowel. She and the surgeon subsequently filed complaints against Brigham, according to medical records and documents released by investigators.
Investigators allege that Brigham exploited the complex process of late-term abortion at the expense of patients' safety: in Voorhees, he allegedly inserted absorbent rods called laminaria to widen patients' cervixes over 24 hours or more, and gave their fetuses lethal injections. The next day, he allegedly gave the patients a drug to induce labor, then led them in an hour-long car caravan to Elkton for extraction of their dead fetuses.
One patient, documents show, didn't make it to Elkton. She began having severe abdominal pains at night in her hotel and was rushed to Virtua Hospital in Voorhees, where she delivered a dead fetus.
Prosecutors say Brigham's scheme was intended to evade New Jersey safety rules. None of Brigham's six New Jersey clinics is permitted to do abortions after 14 weeks because they do not meet outpatient surgery requirements.
In his legal papers, Brigham argues that the question of whether he may legally insert laminaria in Voorhees was decided by New Jersey regulators in 1996 - in his favor. (New York, however, revoked his medical license there for "gross incompetence" in performing late-term abortions, two of which were initiated in Voorhees.)
"The repeated investigation and harassment by [the attorney general], even after [Brigham] was exonerated by the New Jersey State Board of Medical Examiners in 1996 for the very same alleged wrongdoings that are now claimed again, raises real questions as to the good faith" of the allegations, his legal papers say.
Warhaftig, in her response, said the 1996 decision did not address his current conduct, which allegedly includes killing fetuses and giving the labor-inducing drug in Voorhees.
"If anything, those earlier actions drew a line in the sand," she wrote. Brigham "has stepped over, far over, the board's line and his conduct poses a clear and imminent danger to the public."
Warhaftig also cited records and testimony that undercut Brigham's contention that he was just "consulting" in Maryland: the completion of an abortion for a woman who was almost eight months pregnant happened on a day when a young physician Brigham was training "was not present in the clinic."
Brigham, whose New Jersey license has been temporarily suspended, has a hearing Wednesday before the New Jersey Board of Medical Examiners. The board will consider his argument that it cannot prosecute him. It will also consider the attorney general's request to strip his license for good.
Brigham behind secretive late-term abortion clinic
By Marie McCullough
Posted on Tue, Sep. 21, 2010
Inquirer Staff Writer
For more than a year online, "Grace Medical Care" has advertised abortions up to the last few weeks of pregnancy. It said it's located in a Philadelphia suburb, yet kept the address secret. And it has operated without the knowledge of state regulatory authorities.
Now, for the first time, the New Jersey Attorney General's Office says the person behind the clandestine enterprise is Steven Chase Brigham, the physician being investigated by New Jersey and Maryland on suspicion of licensing and criminal offenses.
Brigham's attorney, Joseph Gorrell of Roseland, N.J., did not return a call or e-mail requesting comment.
Brigham, 54, who has been in and out of trouble for much of his two-decade career, operates at least a dozen abortion clinics in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia under the name American Women's Services.
He has many other "entities," including Grace Medical Care, also called Grace Medical Services, say the attorney general's Sept. 8 charges.
Variations of Grace Medical turn up repeatedly in late-term abortion records recently seized from Brigham's offices.
Authorities said he initiated those abortions in the Voorhees headquarters of American Women's Services, then finished them the next day in Elkton, Md. - a scheme authorities say was designed to evade outpatient-surgery rules.
New Jersey is also looking into why state agencies that oversee businesses and medical facilities have no records for Grace Medical, said the attorney general's spokesman, Paul Loriquet.
Grace Medical remained a mystery even to doctors recruited by Brigham over the last year to work in Elkton, transcripts of interviews with investigators show.
Kimberly Walker, a young doctor who began training with Brigham in January, told investigators: "He basically calls the later-[term] cases, he calls them Grace patients. I don't know what Grace means."
George Shepard, an 88-year-old Delaware gynecologist hired as medical director at Elkton, was asked by investigators whether the Elkton facility was called "Grace something."
"I've heard the word Grace, but I'm not sure that they call it that," he responded. "All I know is Elkton."
The latest inquiry was launched after one of Brigham's bistate abortions went awry. An 18-year-old New Jersey woman who was 21 weeks pregnant suffered life-threatening complications Aug. 13 and had to be airlifted from Elkton to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. She and a Hopkins physician later filed complaints.
Investigators soon discovered that Brigham has never had a medical license in Maryland. They also seized 35 frozen fetuses and fetal parts from Elkton, but they could not find medical records for 33 of those abortions either in Elkton or Voorhees.
Brigham has a hearing scheduled for Oct. 13 before the New Jersey Board of Medical Examiners to say why he should not lose his medical license there, the only state where he still has one. Pennsylvania, New York, and Florida took away his practice privileges in the 1990s.
Although Grace Medical Services was a regulatory phantom, it caught the attention of other abortion providers last summer. They were startled because its online ad explicitly offered "abortions up to 36 weeks" - two weeks shy of a full-term delivery - a risky procedure most doctors are loath to perform. The website said payments had to be in cash, while practically all providers accept health insurance. And not only was no address listed, but Grace Medical's phone receptionist would not readily divulge it.
Even in this era of heightened security amid fears of antiabortion violence, the secrecy seemed intended to hide the clinic, not protect it, said Vicki Saporta, president of the National Abortion Federation. The trade group, whose members must meet care standards, has long excluded and criticized Brigham.
Grace Medical's website says it is in a suburb "just minutes from Philadelphia" in a "multi-story, multi-practice professional building." That fits Brigham's Voorhees headquarters.
The Voorhees facility, as well as his five other New Jersey locations, has never been approved to perform abortions beyond 14 weeks, when the fetus becomes too big to be extracted by mechanical suction. The charges explain the reason why: The clinics do not meet state safety requirements for outpatient surgery. Brigham has no hospital privileges if a patient needs emergency care. And he does not have certification from the Board of Medical Examiners, which requires doctors doing late abortions to have "superior training."
To skirt these rules, the charges say, Brigham exploited the complicated medical protocol used for late abortions: On the first day in Voorhees, he inserts absorbent rods to slowly widen the patient's cervix over 24 hours, and gives the fetus a lethal injection of digoxin. On the second day in Voorhees, the patient receives a labor-inducing drug called Cytotec. Then the patient and her driver follow Brigham to the Elkton clinic, where he dismembers and extracts the fetus.
The 18-year-old - one of three patients on Aug. 13 - told investigators their hour-long car caravan to Elkton was a surprise because she had been led to believe Voorhees staff would take her to a surgery center in Philadelphia.
"Transportation in a private vehicle for completion at a distant location is dangerous to the patient," the charges say.
Brigham falsified recovery room records to make his Elkton abortions appear to have been performed by Shepard or Walker, authorities allege.
Those records list terminations up to 33 weeks of pregnancy and payments, most ranging from about $900 to $2,600. Some patients are identified with the notation "Grace."
Maryland has temporarily suspended Shepard's license for aiding Brigham. It has also suspended Nicola Riley, a Utah physician whom Brigham hired in July to work part-time. No disciplinary action has been taken against Walker.
Under Brigham's guidance, Riley did the abortion that left the 18-year-old with a hole in her uterus and bowel, authorities say. Riley's three-page summary is handwritten on forms headed "Grace Medical Services."
Maryland has few restrictions on abortions performed after the fetus is "viable" - meaning able to survive outside the womb, at about 24 weeks. It allows such abortions to preserve the mother's health, or if the fetus has a serious abnormality.
Grace Medical's website says it specializes in caring for women who need late abortions because of maternal or fetal health problems.
Records released Monday of three post-viability abortions show one involved a 33-week-old Down's syndrome fetus, for which Grace Medical charged $21,900. But another case involved 25-week-old twin fetuses that the parents wanted to abort because they felt "stress" and regret that they had conceived through fertility treatment with donated sperm. In a third case, no health problems were documented - until the 20-year-old Pittsburgh woman could not go to the bathroom because of the absorbent rods.
She wound up being rushed from her hotel, in labor, to Virtua Hospital in Voorhees where she delivered a dead fetus.
Brigham has a history of doing abortions that straddle state lines. That was one of the reasons New Jersey restricted his license in 1993. He was accused of malpractice and incompetence in six abortions, including one started in his Voorhees clinic and completed in a facility he ran in New York at the time.
Brigham's license was stripped in New York, but in New Jersey, he got it restored after three years of appeals.
Back then, the prosecutors argued that Brigham's insertion of the absorbent cervical rods, called "laminaria," was tantamount to doing a late abortion in Voorhees. An administrative judge ultimately disagreed, saying the rules did not address the use of dilators.
This time around, investigators have documents that show Brigham not only inserted laminaria, but injected a drug to kill the fetus and gave another drug to induce labor - all in Voorhees.
Investigators also cite the consent forms that Brigham's patients must sign.
"Remember that your abortion really begins," says one form, "when the laminaria is inserted into your cervix."
Posted on Tue, Sep. 21, 2010
Inquirer Staff Writer
For more than a year online, "Grace Medical Care" has advertised abortions up to the last few weeks of pregnancy. It said it's located in a Philadelphia suburb, yet kept the address secret. And it has operated without the knowledge of state regulatory authorities.
Now, for the first time, the New Jersey Attorney General's Office says the person behind the clandestine enterprise is Steven Chase Brigham, the physician being investigated by New Jersey and Maryland on suspicion of licensing and criminal offenses.
Brigham's attorney, Joseph Gorrell of Roseland, N.J., did not return a call or e-mail requesting comment.
Brigham, 54, who has been in and out of trouble for much of his two-decade career, operates at least a dozen abortion clinics in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia under the name American Women's Services.
He has many other "entities," including Grace Medical Care, also called Grace Medical Services, say the attorney general's Sept. 8 charges.
Variations of Grace Medical turn up repeatedly in late-term abortion records recently seized from Brigham's offices.
Authorities said he initiated those abortions in the Voorhees headquarters of American Women's Services, then finished them the next day in Elkton, Md. - a scheme authorities say was designed to evade outpatient-surgery rules.
New Jersey is also looking into why state agencies that oversee businesses and medical facilities have no records for Grace Medical, said the attorney general's spokesman, Paul Loriquet.
Grace Medical remained a mystery even to doctors recruited by Brigham over the last year to work in Elkton, transcripts of interviews with investigators show.
Kimberly Walker, a young doctor who began training with Brigham in January, told investigators: "He basically calls the later-[term] cases, he calls them Grace patients. I don't know what Grace means."
George Shepard, an 88-year-old Delaware gynecologist hired as medical director at Elkton, was asked by investigators whether the Elkton facility was called "Grace something."
"I've heard the word Grace, but I'm not sure that they call it that," he responded. "All I know is Elkton."
The latest inquiry was launched after one of Brigham's bistate abortions went awry. An 18-year-old New Jersey woman who was 21 weeks pregnant suffered life-threatening complications Aug. 13 and had to be airlifted from Elkton to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. She and a Hopkins physician later filed complaints.
Investigators soon discovered that Brigham has never had a medical license in Maryland. They also seized 35 frozen fetuses and fetal parts from Elkton, but they could not find medical records for 33 of those abortions either in Elkton or Voorhees.
Brigham has a hearing scheduled for Oct. 13 before the New Jersey Board of Medical Examiners to say why he should not lose his medical license there, the only state where he still has one. Pennsylvania, New York, and Florida took away his practice privileges in the 1990s.
Although Grace Medical Services was a regulatory phantom, it caught the attention of other abortion providers last summer. They were startled because its online ad explicitly offered "abortions up to 36 weeks" - two weeks shy of a full-term delivery - a risky procedure most doctors are loath to perform. The website said payments had to be in cash, while practically all providers accept health insurance. And not only was no address listed, but Grace Medical's phone receptionist would not readily divulge it.
Even in this era of heightened security amid fears of antiabortion violence, the secrecy seemed intended to hide the clinic, not protect it, said Vicki Saporta, president of the National Abortion Federation. The trade group, whose members must meet care standards, has long excluded and criticized Brigham.
Grace Medical's website says it is in a suburb "just minutes from Philadelphia" in a "multi-story, multi-practice professional building." That fits Brigham's Voorhees headquarters.
The Voorhees facility, as well as his five other New Jersey locations, has never been approved to perform abortions beyond 14 weeks, when the fetus becomes too big to be extracted by mechanical suction. The charges explain the reason why: The clinics do not meet state safety requirements for outpatient surgery. Brigham has no hospital privileges if a patient needs emergency care. And he does not have certification from the Board of Medical Examiners, which requires doctors doing late abortions to have "superior training."
To skirt these rules, the charges say, Brigham exploited the complicated medical protocol used for late abortions: On the first day in Voorhees, he inserts absorbent rods to slowly widen the patient's cervix over 24 hours, and gives the fetus a lethal injection of digoxin. On the second day in Voorhees, the patient receives a labor-inducing drug called Cytotec. Then the patient and her driver follow Brigham to the Elkton clinic, where he dismembers and extracts the fetus.
The 18-year-old - one of three patients on Aug. 13 - told investigators their hour-long car caravan to Elkton was a surprise because she had been led to believe Voorhees staff would take her to a surgery center in Philadelphia.
"Transportation in a private vehicle for completion at a distant location is dangerous to the patient," the charges say.
Brigham falsified recovery room records to make his Elkton abortions appear to have been performed by Shepard or Walker, authorities allege.
Those records list terminations up to 33 weeks of pregnancy and payments, most ranging from about $900 to $2,600. Some patients are identified with the notation "Grace."
Maryland has temporarily suspended Shepard's license for aiding Brigham. It has also suspended Nicola Riley, a Utah physician whom Brigham hired in July to work part-time. No disciplinary action has been taken against Walker.
Under Brigham's guidance, Riley did the abortion that left the 18-year-old with a hole in her uterus and bowel, authorities say. Riley's three-page summary is handwritten on forms headed "Grace Medical Services."
Maryland has few restrictions on abortions performed after the fetus is "viable" - meaning able to survive outside the womb, at about 24 weeks. It allows such abortions to preserve the mother's health, or if the fetus has a serious abnormality.
Grace Medical's website says it specializes in caring for women who need late abortions because of maternal or fetal health problems.
Records released Monday of three post-viability abortions show one involved a 33-week-old Down's syndrome fetus, for which Grace Medical charged $21,900. But another case involved 25-week-old twin fetuses that the parents wanted to abort because they felt "stress" and regret that they had conceived through fertility treatment with donated sperm. In a third case, no health problems were documented - until the 20-year-old Pittsburgh woman could not go to the bathroom because of the absorbent rods.
She wound up being rushed from her hotel, in labor, to Virtua Hospital in Voorhees where she delivered a dead fetus.
Brigham has a history of doing abortions that straddle state lines. That was one of the reasons New Jersey restricted his license in 1993. He was accused of malpractice and incompetence in six abortions, including one started in his Voorhees clinic and completed in a facility he ran in New York at the time.
Brigham's license was stripped in New York, but in New Jersey, he got it restored after three years of appeals.
Back then, the prosecutors argued that Brigham's insertion of the absorbent cervical rods, called "laminaria," was tantamount to doing a late abortion in Voorhees. An administrative judge ultimately disagreed, saying the rules did not address the use of dilators.
This time around, investigators have documents that show Brigham not only inserted laminaria, but injected a drug to kill the fetus and gave another drug to induce labor - all in Voorhees.
Investigators also cite the consent forms that Brigham's patients must sign.
"Remember that your abortion really begins," says one form, "when the laminaria is inserted into your cervix."
Voorhees doctor idle pending board action
September 11, 2010
NEWARK — A Voorhees doctor accused of moving
an abortion patient across state lines has agreed to
stop practicing medicine in the state until the Board
of Medical Examiners considers a move to suspend
his license.
According to the board, Dr. Steven C. Brigham
denies violating New Jersey statutes on the practice
of medicine, but has voluntarily agreed to stop
practicing so he can prepare his defense against the
board's allegations. He agreed on Friday to stop
practicing on Sept. 16.
The board will consider the attorney general's
application that Brigham's license be suspended at
its regular meeting on Oct. 13.
Authorities say Brigham started late-term abortions
at his clinic on Alpha Avenue in Voorhees, where he
wasn't permitted to perform them, and finished them
a day later in Maryland, where he has been ordered
to stop practicing.
NEWARK — A Voorhees doctor accused of moving
an abortion patient across state lines has agreed to
stop practicing medicine in the state until the Board
of Medical Examiners considers a move to suspend
his license.
According to the board, Dr. Steven C. Brigham
denies violating New Jersey statutes on the practice
of medicine, but has voluntarily agreed to stop
practicing so he can prepare his defense against the
board's allegations. He agreed on Friday to stop
practicing on Sept. 16.
The board will consider the attorney general's
application that Brigham's license be suspended at
its regular meeting on Oct. 13.
Authorities say Brigham started late-term abortions
at his clinic on Alpha Avenue in Voorhees, where he
wasn't permitted to perform them, and finished them
a day later in Maryland, where he has been ordered
to stop practicing.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Enhanced Post-Abortion Site Exists to Help Women
Blackwood, New Jersey, December 4, 2009 – The Stacy Zallie Foundation (http://www.stacyzallie.org), a site where women can find post-abortion information and related counseling help, recently improved the usability and resources on its Web site. Foundation founder, George J. Zallie, hopes the site’s enhancements will enable more women to find the right post-abortive outlets for them. The site hosts pages to find counselors, an associated blog, and links to another support Web site, Abortion Changes You, which also offers counselor resources and diary-like stories from women and men who have experienced abortion.
The site offers many informational options. Information related to post-abortion counseling resources stems from the Web site’s homepage. In addition, a search box at the upper right-hand corner of the homepage allows women to insert their zip code to find resources in their immediate area. “I want the site to be known as a place where women can find the help they desire,” states George J. Zallie. “The site functions in conjunction with Abortion Changes You site, which also offers a large number of resources as well as first-hand stories from women who have had an abortion. Abortion Changes You seeks to help women in the same manner as the Stacy Zallie Foundation. I am happy some of their site’s applications are available to our site’s visitors.”
The newly-enhanced Web site also features a blog, a page to find past and upcoming news about the organization, and a page to place donations to the Stacy Zallie Foundation. The blog will feature post-abortion facts and associated information. The ‘In the Press’ section will feature past and future foundation-related news such as the Celebrity Golf Outing, which took place in September.
George J. Zallie is resolute in regards to The Stacy Zallie Foundation’s mission. “We want to facilitate the well-being and happiness of women,” informs Zallie. “I understand abortion is a highly-sensitive issue, which produces many and varying sentiments; but, The Stacy Foundation wants to help all women, therefore, it has no political, religious, or ethical agendas. We solely exist to help.”
The Stacy Zallie Foundation's mission is to facilitate the well-being and happiness of women who have undergone an abortion. Our Web site (www.stacyzallie.org) offers resources and post-abortive stories to help women cope with potential, present-and-ongoing mental and emotional challenges. Our sole purpose is to promote the joyous and well-adjusted lives of women; we do not foster any political, religious, or ethical implications. The Stacy Zallie Foundation exists to help.
Contact:
stacyzallie.org@gmail.com
The site offers many informational options. Information related to post-abortion counseling resources stems from the Web site’s homepage. In addition, a search box at the upper right-hand corner of the homepage allows women to insert their zip code to find resources in their immediate area. “I want the site to be known as a place where women can find the help they desire,” states George J. Zallie. “The site functions in conjunction with Abortion Changes You site, which also offers a large number of resources as well as first-hand stories from women who have had an abortion. Abortion Changes You seeks to help women in the same manner as the Stacy Zallie Foundation. I am happy some of their site’s applications are available to our site’s visitors.”
The newly-enhanced Web site also features a blog, a page to find past and upcoming news about the organization, and a page to place donations to the Stacy Zallie Foundation. The blog will feature post-abortion facts and associated information. The ‘In the Press’ section will feature past and future foundation-related news such as the Celebrity Golf Outing, which took place in September.
George J. Zallie is resolute in regards to The Stacy Zallie Foundation’s mission. “We want to facilitate the well-being and happiness of women,” informs Zallie. “I understand abortion is a highly-sensitive issue, which produces many and varying sentiments; but, The Stacy Foundation wants to help all women, therefore, it has no political, religious, or ethical agendas. We solely exist to help.”
The Stacy Zallie Foundation's mission is to facilitate the well-being and happiness of women who have undergone an abortion. Our Web site (www.stacyzallie.org) offers resources and post-abortive stories to help women cope with potential, present-and-ongoing mental and emotional challenges. Our sole purpose is to promote the joyous and well-adjusted lives of women; we do not foster any political, religious, or ethical implications. The Stacy Zallie Foundation exists to help.
Contact:
stacyzallie.org@gmail.com
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
The Stacy Zallie Foundation Celebrity Golf Outing
Clementon, New Jersey, July 28, 2009 – George J. Zallie, owner of several, local ShopRite stores and founder of The Stacy Zallie Foundation, is hosting the 2009 Celebrity Golf Classic at Valleybrook Country Club on September 9. The yearly outing, which benefits The Stacy Zallie Foundation, was implemented by Zallie in order for participants to meet and play with celebrities from the sports, media, and entertainment industries, while raising funds for a good cause.
Mr. Zallie began The Stacy Zallie Foundation in 2003 to honor the memory of his daughter, Stacy. The foundation’s mission is to facilitate the mental stability and happiness of women who have undergone an abortion procedure. “Stacy’s foundation is focused on helping women,” states Zallie. “The foundation has no political, ethical, or religious agendas. It exists to honor Stacy and to carry out what she wanted to do with her life – help people.”
The Wednesday, September 9 golf outing, taking place at Ron Jaworkski’s Valley Brook Country Club in Blackwood, offers many sponsorship opportunities for local people and businesses to support Stacy’s foundation. “First, the outing is always a great time,” relays Mr. Zallie. “There will be a lot of laughing; maybe some good golfing; and, good people gathered together for a great cause. Those interested can engage in play, or just support the cause, in a variety of ways including individual and multi-player sponsorships, as well as the purchase of advertising in the tournament magazine, which will be distributed through a network of businesses, civic organizations, and at the event.”
The celebrity-filled outing affords participants the opportunity to meet, play, and socialize with well-known personalities. “Par sponsorship” (granting four players a spot in the tournament) or “Individual Sponsorship” enables play with a celebrity captain, a gift package, lunch and dinner, a picture plaque with the celebrity captain, as well as opportunities to win prizes throughout the day. Those wanting to show support can also purchase print advertising ranging from full-page to quarter-page ads.
Additional information about The Stacy Zallie Foundation and sponsorship prices for the September 9 golf outing can be found at www.stacyzallie.org.
The Stacy Zallie Foundation was founded in 2003. The foundation’s sole purpose is to promote non-judgmental, post-abortion care. The foundation was formed and persists with the mission to help women in honor of the name and life of Stacy Zallie.
Mr. Zallie began The Stacy Zallie Foundation in 2003 to honor the memory of his daughter, Stacy. The foundation’s mission is to facilitate the mental stability and happiness of women who have undergone an abortion procedure. “Stacy’s foundation is focused on helping women,” states Zallie. “The foundation has no political, ethical, or religious agendas. It exists to honor Stacy and to carry out what she wanted to do with her life – help people.”
The Wednesday, September 9 golf outing, taking place at Ron Jaworkski’s Valley Brook Country Club in Blackwood, offers many sponsorship opportunities for local people and businesses to support Stacy’s foundation. “First, the outing is always a great time,” relays Mr. Zallie. “There will be a lot of laughing; maybe some good golfing; and, good people gathered together for a great cause. Those interested can engage in play, or just support the cause, in a variety of ways including individual and multi-player sponsorships, as well as the purchase of advertising in the tournament magazine, which will be distributed through a network of businesses, civic organizations, and at the event.”
The celebrity-filled outing affords participants the opportunity to meet, play, and socialize with well-known personalities. “Par sponsorship” (granting four players a spot in the tournament) or “Individual Sponsorship” enables play with a celebrity captain, a gift package, lunch and dinner, a picture plaque with the celebrity captain, as well as opportunities to win prizes throughout the day. Those wanting to show support can also purchase print advertising ranging from full-page to quarter-page ads.
Additional information about The Stacy Zallie Foundation and sponsorship prices for the September 9 golf outing can be found at www.stacyzallie.org.
The Stacy Zallie Foundation was founded in 2003. The foundation’s sole purpose is to promote non-judgmental, post-abortion care. The foundation was formed and persists with the mission to help women in honor of the name and life of Stacy Zallie.
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