by Ben Johnson
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA, April 7, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – An Alabama abortion clinic with a history of safety and medical violations will surrender its license. New Woman All Women Health Care clinic in Birmingham cease operations no later than May 18, following a scathing, 76 page report from the Alabama Department of Public Health.
According to a press release issued on Good Friday, the department found “significant failures in maintaining compliance with the Rules of the Alabama State Board of Health for the safe and effective provision of care.”
In January, two victims of a botched abortion on the site were carried to an ambulance’s gurney, because the facility is not accessible for emergency care workers. The ambulance had been turned away an hour earlier, then returned to the scene.
The state has determined its doors will close by May 18.
CEC For Life noted that the site’s infractions include:
Failure to maintain policies or procedures for administration of medications or medicine error which, on Jan 21, 2012, resulted in the hospitalization of at least three women.
- Regular practice of non-licensed employees performing procedures that require a licensed nurse or doctor.
- Use of equipment with inspection dates from 2007 or no inspection date at all.
- Inexperienced employees working independently with no documentation of training, which directly resulted in the hospitalization of two patients on January 21, 2012.
- Failure to keep accurate, complete medical records for patients. The state survey team found ultrasound photos dated days after procedures, numerous charts signed by an off-duty nurse, inconsistent time logs, and purposefully altered records.
Other deficiencies include lack of documentation for physicians, failure to follow-up with patients, and failure to monitor patients for discharge.
“New Woman boasts that it provides women’s health care, but anyone who reviews the Department of Health’s recent report can see what they really offer – unsafe procedures conducted by uncaring doctors and untrained employees,” said CEC For Life Director Fr. Terry Gensemer. “They have ignored the law, injured women, and lied to the state.”
The closure will leave five abortion clinics in Alabama, including a Planned Parenthood location in Birmingham.
The facility’s owner, Diane Derzis, also owns the only remaining abortion clinic in neighboring Mississippi, the Jackson Women’s Health Organization. A representative of Planned Parenthood said, “I am sick” about its prospects to remain open after the Mississippi state senate passed H.B. 1390, a bill requiring all state abortionists to be certified OB-GYNs with admitting privileges to a local hospital, on Thursday. Governor Phil Bryant has indicated he will sign the bill.
National headlines implied Derzis could close its doors if she failed to fulfill the new regulations. However, Barbara Whitehead, president of Mississippi Right to Life, told LifeSiteNews.com, “I honestly don’t think in itself [the law] will close it.”
Derzis is threatening to sue if she is unable to comply with the impending higher health and medical standards.
The Jackson facility became a site of confrontation on Wednesday, as a man with two hunting knives slashed a sign being held by pro-life activists. The group States of Refuge was reading the Bible in front of the clinic.
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