Published : Jan. 20, 2011 - 17:36
The Women's Medical Society in Philadelphia, is shown Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2010. (AP)
PHILADELPHIA (AP) _ A doctor who gave abortions to minorities, immigrants and poor women in a ``house of horrors'' clinic was charged with eight counts of murder in the deaths of a patient and seven babies who were born alive and then killed with scissors, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Dr. Kermit Gosnell, 69, made millions of dollars over 30 years, performing as many illegal, late-term abortions as he could, prosecutors said. State regulators ignored complaints about him and failed to inspect his clinic since 1993, but no charges were warranted against them given time limits and existing law, District Attorney Seth Williams said.
Nine of Gosnell's employees also were charged.
Gosnell ``induced labor, forced the live birth of viable babies in the sixth, seventh, eighth month of pregnancy and then killed those babies by cutting into the back of the neck with scissors and severing their spinal cord,'' Williams said.
Patients were subjected to squalid and barbaric conditions at Gosnell's Women's Medical Society, where Gosnell performed dozens of abortions a day, prosecutors said. He mostly worked overnight hours after his untrained staff administered drugs to induce labor during the day, they said.
Early last year, authorities went to investigate drug-related complaints at the clinic and stumbled on what Williams called a ``house of horrors.''
Bags and bottles holding aborted fetuses ``were scattered throughout the building,'' Williams said. ``There were jars, lining shelves, with severed feet that he kept for no medical purpose.''
The clinic was shut down and Gosnell's medical license was suspended after the raid.
Gosnell and four workers were charged with murder, while five others were charged with controlled drug violations and other crimes. None of the employees had any medical training, and one, a high school student, performed intravenous anesthesia with potentially lethal narcotics, Williams said.
All 10 defendants were taken into custody, authorities said.
Two listed numbers for Gosnell in Philadelphia have been disconnected. Defense lawyer William J. Brennan, who represented Gosnell during the investigation, noted that the doctor served patients in a low-income city neighborhood for decades.
``Obviously, these allegations are very, very serious,'' Brennan said.
The grand jury said the woman who died was a patient who came to Gosnell's clinic for an abortion and died of cardiac arrest because she was given too much Demerol. Gosnell wasn't at the clinic at the time, but directed his staff to administer the drug to keep the woman, a healthy 41-year-old, sedated until he arrived, prosecutors said.
Gosnell has been named in at least 46 malpractice suits, including one over the death of a 22-year-old mother who died of sepsis and a perforated uterus in 2000. Many others also involve perforated uteruses. Gosnell sometimes sewed up the injury without telling women their uteruses had been perforated, prosecutors said.
Gosnell charged $325 for first-trimester abortions and $1,600 to $3,000 for abortions up to 30 weeks. Abortions are legal up to 24 weeks gestation in Pennsylvania, although most doctors won't perform them after 20 weeks, prosecutors said.
Some women came from across the mid-Atlantic for the illegal late-term abortions, authorities said. White women from the suburbs were ushered into a separate, slightly cleaner area because Gosnell believed they were more likely to file complaints, Williams said.
``People knew near and far that if you needed a late-term abortion you could go see Dr. Gosnell,'' Williams said.
Few if any of the sedated women knew their babies were born alive and then killed, prosecutors said. Many were first-time mothers who were told they were 24 weeks pregnant, even if they were further along, authorities said.
Gosnell got his medical degree from Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia and is board certified in family practice. He started, but did not finish, a residency in obstetrics-gynecology, authorities said.
``He does not know how to do an abortion. He's not board certified,'' Assistant District Attorney Joanne Pescatore said.
``Once he got them there, he saw dollar signs and did abortions that other people wouldn't do.''
태아 7명 살해한 美 `공포의 의사'
미국의 한 산부인과 의사가 임신 후기 태아들을 자궁에서 빼내 살해한 혐의로 19일(현지시각) 현지 검찰에 기소됐다.
펜실베이니아주(州) 검찰에 따르면 커밋 고스넬(69) 박사는 자신이 운영하는 낙태전문 병원에서 태아 7명을 이같은 수법으로 살해하고 산모 한 명에게는 진통제를 과다 처방해 숨지게 한 혐의를 받고 있다.
펜실베이니아주 정부는 임신 24주가 지나고 나서는 낙태하지 못하도록 주법으로 규정하고 있으며 의사들도 통상 20주 이후에는 산모의 건강이 위험해질 우려가 있어 시술하지 않고 있다.
부득이 임신 후기에 낙태시술을 할 경우 태아의 신체를 자궁 내에서 일단 해체하고서 밖으로 빼내는 방식이 일반적이다.
그러나 조사 결과 고스넬 박사는 6~8개월 된 태아를 산 채로 유도분만하고 나서 의료도구를 이용해 숨지게 한 것으로 드러났다.
심지어 그는 초음파 진단 결과를 조작, 실제보다 임신 기간이 짧다고 말해 모를 안심시켰으며 직원들에게는 영상에 나타난 태아 크기가 실제보다 작아 보이도록 조작하라고 시킨 것으로 조사됐다.
고스넬 박사는 이같은 수법으로 지난 30년간 수천건에 이르는 위험 낙태시술을해 수백만달러를 벌어들였다고 검찰은 전했다.
검찰은 이번에 확인된 사례 외에도 수많은 태아가 이같은 수법으로 살해당했을 개연성이 있다는 판단이나 고스넬 박사가 관련 서류를 이미 소각해버려 추가 기소는 어렵다고 보고 있다.
더구나 고스넬 박사가 운영하는 병원이 전부터 위생상태가 열악하기로 유명했음에도 지금껏 단속의 손길이 닿지 않은 것으로 드러나 의료감독체계에 구멍이 뚫렸다는 지적이 나오고 있다.
해당 병원은 빈곤층과 이민자, 소수인종 등 사회적 소수자가 주로 이용하는 곳이었으며, 극히 더럽고 늘 지독한 냄새가 나 `공포의 집'으로 알려졌을 정도였는데도 주정부 당국은 이를 전혀 몰랐다고 검찰은 밝혔다.
검찰은 이번 사건에 대해 "펜실베이니아는 제3세계가 아니다. 여러 감독기관이 벌써 오래 전 이 병원을 발견해 문을 닫았어야 했다"면서 이번 일을 "단속력의 완전한 붕괴"라고 지적했다. (연합뉴스)