Carhart Sends Another Woman To MD Hospital - Third This Year!

On Feb 7th and July 9th of this year, Leroy Carhart caused two women to be hospitalized as a result of abortions they received at his Germantown facility; for more details read this link.  The woman from Feb 7th, Jennifer Morbelli, died as a direct result of his abortion procedures.

Because of the death, the State of Maryland Office of Health Care Quality conducted an "investigation" of Carhart's practice - or at least went through the motions of doing so.  In May they cleared the Carhart practice.  I learned of this in the Gazette and wrote an open letter to them.  Among other things I pointed out that Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Secretary, Dr Joshua Sharfstein was quoted as saying that "no deficiencies were found" at the Germantown mill - despite reports that are found on the DHMH site (Note: if they're gone, I took the precaution of downloading them, so just advise if they've, uh, "disappeared").  Oh, by the way!  At their October 2013 "evening of chocolate" gala, Maryland NARAL gave one of their "Leadership Awards" to - (Bet you can't guess! - Aw, you peeked!) - Dr. Joshua Sharfstein!  Go to this Defend Life newsletter and scroll to page 12.  Lots of the folks at this event (that we picketed) just gushed with praise for Sharfstein.  And Family Research Council points out that Sharfstein racked up quite a pro-abortion resume.  Way back in April, Jill Stanek noticed Sharfstein's cozy relationships with abortionists.   If you want to see more, just google "Sharfstein NARAL" and you'll see an eyeful.

Boys and girls, given the above, can we all say "fox watching hen-house"?  His May report can be summed up in these words: "Nothing to see here, folks!  Move along!"  His report, along with his chequered career screams of "conflict of interest".  But perhaps I'm being a tad too harsh.  After all, this was just a few months before the July 9th ambulance pulled up at the front door of the Germantown abortuary.

Yesterday, November 26, 2013, 11:45 am, another ambulance pulled up at the door - the second in four months!  The video is below.  At this time I know no additional details.  Operation Rescue states that the woman was taken to Shady Grove Adventist where she underwent emergency surgery.  No staff accompanied her; in fact, as I watch the clip (below) I see no family nor friend get into the ambulance and it doesn't appear that any car was preparing to follow them.  Recall that Carhart has no admitting privileges at any Maryland hospital.  If Maryland had a law similar to that of Texas, Carhart would have to remove his shingle from Germantown.

As long as Sharfstein and his bosses sit in their governmental perches, Carhart will not be dislodged.  In 2014 we have to change a lot of faces in Annapolis to bring about some real reform so that Maryland ceases being the pro-abortion mecca that it has become in recent years.  Now the video...

MD Abortionist Ordered To Halt Abortion Practice

I've written a bit about Maryland abortionist Harold Alexander in the past, detailing his wanton disregard for his patients.  Today Operation Rescue announced that the Maryland Physician's Board has issued to Alexander a "Cease and Desist" order.  Among the offenses that occasioned this order was the permitting of non-licensed employees to issue sedatives to patients.  The Operation Rescue page contains a link to the actual order.

Operation Rescue, its staff and its Maryland collaborators are to be commended for their dogged efforts in removing this one threat from the Maryland landscape.  Also to be commended in this instance are the Maryland Board of Physicians and Maryland Office of Health Care Quality.  We now pray that CINO O'Malley sees fit to act like a true public-servant governor and let them do their jobs.

Open Letter To The Gazette Papers Regarding Carhart Abortuary

Last February Maryland's Office of Health Care Quality investigated sixteen abortion centers in Maryland.  Of these, twelve were found to be deficient in meeting Maryland regulations.  The Germantown Reproductive Health Services, staffed by Leroy Carhart, was one of the twelve failures.  However, in a very strange article in the May 24th issue of the Gazette newspapers, Dr. Joshua Sharfstein of that Maryland office told the Gazette staff writer that no deficiencies were found at the Carhart center.  Thursday evening I sent the following letter to the Gazette.  I make it public below.  Please note that the hyperlinks will take you to all pertinent background information, including the reports on the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene site.  Now the letter follows:

In the May 24^th issue of the Gazette appeared the following article, “State investigation clears Germantown abortion clinic”.  Regrettably the article is factually inaccurate.  Yes, the Office of Health Care Quality did investigate Germantown Reproductive Health Services in February 2013.  On March 26, 2013, that office issued to the abortion clinic a “Notice of Current Deficiencies”.  In its very first paragraph it stated quite plainly that the facility was NOT in compliance with the requirements of the Code of Maryland Regulations 10.12.01.  The report, in its entirety, can be found at the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s web site; it is in pdf format and can be downloaded.  I link to it now.

Among the cited deficiencies of Germantown Reproductive Health Services are the following items:

• Nurses caring for sedated patients unable to document that they received adequate training.
•  At least three individuals functioning as registered nurses did not possess valid Maryland licenses
• No policies were in place to ensure that staff were trained to transfer patients to hospitals in the event of emergencies.  
• Single-dose medication vials were not discarded in accordance with regulations.
• Unlabeled pre-drawn syringes were found.
• Instruments were not properly cleaned and sanitized after usage.

The foregoing list is not exhaustive; additional shortcomings are listed in the report.

The Germantown abortion clinic was not the only one investigated by the Office of Health Care Quality.   Sixteen of Maryland’s abortion clinics were examined during the February time frame.  Of those sixteen, twelve failed the inspections.  Again, the reports are found (in downloadable format) on the DHMH website.  In fact, as the article states, four of these centers did have their licenses suspended due to the nature of the shortcomings found in those centers; details can be found in their individual reports.

Dr. Joshua Sharfstein told Senator Midddleton, Representative Hammen and presumably the Gazette staffer Ryan Marshall that “no deficiencies were found” at the Germantown facility.  If he omitted mention of these very significant and relevant reports that are clearly on the DHMH’s site, Dr. Sharfstein was not being completely forthcoming with these individuals and, by extension, to the citizens of Maryland.