By Cheryl Sullenger
Germantown, MD – Despite heavy redactions made by the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service, 911 recordings just obtained by Operation Rescue reveal that two of LeRoy Carhart’s late-term abortion patients suffered life-threatening medical emergencies with days of each other with one of the woman coming close to death.
Ambulances were filmed at Germantown Reproductive Health Services (GRHS), a late-term abortion facility located in Germantown, Maryland, where Carhart conducts abortions throughout all nine months of pregnancy, on March 20, March 30, and April 4, 2016.
There was no 911 call available for the incident on March 30, when a private ambulance was employed to transport a Carhart abortion patient.
However, 911 recordings were available for medical emergencies at GRHS that occurred on March 20 and April 4.
During an unusual Sunday call on March 20, GRHS Clinic Administrator Ashley Mouktafi can be heard making a desperate plea for immediate assistance:
We’re having some really bad vitals. We need somebody here now!
The rest of Mouktafi’s answers to the dispatcher’s questions about what happened and the patient’s condition were redacted from the recording, but witnesses on the scene described the woman as an “underage” patient. Scanner traffic indicated that the patient was suffering from “heart problems.” The dispatcher’s questioning was consistent with a possible heart attack.
During Sunday appointments, Carhart routinely sees only abortion patients who are far advanced into their pregnancies. The first appointment in the late-term abortion process involves giving the patient a shot of digoxin or other drug through the abdomen and into the baby to cause “fetal demise.” Thin dilator rods are then inserted into the opening of the cervix to slowly expand it in preparation for labor and delivery of the dead baby. Delivery of the baby’s remains can take place on day two, three, or four of the procedure, depending on the gestational age of the baby. Generally, the later the pregnancy, the longer the abortion process takes – and the riskier it becomes. [Read more about how late-term abortions are done.]
Based on what is known about how Carhart’s abortion business operates, it is most likely that something went wrong either during the digoxin injection or during the laminaria insertion.
“Could it be that Carhart muffed the digoxin shot and somehow injected the lethal drug into his patient? We may never know,” said Newman. “But we do know that this young girl was transported to the hospital where she had to undergo rigorous emergency treatment. This fits the very definition of a botched procedure.”
On April 4, Mouktufi again dialed 911 for another late-term abortion patient. While her responses to the dispatcher’s questions about the patient’s condition were again heavily redacted, the line of questioning was consistent with a patient who was suffering from uncontrolled bleeding.
This was corroborated by radio traffic, earlier obtained by Operation Rescue, which indicated paramedics were responding to an emergency involving “hemorrhage.”
Witnesses with the Maryland Coalition for Life tell Operation Rescue that the rest of the day’s appointments at GRHS were cancelled and all patients were sent home after the injured woman was transported.
Carhart patients have been transported from GRHS by ambulance six times in the past five months. Combined with similar incidents at Carhart’s Nebraska abortion facility, 14 Carhart abortion patients have been hospitalized since 2012.
“With Carhart’s advanced age and the increasing frequency of life-threatening abortion emergencies, it becomes obvious that competency issues must be addressed,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. “Carhart is a proven menace that has already killed two patients and continues to pose a serious danger to woman. If the Maryland Medical Board continues to turn a blind eye to this growing danger, there is no doubt that Carhart will kill again — as he nearly did just a few days ago.”
Please join us in contacting the Maryland Board of Physicians to tell them to shut Carhart down.
Maryland Board of Physicians (Dept. of Health and Mental Hygiene):
Voice: 410-764-4777
E-mail: dhmh.healthmd@maryland.gov
(Corrected phone number)
Recent Carhart Medical Emergencies
• April 4, 2016, Germantown, MD: Hemorrhaging late-term abortion patient transported to emergency room. All other patients sent home. (Video, 911 recording, Scanner audio)
• March 30, 2016, Germantown, MD: Private ambulance called for late-term abortion patient. (Video, 911 recording, Scanner audio)
• March 20, 2016, Germantown, MD: Underaged woman transported to Shady Grove Hospital suffering “heart problems.” (Video, 911 recording, Scanner audio)
• February 4, 2016, Bellevue, NE: Woman transported to hospital suffering from an incomplete abortion. (Video)
• January 19, 2016, Germantown, MD: Late-term abortion patient bleeding seriously transported to hospital. (Video and 911 recording)
• December 15, 2015, Germantown, MD: Abortion patient transported to emergency room while Carhart accompanies.
• July 2, 2014, Germantown, MD: African-American abortion patient transported to hospital.
• April 26, 2014, Bellevue, NE: Patient, 37, suffered from abdominal pain after Carhart had an “issue with the procedure.” (Video with 911 recording)
• March 4, 2014, Germantown, MD: Patient hemorrhaged after 2nd trimester abortion complications.
• November 30, 2013, Bellevue, NE: Patient suffered 2nd trimester abortion complications.
• November 26, 2013, Germantown, MD: Patient required emergency surgery. (Video with 911 recording)
• July 9, 2013, Germantown, MD: Patient hemorrhaged. (Video with 911 recording)
• February 7, 2013, Germantown, MD: Patient Jennifer Morbelli died of 3rd trimester abortion complications. (Autopsy Report)
• March 31, 2012, Bellevue, NE: Patient heard moaning and screaming during 911 call (Video with 911 recording.)
How would one know whether or not she did actually die? How is it that we don’t know for certain just how many of his patients has died? Germantown, Maryland feels very much like her neighbor to the north, Gosnell’s Pennsylvania, with responsible authorities moving at a snail’s pace to do basically nothing to stop this horror.
E-mail sent to MD Board of Physicians.
This is the response I received via e-mail from the MD “Office of Health Care Quality” :
“Thank you for expressing your concerns regarding Germantown Reproductive Health Services. While the Maryland Board of Physicians oversees licensed physicians, the Office of Health Care Quality oversees the quality of care in health-care facilities and community-based providers throughout Maryland. This includes the licensure and relicensure of surgical abortion facilities. Additionally, all complaints related to surgical abortion facilities are reviewed, triaged, and investigated, as appropriate. OHCQ refers concerns related to licensed individuals, such as physicians or nurses, to their respective licensing board. OHCQ does not regulate medical offices that provide medical abortions.
Maryland’s surgical abortion regulations cover the administrator’s responsibilities; qualifications of physicians and other staff; surgical abortion procedures; anesthesia services; emergency services, including transfer of patients to a hospital; pharmaceutical services; laboratory and radiologic services; medical records; patients’ right and responsibilities; physical environment; and the quality assurance program. Surgical abortion facilities that fail to seek licensure or fail to meet acceptable standards will not be permitted to operate in Maryland.”
Tricia Nay
Executive Director
Office of Health Care Quality