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In 1989, The Miami Herald caught wind of the goings-on at Dadeland, and did a big expose. They found that the Dade Medical Investigator had requested an investigation of Dadeland after Ellen Williams' death. Since Dadeland had copies of the doctors' licenses, disposed of fetuses properly, and kept records on the patients, it passed the inspection.
And, of course, the Florida prochoice community, led by activists like Ms. Compton-Carr, wasn't exactly screaming for reform. The abortion mill at Dadeland went grinding merrily along.
It wasn't botched abortions, selling abortions to women who weren't pregnant, or other patient care problems that closed Dadeland. It was the IRS. Dadeland's assets were seized by the IRS for unpaid taxes.
The only bidder on the equipment and furnishings was: Betty Eason. Since she owned the building, she was able to re-open in just over one month, re-incorporated as Tarus Management Services. She hired two doctors, Steve Silvers and Scott Duncan, "who needed quick cash to repay loans," and went back into the abortion business as Women's Service Center.
A Health and Rehabilitative Services investigation found that of the six physicians, only five had current licenses. The other was dispensing medications without a license. The clinic did not employ an RN or LPN.
Two unlicensed staff were performing patient care: an employee who had dropped out of school in the ninth grade was prepping patients, prepping and sterilizing equipment, assisting during abortions, packaging fetal remains for pathology tests using a blood-contaminated kitchen strainer, and dispensed and administered medications; the other unlicensed employee monitored the patients in the recovery room. Laboratory tests were performed on-site by unlicensed personnel.
Medications were being stored with soft drinks. Syringes of Lidocaine, and other medications, were improperly stored. Medications had passed their expiration dates. There were inaccurate records of dispensed medications. Some medications were unlabeled or mislabled.
Single-use equipment was being reused. The paper used to wrap instruments for sterilization was repeatedly reused until it was bloody or ripped.
The aspirator (vacuum machine used to do abortions) had residue in it, and staff were unable to report when it had last been cleaned and santized. One disused aspirator still appeared to contain tissues from the last abortion performed with it.
The clinic had no policy and procedures for patient confidentiality. No follow-up was done on patients with incomplete abortions and ectopic pregnancies. Oxygen tanks were leaking and improperly stored. And -- shades of Dadeland -- pregnancy was not definitively determined prior to proceeding with abortions.
The Miami Herald spoke to an inspector. One said, "It was 10 times, 100 times worse than I thought it would be. As a nurse .. I was appalled." The head of Health and Rehabilitative Services said, "This clinic is the closest thing to a back-alley abortion mill that you can find, considering that abortion is legal."
And Eason had re-hired our old friend, Nabil Ghali.
Eason said, "I have nothing to hide." She defended the re-use of curettes by saying, "The termination of pregnancy itself is not a sterile procedure. When you put the curette in the vagina, it becomes unsterile right there." As if that justifies putting the previous patient's dirty curette into the next patient's uterus.
The state managed to obtain an emergency closure of the facility, but Eason was able to re-open after agreeing to 22 stipulations, including "definitively determining pregnancy" prior to abortions, and ensuring that the medical equipment was "free from contamination and foreign matter." (Miami Herald 9-26-89, 9-28-89, 9-30-89, 1-4-90; The News Herald 9-26-89; Associated Press 9-25-89)
The Florida abortion scene remains seedy, as exemplified by the death of Carolina Gutierrez in 1996, and the injury of a 16-year-old girl by the unlicensed Jose Casso in 2001.
What's the illustrious Betty Eason doing with herself? Is she still in the abortion business? What's become of Nabil Ghali? Since abortion malpractice doesn't get the same relentless press antiabortion wrongdoing gets, it's hard to say. If you know, drop me a line.
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