The General Medical Council in England heard during a hearing about how an abortion practitioner at the Marie Stopes International abortion business made women grope him while under anesthesia during abortions.
MSI anesthesiologist Narendra Sharma abused and molested patients during abortions, according to co-workers who testified during the hearing. Sharma, an anesthesiologist, allegedly rubbed his sexual areas against the hands of patients during the abortion.
Sharma is said to have molested three women getting abortions who were between the ages of 18 and 22 as they lay sedated. One nurse indicated she noticed Sharma’s pants were undone and that he had his penis exposed and was rubbing it against the woman’s hand.
Another staffer, according to the London Daily Mail, said she saw Sharma move the left-hand of a woman under anesthesia during an abortion under the operating table and inside his pants.
The hearing follows a criminal trial at Manchester Crown Court in April 2009 where Sharma was acquitted of three charges of non-consensual sexual activity. The women said Sharma had asked them personal questions while administering the anesthesia such as their favorite alcoholic beverage. They were eventually told by MSI staff that Sharma had engaged in the lewd behaviors with them during the abortion.
The Daily Mail indicates Tim Smith, counsel for the GMC, told members of the medical board about the problems and described what former staff told him.
“She observed what she described to the police as being a stroking movement which she considered to be inappropriate,” he said. “At the time, Dr Sharma was standing right up to the table. She could not see what it was that he was doing. It would seem that it went on long enough for alarm bells to ring with her.”
“It is the GMC’s case that Dr Sharma was using the hand of this semi-conscious patient undertaking this procedure for his own sexual stimulation and gratification,” he continued.
Smith indicates MSI eventually told Sharma that he would no longer allowed to work at its centers. Sharma, in response, defended his actions and said his pants were undone because a patient had kicked him and the zipper went down as a result.
He also claimed the Marie Stopes abortion facility was filled with staffers who engaged in racism, something Andrea Blair, former practice manager at the MSI abortion facility in Manchester, confirmed during the trial.
“There was a culture within Marie Stopes Manchester of quite open racism. The culture within the building was extremely racist,” she said, according to the Fleetwood Weekly News.
“There was some very open, upfront racism and there was a lot of cultural racism, where inappropriate things were being said, not malicious, more ignorance and education issues,” Blair added. “There was a lot of openly sexual banter.”
Blair said other staff members yelled at her when she tried to implement improvements and that she was subjected to yelling and profanities.
“I left the office frightened, intimidated and quite worried,” she added.
The trial in 2009 came after Marie Stopes International faced criticism from a coroner who said its policies resulted in the death of a 15-year-old girl died from a fatal legal abortion two years ago.
Aleesha Thomas left the MSI clinic in Leeds, England in July 2007 after having an abortion and she died five days later. The teenager died from a heart attack due to the infection toxic shock syndrome and the coroner who did her autopsy says a simple antibiotic would have saved her. However, MSI officials let Thomas leave the abortion center without making sure she had the drug.
The coroner, Roger Whittaker, told the BBC he thinks MSI needs to review its policies to make sure another woman doesn’t die from an abortion because it fails to provide proper post-abortion care.
The BBC indicated a medical inquest heard testimony saying that MSI allowed Thomas to leave its facility without making sure she had the proper drugs. The abortion practitioner had written a prescription for the medicine but MSI staff never gave the prescription to the girl.
