The family of a woman killed by infamous abortion practitioner Kermit Gosnell in a failed abortion has filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Philadelphia saying the city’s health department failed to monitor Gosnell.
Gosnell, his wife, and staff members face various charges — including eight charges for killing a patient in a botched abortion and killing unborn children in the brutal infanticides that saw him stick medical scissors into the backs of unborn children purposefully induced prematurely so he could “snip” their spinal cords and take their lives. They also face charges ranging from murder to obstructing justice to practicing medicine without a license.
The grand jury released a 261-page report which said the 69-year-old abortion practitioner and his staff killed hundreds of babies in this manner and killed at least two women and injured many more in failed abortions. Gosnell became known in Philadelphia and the Atlantic region as the guy women should go to if they wanted a late-term abortion illegal in most states.
One of the abortion deaths involves the botched abortion death of 41-year-old Karnamaya Mongar, who died at Gosnell’s abortion clinic after a failed abortion.
Mongar died November 20, 2009, after overdosing on anesthetics given to her by a Gosnell staffer, who was untrained, and her family filed a lawsuit against Gosnell’s abortion business seeking damages.
Now, the Philadelphia Daily News indicates the family has sued the city saying its health department engaged in a “policy of inaction” even though the family says the department received numerous warnings and complaints about the unsanitary conditions at Gosnell’s abortion center before 2009 but failed to act on them. The lawsuit, the newspaper says, claims the city health department’s negligence and “policy of inaction ultimately cost Karnamaya Mongar her life.”
The News reports that a “sanitation worker got a tip in 2005 that fetuses were being kept in paper bags in a staff refrigerator, and told an assistant health commissioner,” according to the lawsuit. “And a vaccine inspector found and reported similarly disturbing conditions in 2008, a year before Mongar’s death.”
Mongar found Gosnell’s abortion facility on a referral from an abortion facility in Virginia that did not do the kind of second-trimester abortion she was seeking. Yashoda Gurung of Woodbridge, Mongar’s daughter, filed the lawsuit on behalf of her mother’s estate.
“We want justice, this doctor has to be out of that clinic or he should not be treating anybody,” Damber Ghalley told CNN about the earlier lawsuit. “And the things that happen to my sister, I don’t want to happen to anybody in the future.”
He told CNN “the clinic was so dirty, filthy with blood stains and a dirty floor, everywhere dirty, I cannot describe how dirty it was.”
“It’s unforgettable, my sister will never come back and it’s sad,” Ghalley said. “All the happiness is gone, they miss their mother every day and night,” Ghalley said, referring to Mongar’s four children.”
Karamaya’s daughter Yashoda Gurung is also speaking out and said the abortion turned bad when the overdose of anesthesia kicked in.
“We were waiting but it was a long time and my mom was not outside,” she told NBC Philadelphia, saying she began to panic when an ambulance pulled up to the abortion facility.
Gurung said an abortion center worked told her nothing was wrong: “She said, ‘your mom is good, don’t worry about that.’”
She said Gosnell’s staff moved the family to another room away from Mongar and would not give them updates on her condition. She finally saw her mother as emergency workers took her to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania where, hours later, Mongar was pronounced dead.
“I want justice,” says Gurung.
A political refugee from the country of Bhutan, Mongar went to Gosnell on Nov. 19, 2009 for the abortion and, prior to it, was given numerous doses of pain and sedation drugs by an individual who was not a licensed medical practitioner.
Massive amounts of drugs found in the victim’s system led authorities to suspect Gosnell was illegally prescribing pain-killers. He temporarily lost his medical license in both Pennsylvania and neighboring Delaware. Pennsylvania officials suspect Mongar died from the botched abortion in part because she had been treated by unlicensed personnel.
The State Board of Medicine says Gosnell had the unlicensed staff member give vaginal exams and administer the drugs Demerol, Promethazine and Diazepam. He was eventually fined $1,000 for the violations.
Two attorneys have filed a wrongful death and survival suit against Gosnell on behalf of he husband and children of Karna Mongar
The complaint alleges that Gosnell failed to provide proper care before, during and after the abortion, employed unlicensed personnel and lacked essential equipment to resuscitate Mongar. The case, filed by the Anapol Schwartz law firm in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, seeks recovery for her death and punitive damages.
In a statement LifeNews.com obtained, attorney Bernard W. Smalley said “Gosnell put profits above the safety of his patients.”
“He refused to pay for licensed qualified medical personnel, allowing non-trained individuals to perform critical medical duties. He was not even present at the time medications and anesthesia were administered. He was, by all descriptions, running an office better characterized as a horror show. We are committed to making certain that justice is served for the Mongar family,” Smalley said.
She experienced severe cramping and asked for additional pain medication. The unlicensed assistant contacted Gosnell, who instructed her to administer more doses. Near the end of the procedure, Mongar began losing color and had no pulse.
Forced from their home in Bhutan, Mongar, her husband and three children lived in a hut in a refugee camp in Nepal for 18 years. She lost one child in the refugee camp from poor living conditions. In June 2009, the family was given the opportunity by the United States government to relocate to this country United States to begin new lives.
“Five months after coming to this country, Karna’s life was cut short as a result of the horrendous actions of Dr. Gosnell,” said Smalley.
He added: “This was a death that should never have occurred. It is deplorable that a woman who spent the past 18 years of her life as a political refugee would finally gain the promise of the freedom this country has to offer, only to die at the hands of a man who was supposed to care for her. Dr. Gosnell must be held accountable so no other families have to suffer from the actions of a doctor who failed to uphold the most basic tenets of his oath.”
Gosnell has been charged with eight counts of murder and several of his staff at the abortion center, including his wife and sister-in-law, have been charged as well in the case with assisting in botched abortions, practicing medicine without a license or covering up the actions of those who did. The counts include grisly infanticidesthat involved Gosnell snipping the spines with scissors of babies who had purposefully been prematurely born so they could be killed moments later.
So far, six former Gosnell staffers have pleaded guilty.
