Michigan Abortion Practitioner Puts Woman in Jeopardy, Loses License

State   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Apr 21, 2005   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Michigan Abortion Practitioner Puts Woman in Jeopardy, Loses License Email this article
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
April 21
, 2005

Livonia, MI (LifeNews.com) — The Michigan Board of Osteopathic Medicine and Surgery has suspended the medical license of abortion practitioner Reginald Sharpe. The suspension came about after a failed abortion he performed on a 31 year-old woman in March at his Livonia abortion facility.

According to a report in the Livonia Observer newspaper, the Michigan Department of Community Health filed an administrative complaint against Sharpe after the incident.

The board’s disciplinary subcommittee reviewed the matter and found "negligence or failure to exercise due care, incompetence" and "lack of good moral character." Those problems led to the suspension of Sharpe’s license.

Sharpe was scheduled to have a hearing before an administrative judge on Wednesday, the Livonia newspaper reported.

The woman who came to Sharpe for the abortion was 23 weeks into her pregnancy. On the second day of the abortion process, Sharpe determined he could not reach the unborn child to perform the abortion. He told the woman to rest in the recovery room and left his facility.

There were no other doctors in the building and none of Sharpe’s staff were medical professionals.

The woman began to have contractions and was bleeding profusely. She asked the staff to call an ambulance and notify her mother, who was in the waiting room.

Despite several pleas, the employees refused and said Sharpe was planning to return.

After screaming, the woman’s mother came into the recovery room and ultimately delivered the woman’s stillborn baby. Sharpe’s staff continued to refuse to help, according to the Observer report.

Despite the childbirth, the assistants refused to call for paramedics and the woman’s mother called them on her own cell phone.

Sharpe and his employees asked emergency personnel to keep the woman at his facility, but they instead took her to Botsford Hospital where she was stabilized.

If Sharpe performs any abortions while his license is suspended, he will be arrested, the Livonia newspaper reported.

Meanwhile, local authorities determined that a recent fire at Sharpe’s Women’s Advisory Center abortion business was accidental. The fire occurred four days after Sharpe’s license was suspended.

Sharpe recently purchased the abortion facility from Rodolfo Finkelstein, another abortion practitioner facing his own problems, the Observer reported.

Finkelstein fled the country after facing charges of sexual abuse filed by women who came to him for abortions. They say he inappropriately touched them during abortions and examinations.