Abortion Practitioner George Tiller Could Still Lose License in Medical Board Case
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
March 29, 2009
Topeka, KS (LifeNews.com) — Just hours after late-term abortion practitioner George Tiller learned a jury considered him not guilty of violating state abortion laws, the Kansas medical board moved ahead with a new case against Tiller. The board is responding to allegations that could result in Tiller losing his medical license.
While Tiller could have faced fines and a possible jail sentence, the medical board’s inquiry could result in a bigger victory — Tiller having to stop doing abortions or significantly scale back his abortion business.
After the not guilty verdict the jury released, the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts released to the public a petition it filed in December listing eleven allegations against Tiller’s license.
"Violations alleged include performing an abortion on a fetus that was viable without having a documented referral from another physician not legally or financially affiliated with him," the board said in a statement.
They also include "unprofessional or dishonorable conduct or professional incompetency and commitment of acts likely to deceive, defraud or harm the public."
The medical board indicated the case is separate and distinct from the criminal charges Tiller faced from the state attorney general.
The board’s members have been appointed by pro-abortion Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, a close Tiller friend, and it has failed in previous instances to hold Tiller accountable for his shoddy practices and botched abortions that have resulted in the death of or injury to women.
However, if the board rules against Tiller in this case, the decision could result in having his medical license revoked, suspended, or dramatically restricted.
In October 2006, Operation Rescue staffer Cheryl Sullenger filed a complaint with the medical board an improper financial relationship between Tiller and Neuhaus that violated Kansas law. That complaint was amended in February 2007 and is the case that the board is investigating.
Operation Rescue president Troy Newman told LifeNews.com he is delighted the medical board is moving ahead.
"As a famous baseball player once said, ‘It ain’t over ’til it’s over.’ We are encouraged by this news from the KSBHA," he said. "We have never put all our hope in the criminal prosecution and continue to work through a number of avenues to ensure that one day Tiller will be brought to justice."
Kansans for Life, which has also monitored Tiller, is also pleased to see the possibility the medical board may hold him accountable.
"While it was frustrating that Tiller escaped conviction for 19 misdemeanors he is in much bigger trouble right now," KFL director Mary Kay Culp told LifeNews.com.
"Tiller’s use of one doctor, dependent on him for her entire salary – was a defiant criminal act, and although the jury today didn’t see that, the state Board of Healing Arts absolutely described that relationship as ‘symbiotic’ and as clearly banned under the late-term law," Culp said.
She hopes that new medical board director Jack Confer will be more willing to take an honest look at Tiller’s potential problems than previous board directors have been.
"They are charging Tiller with 11 counts of fraud, unprofessional conduct and failing to use an independent second referral. The Board has issued the first step in revoking Tiller’s medical license," she concluded.
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