Practitioner Who Killed Woman in Failed Abortion Faces Lawsuit From Family
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
August 26, 2010
Los Angeles, CA (LifeNews.com) — A southern California abortion practitioner who killed an Asian woman in a failed abortion is the subject of a new lawsuit her family filed. Andrew Rutland was responsible for Ying Chen’s death, which the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office has ruled a homicide.
In addition to potential criminal charges, Rutland faces a February 2011 hearing the Medical Board of California has scheduled to consider whether or not to revoke his medical license.
Now, Chen’s boyfriend, Zixiang Hu, on behalf of their 2-year-old daughter, filed suit against Rutland for malpractice and wrongful death in the case.
The botched abortion was done in July 2009 at a filthy and ill-equipped acupuncture clinic in San Gabriel that Rutland ran. The lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court and alleges the abortion center, which also did acupuncture, was not properly equipped to perform an abortion and that Rutland did not have proper training to care for patients.
"This is a doctor who performed a procedure he should not have been performing in those conditions," attorney Jeffrey Bell, who is representing the family, told the Orange County Register. "He started a procedure, that if there were any complications, they weren’t prepared for it."
The newspaper says Rutland is denying any wrongdoing and, in a July 15 letter, called Chen’s death an "unpreventable complication to a local anesthetic."
Rutland killed Chen by administering anesthesia to her and not knowing the proper dosage. Rutland injected lidocaine, a local anesthetic, in her cervix and the woman began to have an immediate reaction. The abortion practitioner began to perform CPR but the board documents say there was a "significant delay" in him calling 911 for emergency medical help for the woman.
Ying was in cardiac arrest when the ambulance arrived and was taken to a hospital, where she died six days later. An autopsy revealed Rutland gave the woman the wrong dosage of the anesthesia.
After initially ruling the death accidental, the Los Angeles County coroner’s department changed the cause to homicide when the medical board investigators submitted more information to officials there. A spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office told the Register her office is still reviewing potential criminal charges.
But Dr. Lakshmanan Sathyavagiswaran the chief medical examiner, called the circumstances surrounding Chen’s death as "gross and wanton disregard for the well being of the patient" and said the abortion clinic was a "dangerous environment for any potential resuscitation."
He added "the death occurred at the hands of the physician due to his action and inaction" and the newspaper indicates he said the abortion center had expired drugs, no oxygen, and dangerous drugs mislabeled and improperly stored.
An anesthesiology consultant who reviewed the case said Rutland didn’t attempt to perform CPR until paramedics arrived.
In response to the reclassification of Chen’ death as a homicide, the pro-life group Operation Rescue informed LifeNews.com today that the abortion practitioner is blaming pro-life groups for his legal woes concerning the woman’s abortion-related death.
Rutland sent an angry letter to a list of elected officials and others, including Oprah Winfrey, demanding an investigation into "clandestine collaborations of national antiabortion group organizations and local antiabortion activists with the Medical Board of California."
Rutland singles out Operation Rescue and complains the pro-life group used "clandestine political collaborations" to force several abortion practitioners out of business. Rutland says everyone from the Medical Examiner, to the hospital, to the police officer who investigated Chen’s death were all involved in some plot against him.
Operation Rescue president Troy Newman responded to LifeNews.com saying, "Rutland has proven himself to be a dishonest man who presents an ongoing danger to the public. It was his own negligence and attitude that he is above the law that has landed him in repeated trouble with the Medical Board."
"Rutland complains his problems are somehow the result of an anti-abortion plot," Newman said. "He is upset that authorities would hold him accountable to the law, but what he really wants is to be treated as if no laws apply to him. People are dying due to his shoddy work and Operation Rescue is proud of any small part we may have played in bringing him to justice."
Rutland has a long history of Board discipline and other problems.
His medical license was revoked in 2003 for severing a baby’s spinal column during a forceps delivery, then lying to the parents by telling them that their baby suffered a stroke. The baby later died. His license was reinstated in 2007 and Rutland was placed on five years probation with the restriction that he operate only under the supervision of another physician.
The case concerning Chen’s legal abortion death is pending and the medical board and a Administrative Law Judge James Ahler told Rutland to stop doing abortions until its conclusion. https://www.lifenews.com/state4709.html
However, Rutland was caught in an undercover sting operation scheduling an abortion in violation of the order to stop doing them while his disciplinary case proceeded. https://www.lifenews.com/state4502.html
Rutland was barred from performing abortions and surgeries in January and the board interpreted the order to include drug-induced abortions.
The Board is pressing forward with a full Board hearing to revoke Rutland’s license "as expeditiously as possible."
After the February hearing, Kathleen Nicholls of the California Medical Board commented, "How many patients have to die before a doctor is shut down? It’s unfortunate someone else is going to have to die to change this order."
Sign Up for Free Pro-Life News From LifeNews.com
Daily Pro-Life News Report Twice-Weekly Pro-Life
News Report Receive a free daily email report from LifeNews.com with the latest pro-life news stories on abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research. Sign up here. Receive a free twice-weekly email report with the latest pro-life news headlines on abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research. Sign up here.
