Clinic Run by Doctor Who Killed Woman in Failed Abortion, Halts Abortions
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
September 24, 2010
Severna Park, MD (LifeNews.com) — The abortion business run by Maryland-based abortion practitioner Romeo A. Ferrer, who has been under fire involving a case of a woman he killed in a failed abortion, has at least temporarily halted abortions and may close.
Ferrer is perhaps closing his Severna Park, Maryland, abortion center after a 10-year campaign from dedicated pro-life organizations.
The Maryland Board of Physicians suspended his medical license but pro-life advocates were hoping for more.
They got a partial answer when they learned yesterday that the Gynecare Center is not scheduling new appointments and does not have an abortion practitioner to replace Ferrer.
Defend Life Director Ames told LifeNews.com staff there indicated they are closing the facility.
Ferrer had recruited another Maryland physician, Ghevont Wartanian, to continue abortions but he has been sued over 18 times for malpractice and negligence for incidents ranging from the death of newborn babies to causing brain damage and a host of other medical mistakes.
Ames says it appears Wartanian, a doctor of obstetrics and gynecology, has abandoned the idea of supplementing his income by doing abortions.
Wartanian contacted Gynecare one day after the 40-Day for Life vigil was moved to his Glen Burnie, Maryland, OB-GYN medical practice. Ames indicates Wartanian instructed Gynecare to cancel all of his existing appointments, and informed them he would not be returning to the facility.
"We are grateful for the news that Gynecare has closed its doors and will no longer be murdering innocent babies in their mothers’ wombs. This is a great first step regarding abortionist Ferrer; we now have to continue to pressure the Maryland Board of Physicians to permanently revoke Ferrer’s license," Ames told LifeNews.com.
Ames says local pro-life advocates are anxiously awaiting news whether Gynecare is closed for good or just temporarily until Ferrer can find another abortion practitioner.
The complaint against Ferrer revolves around a February 2006 abortion he did on a 21-year-old African-American woman, Denise Crowe, at Gynecare Center in Severna Park.
The woman sought a second trimester dilation and evacuation abortion procedure but it eventually claimed Crowe’s life and left her three-year-old son without a mother.
Ferrer is accused of failing to properly administer pain medications, failing to monitor the patient’s respiration and ventilation, and failing to employ standard methods of care to resuscitate the patient. He is accused of giving her a fatal overdose of meperidine, a narcotic also known as Demerol.
The case was stagnant for years until the Maryland Board of Physicians, in April, filed a petition against Ferrer for "failure to meet the standard of quality care" in his negligent treatment of Crowe that resulted in her death. That case is still under consideration and could take months to resolve.
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