Philadelphia prosecutors plan on pursuing the death sentence for the physician who is charged with killing a patient and seven babies who reportedly were born alive then killed with scissors at his clinic.
After a two-year investigation of Dr. Kermit Gosnell's (pictured) West Philadelphia practice, a grand jury concluded last month that he ran a house of horrors and operated under deplorable conditions. By day, the 69-year-old ran a pill mill, and by night, he performed abortions - many late-term - during a 30-year period.
Dr. Gosnell's clients were mostly poor immigrants, black and Latino women. According to a damning 281-page grand jury report, the ghastly doctor's "filthy fraud" clinic was depicted like an old Boris Karloff horror movie.
Bags and bottles of aborted fetuses were strewn about, jars with severed feet kept in jars for no apparent reason. Police found two dozen jars of fetuses kept in a freezer, some dating back at least 30 years, and jarred fetal remains in the refrigerator next to employee-bagged lunches.
There was also blood all over the floor. The report states that Dr. Gosnell used high medication dosages to induce active labor and then killed "live, viable, moving, breathing, crying babies" by cutting their spinal cords with a pair of scissors.
Police arrested nine other employees who worked at the clinic, including two unlicensed medical school grads and a high school student whom the doctor allowed to perform illegal late-term abortions and administer drugs. Prosecutors are still weighing the death penalty for these three accomplices who have been charged with a single count of murder.
Over his 30-year reign, Dr. Gosnell raked in millions of dollars, and he and his wife, Pearl, a cosmetologist, own numerous properties. A judge in a civil suit has frozen his assets to protect the family of Karnamaya Mongar, a 41-year-old refugee who died after allegedly receiving lethal doses of sedatives and painkillers at Dr. Gosnell's clinic in 2009.
There is still another woman who also died at the hands of Dr. Gosnell, after receiving an abortion. Authorities say that there are countless stories of medical monstrosities performed by Dr. Gosnell - botched abortions, perforated bowels, cervixes and mangled uteruses.
Dr. Gosnell has had at least 10 malpractice lawsuits filed against him.
Women throughout the years have lodged complaints against him and his unsafe practices, but their cries fell on deaf state regulator's ears.
The last time Dr. Gosnell's office had been inspected was back in 1993.
In the meantime, Pearl Gosnell remains jailed on $1 million bail for allegedly performing illegal, third-trimester abortions and participating in a corrupt organization.
A lawyer for Dr. Gosnell said his client would die of old age before a death sentence would ever be carried out. Dr. Gosnell is being held without bail on eight counts of murder and was not brought to court for the formal arraignment. His next hearing is set for March 30th.
Dr. Gosnell is a despicable animal, far too low to be labeled as "human." The lawless, criminal acts he committed and the manner in which he conducted his business were heinous, to say the very least.
It is every woman's right to have access to safe and legal medical care if she chooses to go the route of pregnancy termination without the risk of compromising her health or life. If any medical practicioner breaks the laws that guarantee women the right to the highest attainable standard of health, then they should be punished to the fullest extent of the law.
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