Abortion Patient Death Prompts Third License Suspension

June 5, 2013 By 3 Comments

Baltimore, MD – Operation Rescue has learned that The Maryland Board of Physicians has suspended the medical license of a third abortionist associated with the notorious Steven Chase Brigham after abortion patient Maria Santiago died in February, 2013.

Michael Angelo Basco was summarily suspended from practicing medicine in Maryland on May 29, 2013, the same day two of his associates, Iris E. Dominy and Mansuor G. Panah, were also issued suspensions. All four Maryland abortion clinics operating under the name Associates in OB/GYN Care, which is affiliated with New Jersey abortionist Steven Chase Brigham, were ordered to stop all surgical abortions on May 9.

“Basco is an abortionist that had been flying under the radar,” said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue. “Now, the public can be warned about this dangerous man who has a history of discipline and lawsuits in other states.”

While Basco was not involved in Sanitago’s death, he was found to have engaged in other dangerous conduct that could have resulted in grave injury or death of another woman.

According to suspension documents made public by the Maryland Board of Physicians, Basco allowed an unlicensed, unqualified worker conduct an ultrasound exam on a pregnant with a multiple gestation pregnancy. She came up with several gestational ages. Without consulting anyone, she started an abortion on the woman by administering Cytotec, a dangerous drug that induces uterine contractions, in Basco’s absence. When Basco saw the woman, he refused to continue with the abortion because of the advanced fetal age and complexity of aborting twins. He gave the woman few options and essentially turned her adrift in the process of an abortion.

It was later learned that it was standard procedure at the four Brigham affiliated abortion clinics in Maryland to start all women who were beyond 11 weeks of pregnancy on Cytotec before they saw the abortionist. The Maryland Office of Health Care Quality determined that this practice posed a danger to the health and safety of the public.

This was not Bascoe’s first disciplinary action.

Basco was issued a Reprimand by the Texas Medical Board on August 15, 2003, after he failed to provide information about a malpractice suit against him on an application for hospital privileges. The Texas Medical Board determined that the omission constituted “dishonorable or unprofessional conduct that was likely to deceive or defraud the public, or injure the public. “

At the same time, he had also been accused of Cytotec, an ulcer drug used off-label by abortionists to induce uterine contractions, which can be dangerously strong and unpredictable in nature by one employee, but was never disciplined.

On August 26, 2011, Texas Medical Board issued an Agreed Order, disciplining Basco for inadequate medical records and for not adequately informing a patient of all options prior to a hysterectomy. Basco was ordered to attend classes on proper recordkeeping procedures and ordered to pay an administrative fine of $3,000.

Pennsylvania and Maryland both issued Reciprocol Reprimands last year based on the Texas action.

“Even though Basco, Dominy, and Panah have all been suspended in Maryland, and four clinics ordered to halt surgical abortions, vigilance is still required because we have seen Brigham-operated clinics defy the law before,” said Newman. “Brigham-operated abortion mills are among the worst in the nation. He has a history of ignoring the law, hiring troubled abortionists who are at the bottom of the barrel, and evading responsibility at every turn. His abortion clinics are continuously being closed by various states, but he finds ways to reopen them time and again. We pray that his entire chain of abortion clinics that span four states will be brought down and Brigham is put behind bars where he belongs.”

Brigham’s web site, which goes under the name American Women’s Services, continues to list eight abortion locations in New Jersey, four in Maryland, two in Pennsylvania, and two in Virginia. Pennsylvania ordered the two abortion clinics in that state closed last year after both failed safety inspections.

Other Brigham-affiliated abortionists also have a long history of problems. Operation Rescue has been exposing these dangerous abortionists for years. [Read more about them.]

Brigham has also been known to operate secret abortion facilities. In 2010, he and his associate, Nicola Riley, operated a bi-state late-term abortion scheme designed to avoid the laws of New Jersey. Brigham would begin the abortions in New Jersey then caravan women in full labor to a secret location in Elkton, Maryland, where their abortions would be completed. That illicit operation was discovered and shut down after Riley nearly killed a patient during a seriously botched abortion. Brigham, who has never held a medical license in Maryland, was assisting Riley with the patient. Police raided the Elkton clinic and discovered the bodies of 35 late-term aborted babies stored in a freezer. Brigham and Riley were both arrested and jailed on murder charges in Maryland, but the case was dropped after an expert witness who would have testified that the babies died in Maryland, withdrew from the case.

Filed Under: Brigham, Pro-Life Tagged With: , ,

Fraudulent and Deceptive: Late-term Abortionist Riley’s Maryland Medical License Permanently Revoked

May 20, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Baltimore, Maryland – The Maryland Board of Physicians has permanently revoked the license of abortionist Nicola I. Riley in a scathing 24-page order issued May 6, 2013, that prohibits her from ever again applying for licensure or reinstatement of her license.

“In view of the fraudulent and deceptive nature of Dr. Riley’s criminal conduct, her demonstrated lack of candor and integrity on her application to the Board and to Utah and Wyoming, and her demonstrated propensity for dishonesty and misrepresentation, Dr. Riley’s unprofessional conduct is not remediable,” stated the Board. “In light of the unprofessional manner in which she treated this critically damaged patient, the Board does not believe that Maryland patients would be safe in the hands of this physician. Dr. Riley’s fraudulent acts and unprofessional treatment of the patient merit the permanent revocation of her medical license in this State.”

Riley’s license was first suspended in September, 2010, after having perforated the uterus and pulled out a bowel of a patient at a secret late-term abortion clinic in Elkton operated by the notorious abortionist Steven Chase Brigham. Complaints were filed by the Elkton Police and a physician at a Baltimore hospital where the patient was air-lifted for emergency surgery that saved her life. Physicians who treated the patient found that part of her fetus had been shoved into her abdominal cavity when Riley ruptured her uterus. Her ability to bear children in the future is in doubt. [Read the full account with links to Board Interview Transcripts]

Police raided the Elkton facility and found the remains of 35 frozen late-term aborted babies. Riley and Brigham were arrested and charged with murder of the babies, but charges were dropped when an expert witness who planned to testify that all the babies died in Maryland withdrew from the case under pressure from the abortion lobby.

Brigham, who has no license in Maryland, operated the clandestine bi-state abortion business that was designed to evade the laws that banned him from doing abortions in New Jersey after 14 weeks. Maryland has no gestational limit on abortions, making it a haven for those who seek quick profits from the lucrative late-term abortion market where fees can range from several thousand to tens of thousands of dollars.

Brigham would begin the very late abortions at his office in Voorhees, New Jersey, then caravan the women in full blown labor down to Elkton, Maryland, where the abortions would be completed with the aid of Riley. Brigham asserted that since all the babies died in New Jersey on the first day he saw them that Maryland had no jurisdiction to prosecute him. New Jersey has failed to pursue a criminal case against Brigham.

Riley was reamed by the Board for failing to have an emergency plan for complications at the Elkton abortion clinic, failing to call for emergency help for at least an hour and a half after she pulled the bowel during a difficult abortion, and for transporting her critically injured patient to a nearby hospital in the back seat of Brigham’s rental car.

Of the decision to transport the patient in a private vehicle, the Board stated:

Dr. Riley’s decision was also faulty and unprofessional because it involved lifting up a consciously sedated ad slumped-over patient in order to move her from the operating table to a wheelchair, from a wheelchair to the car, and from the car onto another wheelchair before arrival at the Union Hospital ER…The patient’s bowel, usually in a sterile compartment in the abdominal cavity, was protruding in to her unsterile vagina. [An expert for the State] opined that lifting her up, putting her in a seated position and moving her around in this manner risked further prolapsed of bowel into that area and causing injury to a longer length of bowel.

“Transporting patients via personal vehicle is an all-too common practice in the abortion industry, which is done to conceal the fact that a patient suffered an injury,” said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue. “Abortionists everywhere must be held accountable when they engage in this dangerous practice.”

Riley was also found to have engaged in fraud and deception when she blatantly lied on her Maryland medical license application about a previous felony conviction. The Board also found that Riley lied to obtain licensure in Wyoming and her home state of Utah.

Riley downplayed a “no contest” felony conviction while serving in the military in 1990, indicating that she failed to report an identity theft and credit card fraud scheme that was being carried out by others under her command. She told the Board that the military records were “sealed due to my top secret security clearance” and that her personal records had been destroyed in a storage fire, giving the Board the false impression that her criminal records were unattainable.

In reality, Riley pled guilty to her direct involvement in the identity theft and credit card. Riley would take personal information of other servicemen and fraudulently obtain credit cards that she would use to purchase expensive jewelry and other items.

Operation Rescue discovered Riley’s conviction and obtained her court records from the U.S. Army, which were then forwarded to Wyoming and Utah. As a result, Wyoming forced Riley to relinquish her medical license. However, Utah was slow to act and allowed Riley to continue practicing under the restriction that she not engage in the practice of abortion.

“We have forwarded Riley’s Maryland revocation decision to the authorities in Utah and have urged them to permanently revoke Riley’s fraudulently-obtained license there as well,” said Newman.

As for Brigham, there is nothing the Maryland authorities can legally do.

“Unfortunately, because Riley’s cohort, Brigham, has no license in Maryland, he is outside their jurisdiction and cannot be punished,” said Newman. “His New Jersey medical license, the only one he has left, is under suspension, but that has not stopped him from operating his chain of abortion clinics that continue to prey on vulnerable in at least three states.”

Recently, Brigham’s two remaining Pennsylvania abortion clinics were forced to close, but he continues to operate abortion clinics in New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia.

“If Riley is too dangerous to see patients in Maryland, that means she is too dangerous to see patients in Utah or any other state. It also means Brigham is too dangerous to continue operating his shady abortion clinics as well,” said Newman.

  • Read Riley’s Maryland Revocation Document

    • Please contact the Utah Department of Occupational and Professional Licensing (DOPL) and ask that they immediately revoke Nicola I. Riley’s Utah medical license now that she has been found by Maryland to pose a danger to the public.

    Contact DOPL

    Voice: (801) 530-6630
    E-mail: DOPL@utah.gov

    Filed Under: Brigham, Pro-Life Tagged With: , , , ,

    Inspections Uncover Another Patient Death, Suspend Three Maryland Abortion Clinic Licenses

    March 9, 2013 By 2 Comments

    Baltimore, MD — The Maryland Department of Health and Hygiene has suspended the licenses of three surgical abortion clinics affiliated with the notorious illegal late-term abortionist Steven Chase Brigham after inspections revealed violations that made the continued operation of the clinics unsafe.

    The inspections were prompted by a letter from seventeen Maryland House Delegates raising concerns about abortion clinic safety after Jennifer Morbelli, a New York kindergarten teacher, died from complications to a 33-week abortion she received from LeRoy Carhart in Germantown on February 7, 2013. None of the clinics licensed under Maryland’s new abortion clinic licensing rules was ever inspected to verify safety compliance prior to Morbelli’s death.

    In a shocking revelation, inspectors discovered a second abortion-related patient death had occurred at one of Brigham’s abortion clinics in Baltimore that is located in a residential condominium complex. The woman was said to have had a previous health condition that contributed to her suffering cardiac arrest at the time of the abortion.

    According to the Baltimore Sun, “The physician who performed the abortion at Associates in OB/GYN Care LLC on North Calvert Street wasn’t certified in CPR and a defibrillator at the facility did not work, state officials said in a letter Friday to the General Assembly.”

    “Ignoring a health condition that might contraindicate abortion, one of Brigham’s shoddy abortionists proceeded with surgery at a residential condo unit without the necessary certification or emergency equipment required to treat the patient in the event a complication arose. Because of this negligence, he was unable to provide emergency care that could have saved her life. It is beyond belief that the State of Maryland would allow these dangerous Brigham affiliates to continue to operate in the state,” said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue and Pro-Life Nation.

    Brigham and another abortionist, Nicola I. Riley, were arrested and charged with murder after police raided a secret late-term abortion mill they were illegally operating in Elkton in 2010. A botched abortion that resulted in a ruptured uterus and other injuries alerted authorities to the site where 35 corpses of viable late-term babies were discovered in a freezer. The charges were dropped after an expert witness for the prosecution bowed out of the case under pressure from the abortion lobby.

    It was that incident that instigated the new abortion clinics licensing law that took effect in July, 2012.

    The two other abortion clinics that were suspended by the state were American Medical Group affiliates in Cheverly and Silver Spring. A representative of the clinics told the Baltimore Sun that they are owned by Integrity Health in Pennsylvania and are listed on Brigham’s American Women’s Services web site only because “they help with our online presence and other marketing efforts.”

    However, Operation Rescue previously discovered that Integrity Health is a shell organization that Brigham placed in a family member’s name after Brigham was banned by the State of Pennsylvania from operating or controlling any abortion clinics in that state citing violations that endangered the public after the discovery of a series of botched abortions and illegal practices. He has a history of hiring troubled abortionists that are among the worst in the country. (Read about their backgrounds.)

    “Brigham is playing a shell game with authorities to keep open abortion businesses that are dangerous to women. Brigham has repeatedly shown an arrogant disregard for the law that has caused him to be expelled or suspended in every state where he ever held a medical license,” said Newman.

    Currently, Brigham holds a medical license only in the state of New Jersey, which remains under suspension.

    An abortionist associated with the suspended Cheverly clinic, Mehrdad Aalai, was criminally convicted of Medicaid fraud in 1993, and more recently had his license temporarily suspended in 2011 over a horrifically botched late-term abortion that nearly killed a patient.

    The license suspension of the three clinics means they can no longer do surgical abortions until the violations are corrected, however, they can stay open and provide nonsurgical services.

    “These abortion mills should be permanently closed. We appreciate Maryland taking steps to inspect, but they authorities there need to take a harder line against these abortion clinics that operate under shady circumstances at the expense of the lives and health of women,” said Newman.

    Filed Under: AbortionDocs.org, Brigham, Pro-Life Tagged With: , , ,
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