Hearings Reset In Tiller Associate’s Illegal Abortion Referal Case

Four-day hearing scheduled for May 3, 2011

Topeka, KS – The Kansas State Board of Healing Arts has announced that hearings in the disciplinary case against Ann Kristin Neuhaus, who provided illegal late-term abortion referrals for the notorious George Tiller, have been delayed.

Hearings scheduled for December 20 and January 11 have been reset. Instead, a preliminary hearing is scheduled to be held on April 12, 2011, at 9:00 AM. It is likely that the preliminary hearing will take place telephonically.

The full disciplinary hearing, which will be conducted in a trial-like format with testimony expected from witnesses, has been rescheduled for May 3, 2010, at 9:00 AM. That hearing is scheduled to last four days.

Operation Rescue’s Cheryl Sullenger filed the original complaint against Neuhaus and Tiller in 2006 for what appeared to be an illegal financial affiliation.

Tiller was criminally charged and tried for having an illegal financial relationship with Neuhaus, who was the only physician providing the legally mandated second opinion verifying that a pregnancy met the strict exceptions to the Kansas ban on post-viability abortions. Tiller was acquitted of criminal charges in March, 2009, but the KSBHA was pursuing an 11-count disciplinary petition against Tiller based on Sullenger’s complaint at the time of his death.

Neuhaus’ petition, also based on Sullenger’s complaint, does not allege an illegal financial affiliation with Tiller, but it does allege that in eleven cases of post-viability pregnancies she breached the standard of care in several ways, including:

• Failure to perform adequate patient interview
• Failure to obtain adequate patient history
• Failure to adequately evaluate the “behavioral or functional impact” of the patient’s condition and symptoms
• Failure to meet the standard of care to the degree of constituting ordinary negligence
• Failure to keep adequate medical records

Neuhaus is an abortionist who was previously disciplined by the KSBHA in 1999 and 2000 after committing numerous abortion abuses, including an incident where Neuhaus sedated a woman and forced an abortion upon her after she had withdrawn her consent. At that time the Board deemed Neuhaus a danger to the public. It was after this discipline that Neuhaus went to work for Tiller providing the second physician referral for post-viability abortions.

“We know that the Board does not file disciplinary petitions if it is not completely convinced that violations have occurred,” said Sullenger. “We look forward to the resolution of this case and pray it results in the revocation of Neuhaus’ medical license.”

Read Neuhaus’ current disciplinary petition.

Troy Newman Speaks on Behalf of Aborted Babies in MSNBC Documentary on Tiller Murder

Wichita, KS – MSNBC will air a documentary about the murder of late-term abortionist George Tiller on Monday evening, October 25, 2010. Producers of the documentary heavily relied on Operation Rescue files and interviewed Operation Rescue President Troy Newman for the program.

“We completely understand the liberal bent of MSNBC and expect it to be heavily slanted toward the pro-abortion position. We were concerned with the involvement of talk show host Rachel Maddow, who is a radical abortion apologist who has grossly mischaracterized Operation Rescue and members of our staff on her nightly program. Never the less, we felt it was necessary to participate for several reasons,” said Newman.

The producers of the documentary wanted to tell two stories, that of the “saintly” George Tiller and that of Scott Roeder the “devil.”

“We agreed to do the show — even though we knew they would vilify us — because we had a third story to tell, and that is the story of the tens of thousands of innocent babies killed by abortion during Tiller’s long and checkered abortion career,” said Newman. “It remains to be seen whether or not MSNBC allows that story to be told, but we hope they keep their word to do so.”

MSNBC agreed to show images of aborted babies during the program.

Over a seven-year period, Operation Rescue engaged in an effort to expose Tiller’s horrific late-term abortion business and convince authorities close his abortion clinic for good. OR’s campaign publicized a shocking number of botched abortions requiring emergency hospitalization, discovered and publicized the death of 19-year old Christin Gilbert from a botched third-trimester abortion, and helped to convene two grand juries. Operation Rescue cooperated with the Attorney General’s office, which eventually prosecuted Tiller for committing illegal late-term abortions. While the criminal prosecution was unsuccessful, the attention set the stage for a disciplinary petition against Tiller’s license that was based on a complaint filed by Operation Rescue.

The following are just a few results of Operation Rescue’s seven years of work in Wichita, Kansas:

  • The number of late-term abortions dropped 54% in Kansas (based on stats from KDH&E)
  • A second abortion clinic, Central Women’s Services, was bought and closed by OR and now serves as our national headquarters.
  • Kansas State Board of Healing Arts discipline of Tiller on eleven causes of action was a certainty. (In fact, the KSBHA is now in the process of disciplining Tiller associate Ann Kristin Neuhaus on eleven very similar counts based again on Operation Rescue’s complaint.)
  • Tiller had shut down his political action committee, ProKanDo, once the largest and most influential PAC in the state.
  • Tiller had announced his retirement to his office staff just two weeks before his murder.
  • But before the KSBHA had an opportunity to act, Tiller was murdered by a lone gunman in a brutal act that Operation Rescue was among the first to denounce.

    In fact, Operation Rescue and its staff have a long history of peaceful activism and good working relationships with law enforcement agencies.

    “We fully expect to be vilified in the MSNBC Tiller documentary, but the truth of the matter is that Operation Rescue worked for seven years within the law and with governmental oversight agencies, law enforcement, and legislators to expose what we believed was criminal activity at Tiller’s late-term abortion clinic and bring him to justice. In the process, the nation became more aware of the tragic nature of late-term abortions and abuses within the abortion industry. Working with other groups, hundreds of babies were spared from abortion by tireless sidewalk counselors, including OR staffers, who never lost sight of the plight of the pre-born nor diminished in desire to save innocent lives. It is because of our combined work that Wichita today remains abortion-free and a safe haven for women and their pre-born babies.”

    The MSNBC documentary is scheduled to air October 25, 2010, at 9:00 pm Eastern time. Check your local listings for time and channel in your area.

    Disciplinary Case Against Tiller Associate Neuhaus Is Progressing

    Topeka, KS – Operation Rescue has received a letter from the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts (KSBHA) with an update on the disciplinary case of Ann Kristin Neuhaus, who is accused of making illegal abortion referrals to the now deceased late-term abortionist George Tiller.

    The letter informed OR Senior Policy Advisor Cheryl Sullenger that Neuhaus has retained counsel and that the “parties are engaged in the discovery process.”

    “It looks like Neuhaus is going to fight the charges against her, but the law is very clear. We stand behind our complaint and the KSBHA charges that she acted illegally and improperly in her dealings with Tiller’s late-term abortion patients, which undoubtedly led to the death of viable children that the laws were enacted to protect,” said Sullenger.

    A pretrial conference has been set for December 20, 2010, at 10:00 a.m. A formal disciplinary hearing has been scheduled for Neuhaus to be held on January 11, 2011, at 9:00 a.m.

    Sullenger filed the original complaint against Neuhaus and Tiller with the KSBHA in 2007, after she discovered that Neuhaus was the only one providing Tiller with second referrals, which were required in Kansas before abortions past 22 weeks could be done. The second referrer must not have a legal or financial affiliation with the abortionist, but Neuhaus shared office space and had other connections with Tiller. Neuhaus had no office of her own and no other income other than what she earned from Tiller’s abortion business.

    Tiller was criminally charged with committing illegal abortions without a referral from an unaffiliated second physician. A jury found Tiller not guilty. However, just minutes after his acquittal, the KSBHA announced that it had filed an 11 count petition against him for essentially the same charges, based on Sullenger’s complaint. The KSBHA made it clear that their burden of proof was different than criminal court, and that their case would proceed on its own merits.

    Soon after the trial, Tiller announced to his staff that he was retiring. He closed his political action committee, and some of his employees were beginning to take other jobs. Then, in a stunning crime quickly denounced by Operation Rescue, Tiller was murdered by a lone gunman. The case against Tiller’s license was closed.

    On July 21, 2010, the Board notified Sullenger that an 11 count petition had been filed against Neuhaus, very similar in nature to the petition that had been filed against Tiller.

    In the current petition, Neuhaus is accused of the following in each of the eleven counts against her:

    • Failure to perform adequate patient interview
    • Failure to obtain adequate patient history
    • Failure to adequately evaluate the “behavioral or functional impact” of the patient’s condition and symptoms
    • Failure to meet the standard of care to the degree of constituting ordinary negligence
    • Failure to keep adequate medical records

    Read the Petition against Neuhaus
    Read the letter from the KSBHA to Sullenger, Oct. 1, 2010