05-05-1994

STATE REPORT - ILLINOIS: MOM SUES ABORTION CLINIC AFTER DEATH OF DAUGHTER

           Pro-life attys for Dianne Adams on 5/4 filed a lawsuit in
      Cook Co. Circuit Court against Family Planning Associates Medical
      Group (FAPMG) over the death of her daughter, Deanna Bell.  Bell,
      13, died at an Albany Park abortion clinic in 9/92 after
      undergoing an abortion.  Bell was nearly six months pregnant.
      FAPMG -- which owns the Albany park abortion clinic -- is a CA-
      based corporation made up of nearly 50 abortion clinics and
      hospitals.  Doctors at the clinic said the death was the result
      of an amniotic fluid embolism, a rare occurrence in which a
      bubble of amniotic fluid clogs an artery or disrupts the lungs.
      Doctors said the incident was "unforeseeable" (Fegelman, CHICAGO
      TRIBUNE, 5/5).  Named in the suit are FAPMG-owner Dr. Edward
      Allred, Dr. Stephen Lichtenberg -- who performed the abortion on
      Bell -- nurse anesthetist Arthur Goode and three other clinic
      employees.  The complaint charges that the defendants "departed
      from accepted medical practice by negligently permitting a non-
      M.D. personnel to perform laminaria insertion and removal on a
      13-year-old patient with an immature cervix and a 20.5 week
      pregnancy, and improperly administer anesthesia."  Other charges
      include "failure to monitor her recovery, failure to resuscitate
      her and failure to transport her to a fully equipped hospital"
      (Pro-Life Action League release, 5/4).  The suit is a "potential
      lightening rod" for pro-lifers who charge that abortions are
      "immoral and unsafe."  Pro-Life Action League research asst. Tim
      Murphy: "There is plenty of testimony that legal abortion isn't
      safe abortion" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 5/5).  League dir. Joseph
      Scheidler said Bell's death is "typical of how dangerous and
      unregulated the abortion business is": "Deanna Bell's death
      stands as an indictment against the entire child-killing
      industry" (release, 5/4).




The Abortion Report