The Knuckleheads of the Day award

Today's winners are Summit Medical Center, Dr. Deborah Lyn Levich and nurse practitioner Janet F. Onthank King. They get today's award for the following news reported by Associated Press.

MONTGOMERY, Ala., June 14 -- A Birmingham abortion clinic has surrendered its license amid allegations that a woman delivered a nearly full-term stillborn baby after a clinic staff member gave her an abortion-inducing drug and performed other medical treatments without a doctor present, health officials said Wednesday.

The Alabama Department of Health issued a suspension order against Summit Medical Center on May 17, citing numerous violations of state health rules. The center has been closed since May 18 and will not reopen, said Rick Harris, director of the state health agency's bureau of provider standards.

Wednesday's move avoids a hearing on June 20 in which the state would have presented its case against the center and sought to revoke its license.

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State health officials say that in February a Summit staff member performed an ultrasound on a woman seeking an abortion and determined she was six weeks pregnant, when in fact she was nearly full-term. The nurse practitioner, rather than the doctor, gave the woman the RU-486 abortion drug even though the woman's blood pressure was dangerously high.

The state health department said the woman went to a hospital emergency room six days later with the baby's head protruding and "delivered a stillborn six pound, four ounce baby."

Cheryl Sabel, acting president of the Montgomery chapter of the National Organization for Women, said that the allegations against the clinic were "shocking and dismaying" and that the closure is a setback for women in Alabama, where there are now nine abortion clinics.

"Every time a women's health clinic closes, it is a huge blow for women and it's very unfortunate," she said. "But women must be protected, and there are standards -- as there are for every health care facility -- and every facility needs to abide by the rules."

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The medical examiners board has banned physician Deborah Lyn Levich and nurse practitioner Janet F. Onthank King from working together and accuses Levich of allowing her nurse practitioner to prescribe drugs and render services for which she was not approved.

Levich is to appear at a hearing before the board on July 18.

Just terrible and Summit needs to be shut down. There was another incident at Summit in 2004 also. Note the response by the NOW representative. They're even concerned about Summit. No canned kneejerk defense of this medical facility.

This knucklehead isn't about abortion. It's about a dead child and a mother whose life was forever changed by what happened at Summit. How does one make such a big blunder on a ultrasound? I'm trained to operate these machines and I find it incredible.

For Medical neglect and blundering, Summit Medical Center, Dr. Deborah Lyn Levich and nurse practitioner Janet F. Onthank King are today's knuckleheads of the day.

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Cross Posted to Bullwinkle Blog