by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
(March 28, 2008) Fetal body parts and confidential patient records were found in a dumpster behind a Michigan abortuary this month, but instead of penalizing the abortionist, the state issued an $1100 fine to the person who discovered the remains.
News:“I don’t understand how someone can throw away the remains of aborted babies and all kinds of despicable biomedical waste and all he is getting (is this)?”asked the woman who received the fine, Monica Migliorino Miller, Ph.D., director of Citizens for a Pro-Life Society. “They’re giving him a pass.”
The incident occurred in mid-March when members of the Society searched the garbage dumpster behind the WomanCare abortion clinic in Lathrup Village, Michigan, one of several clinics owned by Dr. Alberto Hodari.
They found two black plastic garbage bags that included hands, feet, spinal columns and other body parts from approximately 18 aborted fetuses.
“The numerous trash bags contained easily recognizable fetal body parts, blood-drenched surgical paper, IV bags with sharps, used syringes, bloody suction canulas, dozens of glass medical vials, condoms, condom wrappers, used laminaria sticks, bloody gauze and plastic gloves,” said Dr. Miller in a press release.
“Over 200 patient records were discovered that included the names of the clients, date of birth, telephone numbers, addresses, type of exam or medical procedure including abortions, gestational age of the baby, amount paid for the abortion, insurance records, lab reports, applications for abortion loans and a few signed patient consent forms and recovery room forms.”
Dr. Miller took photos of the evidence, then turned the body parts over to a local funeral home for burial.
According to Michigan law, all pathological waste, including body parts, must be incinerated, ground and flushed down a sanitary sewer or buried in a cemetery.
The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and the Lathrup Village Police Department were called in to investigate the situation. Police Sgt. Vincent Lynch, after viewing what was in the trash, and seeing intact fetuses among the debris admitted to The Detroit News, “I was aware of the reality of abortion, but it was unnerving.”
The clinic owner, Dr. Hodari, faced fines and a maximum punishment of up to 90 days in jail for the improper disposal of medical records, which is a misdemeanor under state law. However, the DEQ did nothing more than issue a letter to WomanCare asking that it retrain its employees on how to handle medical waste.
At the same time, Dr. Miller was charged $1,100 by the state for keeping evidence on her property.
“Hodari doesn’t get fined a single cent,” Dr. Miller told LifeNews. “The evidence we collected was so the DEQ could do an investigation and file charges against Hodari. The state had the bill charged to me for the removal of the evidence from my property! Something doesn’t seem right here.”
The situation is especially disturbing because of the troubling history of Dr. Hodari and his clinics. In 2004 Hodari performed an abortion on 15 year old Tamia Russell who was six months pregnant. Russell died the next day from what the medical examiner called a “normal post-abortion condition.” The official cause of death was ruled as “uterine infarction with sepsis due to status second trimester abortion.”
Geoffrey Fieger, the attorney representing the Russell family in a wrongful death suit against Hodari, says there have allegedly been 23 lawsuits filed against WomanCare facilities and Alberto Hodari in the past 20 years. All the cases were dismissed, with many referring to an undisclosed settlement. The suits were filed for various injuries suffered as the result of abortions, including hysterectomies on women aged 19 to 23, including Chivon Williams, who died after having a first-trimester abortion performed by Hodari in 1996.
When questioned about the fetal remains in the dumpster, Hodari claimed that a new employee mistook bags filled with medical waste with those containing general solid waste and threw them in the dumpster by accident.
However, a local citizen named Jennifer Nelson is quoted in the The Detroit News as having found medical waste in the trash receptacle at another WomanCare facility in Southgate.
A follow-up inspection of the site is scheduled for April 3 and the clinic is being asked to provide documentation of employee re-training by April 18. After that, a spokesman for the DEQ said the state will decide if it will proceed further.
“Hodari endangers the public and totally disregards patient privacy and he gets a slap on the hand, while the one who blew the whistle gets what amounts to a fine,” Operation Rescue President Troy Newman told LifeSiteNews.
“That is just wrong. We hope that those who are concerned about human dignity will ring the phone lines at the DEQ and the DA’s office. This sends the wrong message to an abortion cartel that already believes they are above the law.”
Concerned citizens are asking the public to express their concerns in writing to John N. Gohlke, Program Specialist for the Medical Waste Regulation Department of the DEQ at gohlkej@michigan.gov or to call the Warrants Division of the District Attorney’s office at 248-858-0656 to request that criminal charges be filed against Hodari.
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