Miami abortion clinic owner threw live baby away, prosecutors say

[cali]

The Associated Press
6:55 AM EST, March 4, 2009
MIAMI - An abortion clinic owner is accused of delivering a live baby during a botched procedure and then throwing the infant away.

Belkis Gonzalez, 42, was arrested Tuesday and charged with practicing medicine without a license and tampering with evidence, both felonies, said Ed Griffith, a spokesman for the Miami-Dade State Attorney's office. If found guilty, Gonzalez would face at least a year in prison and up to 15 years.

The teenage mother, Sycloria Williams, has filed a lawsuit alleging that Gonzalez knocked the infant off the chair where she had given birth, and then scooped the baby, placenta and afterbirth into a red plastic biohazard bag, and threw it out.

The clinic's doctor, Dr. Pierre Jean-Jacque Renelique, had been scheduled to perform the procedure, but Williams went into labor after being given drugs to dilate her cervix and waiting for hours for Renelique to arrive, the suit said. The doctor has said he had been on his way to the Hialeah clinic when he was called to treat another patient who was
<snip>

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/sfl-bn-0304miami-doctor,0,900628.story

[Lost in CT]

1. This is not going to end well.. nt

[cali]

2. What's not going to end well?

this thread or the story?

[DS1]

5. the battle over at freecycle

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

35. Oh man, I got into one of those once

The freecycle moderator didn't see anything wrong with somebody requesting free medium sized dogs with good temperments.

Can we say animal research lab buncher?

[Lost in CT]

6. Either one but the thread in paticular...

There are more than a few nutjobs on both sides of the abortion debate....

Those that think life begins when you buy the girl a drink and those that think as long as the cord is still attached abortion is fair game.

[SmileyRose]

42. "life begins when you buy the girl a drink" LOL

sorry, there's nothing funny about his OP but that line just cracked me up.

I know one of two of those neanderthals and neither one of them could get a girl if they bought 400 drinks. :)

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

3. Trying To Get An Abortion At 23 Weeks. Shame On Her.

And I hope to hell the 'doc' gets prison time.

[cali]

4. I tend to agree that an abortion at almost 6 months unless there's a truly compelling reason

is difficult to accept, but the doc didn't do this. The Clinic owner did.

[SmileyRose]

43. Mine was 22 weeks in 1978.

I've yet to meet anyone who aborted after 20 weeks who did so lightly. No one should be asked to justify their reasons. It doesn't matter if anyone else on the planet thinks it's a "compelling" reason or not. It's just not possible for anyone else to know 100% of any woman's life or medical circumstances that would cause her to choose an abortion at 5 or more months.


I want us to give women the support they need for better options, but please, let's not pass judgment on a woman who makes this kind of choice.

[Iris]

7. "practicing medicine without a license" and this will be the norm if Roe vs. Wade is overturned

[cali]

10. Roe won't be overturned and I'm afraid that the behavior in this clinic

is not an anomaly.

[slackmaster]

8. That's fucked up like a football bat

My pet expression for the day.

[johnfunk]

9. An unlicensed OUTLAW... and when abortions are outlawed...

... only outlaws will perform abortions.

[cali]

11. Abortion is not going to be outlawed

and I'm glad this woman was busted.

[Xithras]

23. No, he was licensed and legal when the abortion occurred. The article is written poorly

His license was suspended after the fact, and continued to practice anyway. The charges for the unlicensed practice aren't related to the charges involving the botched abortion, they just filed both charges together.

The botched abortion *slash* murder happened in 2006, his license was suspended last month for unrelated issues.

[KamaAina]

41. He is a she. Belkis is a fairly common woman's name in the Dominican Republic.

So the question becomes: How could she have continued to operate a clinic after her license had been suspended? All this does is give the anti's more ammo to say that legitimate, licensed abortion doctors are all a bunch of quacks. :grr:

[Warpy]

12. We don't know any details from this article

For instance, why was she getting an abortion so close to viability? Was the age of the pregnancy confirmed? Was the doctor informed of the age of the pregnancy? Was the fetus really alive? How did the "teenaged mother" know this?

My guess is that there is a very big back story to this one.

The Sun-Sentinel is a right wing rag that is obviously going for sensationalism instead of solid reporting.

[Iris]

13. almost 6 months is not close to viability

but you're still right about the lack of back story

[cali]

14. actually 6 months is getting close to viability

and there's been quite a bit written about this story prior to this. (Viability is actually a pretty squishy term, but premature infants of less than 23 weeks, have survived)

[Arkansas Granny]

15. Apparently, the new threshold for viability is around 23 weeks.

I agree that the lack of back story could be a significant factor here.

http://www.slate.com/id/1060/

[lumberjack_jeff]

20. I have a 17 year old niece who was born at 23 weeks. n/t

[spanone]

16. practicing medicine without a license....that's the crime.

if it was abortion or brain surgery the crime is that....

[cali]

18. yep. that's the bottom line legally

though of course this is a story that pushes a lot of buttons.

[MadBadger]

17. If he threw away a live baby, how is this not murder?

[cali]

19. she, and it would be hard to prove that she threw away a live baby

due to the degree of decomposition.

[Romulox]

25. They have the testimony of the mother. That is plenty of evidence

[cali]

27. no, actually, it's likely not enough.

and the mother has sued in civil court.

[Romulox]

28. Of course it is. I think people watch too much CSI, and believe forensic evidence

is necessary to secure a conviction. It's not.

[cali]

36. sorry, never seen the show. but I do know that if the prosecutor

has made a decision on the charge, it's because that's what she thinks she can get a conviction on. We don't know what the prosecutor does. For all we know, the mother would make a lousy witness, or she never heard the child cry or whatever.

[snooper2]

34. They would be able to tell if the baby breathed outside the womb

Remember we are like fish breathing in water while in the womb :)

[cali]

37. not if the fetus/baby was too decomposed.

[Javaman]

21. Let's make something very clear here...

"Belkis Gonzalez, 42, was arrested Tuesday and charged with practicing medicine without a license"

she is not a doctor. period. just a back room quack.

it's morons like this that give planned parenthood a bad name.

[cali]

22. It's morons like this that give the pro-choice movement a bad name.

[Xithras]

24. Wrong, not a "back room quack". She was a licensed doctor until a month ago.

She just refused to quit practicing when they suspended her license...which was completely stupid on her part since she just turned a temporary suspension over paperwork and delegation issues into a permanent revocation and jail time.

[Javaman]

29. You lose your license and continue to practice without it. you're a quack. nt

[FedUpWithIt All]

32. Nobody lost a license and continued to practice without it.

The Dr. that lost a license is NOT the same person that disposed of the infant.

[Javaman]

39. soooo, the person WITHOUT a license shouldn't be playing doctor.

That's why there is 911.

[FedUpWithIt All]

33. The Dr. that had a license revoked was a man. He was NOT the person that was charged

for disposing of the infant.

He had his license revoked for the following...
committing medical malpractice, delegating responsibility to unlicensed personnel and failing to keep an accurate medical record.

He allowed a non-licensed clinic owner to oversee the dilation of the girl's cervix. The pregnancy was late gestation. It was the unlicensed clinic owner who delivered the baby.

[Javaman]

40. so the dr. without the license over saw a clinic worker that was unlicensed.

that's so much better. :eyes:

[FedUpWithIt All]

44. No. The Dr. had a license when this incident occurred. There is nothing in the article to sugges...

the Dr. performed OR oversaw anything medical after his license was suspended. Did you read the article?

[FedUpWithIt All]

26. She was the owner of a clinic that had a licensed Dr. on staff.

The girl's cervix was dilated at the very late gestation of 23 weeks under the order of the licensed Dr. The Dr. did not arrive on time and the girl delivered a live baby. The owner wrapped and disposed of the infant.

The owner never had a license but was the only person available due to the Dr. not arriving before the girl delivered. The Dr. lost his license because he should not have had a patient undergoing ANY treatment without a medical professional present. The girl should have NEVER been dilated at that late gestation without a Dr. present.

[Javaman]

30. Then you call 911. you don't practice medicine without a license. period. nt

[FedUpWithIt All]

31. I agree. I was just clarifying that this was not some back door clinic with unlicensed practitioner...

I personally do not think the circumstances that led up to this disaster are all that uncommon.

[originalpckelly]

38. What a tragedy, what a waste, if only we'd listened to Jonathan Swift.