Steve Brigham, an abortion doctor who begins the procedure in New Jersey and completes the procedure in Maryland insists that neither state has the grounds to punish him.
In Maryland, Brigham has been charged with practicing medicine without a license. Brigham apparently filed papers in Maryland claiming that he doesn't need a license because he was only "engaging in consultation". This statement is seemingly proven false as records show that the completion of an abortion of a woman who was 18 months pregnant was carried out on a day when the physician Brigham was training was not present in the clinic.
Prosecutors claim that Brigham intends to evade New Jersey's safety rules. None of Brigham's six clinics in New Jersey are authorized to perform abortions on pregnancies that are more than 14 weeks in progress, because they do not meet requirements to perform surgery on patients who do not stay in a hospital for 24 hours or more.
Investigators claim that Brigham exploits the process of late-term abortion at the expense of the patient's safety. One patient, an 18-year old from New Jersey was 21 weeks pregnant. She suffered from a punctured uterus and bowel at Brigham's clinic in Maryland. She had to be airlifted to a Baltimore hospital to repair her uterus and bowel. Another patient did not make it to Maryland to complete her abortion, and was rushed to a hospital after experiencing severe abdominal pain. At a hospital in New Jersey, she delivered a dead fetus.
- - This is simply ridiculous. Brigham not only commits these wrong doings but tries to evade punishment, or blame altogether. He also has the audacity to claim that New Jersey and Maryland have no grounds what-so-ever to punish him. He's wrong. He is obviously putting the health and safety of his patients at risk. Hopefully the New Jersey board of Medical Examiners strips Brigham of his license to practice medicine permanently.
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6 comments:
first off, is this right? "woman who was 18 months pregnant". How can a woman be 18 months pregnant? Second, part of the blame might also be on he patients of the doctor. Did the patients know of his odd practices? or were they tricked into doing it? Brigham is definitely wrong and should accept any punishment given to him, but I wonder if the women knew about this going on.
I'm surprised that Brigham was able to get away with so many procedures without getting caught. Not only should Brigham be punished for his crimes, and they certainly ARE crimes despite what he says, but Maryland should increase regulations in the medical field in order to stop this kind of thing from happening again (which I'm sure will, as these things always have a way of popping up here and there). It would be one thing if Brigham was able to successfully perform abortions without endangering the mother's health (though still very illegal), but with the cases given in the article, the women suffered from severe pain. This almost reminds me of Jack Kevorkian, otherwise known as Dr. Death, who performed physician-assisted suicides during times when PAS was illegal (and still is in most states). While the legal issues of the two men may be similar, the main difference between Steve Brigham and Jack Kevorkian is that Brigham put the women through even more suffering, while Kevorkian ended his patients' suffering.
All in all, Brigham ought to acknowledge that his actions were immoral and unethical, and that he ought to be punished as a result.
John, I think Nicole meant 18 weeks, not 18 months.
Why isn't Brigham in jail already? He has already severely broken numerous laws in multiple states. Who thinks they can practice medicine without a license or perform an illegal abortion AND get away with it? Trying to evade punishment and responsibility just shows a complete lack of integrity. I believe this criminal should be put in jail and have his medical license taken away for good.
I think that this man is a psycho. How on earth does he think that performing abortions WITHOUT a license is fine??? I'm shocked he was not caught when he started doing this. Now that he has been discovered, I think he should pay the consequences for his actions and he should never be able to practice medicine again!!! Even if he is able to get a license, he's a lunatic for thinking that it's not wrong to carry on with an abortion without a license!! This really shows his lack of knowledge!!!!
Oh yes. I meant 8 months. xD
My bad, typo.
And I'm not sure if the patients knew about Brigham's practices. Most likely, they didn't know because they filed lawsuits. But then again, in the article it did say that Brigham's career was filled with lawsuits. Well, if I was getting surgery I would search the records of the clinic/physician if I could.(There SHOULD be records of lawsuits and such filed.. right?) It just seems like common sense to do so. So I think John may have a point.
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