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Troubled N.J. abortion providers draw new scrutiny

When the State of New Jersey yanked Steven Brigham's medical license last fall, the lead prosecutor lambasted the abortion doctor for 20-plus years of being "slippery and disingenuous."

When the State of New Jersey yanked Steven Brigham's medical license last fall, the lead prosecutor lambasted the abortion doctor for 20-plus years of being "slippery and disingenuous."

Now Brigham is at it again, according to a complaint filed last month by the Attorney General's Office.

The complaint is actually against Vikram Kaji, the 79-year-old medical director of Brigham's eight clinics in New Jersey, which make up the bulk of his multistate abortion business, advertised as American Women's Services.

Kaji, who has a history of disciplinary action for sexually abusing patients, is now accused of helping Brigham commit fraud through a sham ownership transfer of the N.J. clinics. Brigham was required to divest his ownership when his license was revoked.

Though Kaji's signature is on a purported transfer document, he denied ownership on April 22, when an investigator from the state's Division of Consumer Affairs made an unannounced visit to the clinic in Hamilton. The following month, Kaji met with a committee of the state Board of Medical Examiners and testified that Brigham continued to own and "run the show" at the eight clinics.

Kaji has recently been under regulators' scrutiny because in 2013, the board found he was not doing an adequate job as medical director. During a hearing, Kaji admitted he had suffered a stroke that affected his memory and vision. The board deemed him fit to practice after neuropsychological evaluation, but recommended he "refrain from . . . complicated medical procedures."

The new complaint says Kaji "aided and abetted the unlicensed practice of medicine." It seeks to suspend or revoke his license and permanently ban him from the medical director job.

Is the state also going after Brigham? Neal Buccino, spokesman for the consumer affairs division, said he could not confirm nor deny it.

Joseph Gorrell, the attorney for both Brigham and Kaji who provided the purported ownership transfer document to the state, did not respond to a request for comment.

Public records chronicle Brigham's 25-year, multistate history of trouble with medical boards, regulators, the IRS, landlords, creditors, and prosecutors in Maryland. Both abortion providers and antiabortion groups have complained about him to regulators for years.

Brigham lost his New Jersey license - the last of five he once held - for initiating late-term abortions in his New Jersey clinics, then surgically removing the dead fetus a day or so later in a clandestine clinic in Maryland, where he has never had a license.

Prosecutors said Brigham used the scheme to evade New Jersey's outpatient surgery safety rules. Neither he nor his clinics are licensed to provide the risky, complex late-term abortion procedures. He was caught because a patient who was critically injured in Maryland went to police.

In his defense, Brigham insisted he was a champion of women's right to choose, and was under siege from potentially violent abortion foes.

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