Skip to content
News
Link copied to clipboard

State: West Phila. doctor’s practice ‘deplorable’

State authorities last night suspended the medical license of a West Philadelphia doctor whose practice was raided last week by federal drug agents.

State authorities last night suspended the medical license of a West Philadelphia doctor whose practice was raided last week by federal drug agents.

The suspension came after a hours-long search of Kermit B. Gosnell's practice, Women's Medical Society, at 3801 Lancaster Ave. in Powelton Village.

The suspension order says the conditions of the clinic were "deplorable and unsanitary."

It states: "There was blood on the floor, and parts of aborted fetuses were displayed in jars."

The order calls Gosnell's continued practice of medicine "an immediate and clear danger to the public health and safety."

Calls to Gosnell at his clinic were not answered last night.

On Thursday, FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration agents executed a search warrant at the clinic, state officials said.

FBI spokesman J.J. Klaver last night declined to elaborate on the FBI-DEA investigation or to confirm that Gosnell was a subject of the probe.

Law enforcement sources, however, said the FBI, DEA, and state drug agents who executed the search warrant had been investigating Gosnell, who is in his late 60s, on suspicion of illegal distribution of prescription painkillers.

During the search, the sources said, DEA and FBI agents discovered evidence that triggered a call to state authorities, who regulate Pennsylvania's abortion laws.

The suspension order also alleges that on or about Nov. 20, a patient died after being treated at the clinic by an unlicensed employee.

The woman, who was not named and was in the clinic for an abortion, was given 10 mg of Demerol and 12.5 mg of promethazine. When the patient began experiencing cramping, she asked for more pain medication, and Gosnell told the unlicensed employee to administer it, the order states.

The woman allegedly was given 75 mg of Demerol, 12.5 mg of promethazine, and 10 mg of diazepam, and later more anesthetic in preparation for the abortion.

After the abortion, the order states, the woman "started to have arrhythmia and then went into V-fib" (ventricular fibrillation). She was taken to an unnamed hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Last night, a Philadelphia police officer outside Gosnell's office said the doctor and staff were in the office talking to authorities. They did not comment.

The office, which also bears the name Family Medical Society, is a block from Presbyterian Medical Center.

It is a three-story brick structure with a two-story annex. On the front is a silhouette of a man and woman holding hands with a child, the symbol of the practice.

The practice includes dental, family planning, family practice, geriatrics, and physical therapy, according to a list on the front of the building.