Delaware suspends abortion doctor's license

The medical license of Kermit B. Gosnell, the West Philadelphia abortion doctor who's been linked to two deaths, has been temporarily suspended in Delaware by that state's Board of Medical Practice.

Gosnell's attorney, Michele Allen, and state prosecutors hammered out a consent agreement yesterday in which the 69-year-old physician agreed to the temporary suspension of his state medical license and license to distribute controlled substances, the board said at a meeting later in the day in Dover.

Gosnell, who did not attend the meeting, waived his right to a board hearing within 60 days.

The complaint against Gosnell was filed by the Delaware Department of Justice.

"Based upon the severity of the violations alleged in the complaint, and based upon the suspension of Dr. Gosnell's license in the state of Pennsylvania, we have concluded that the suspension of Dr. Gosnell's license to practice medicine in Delaware is necessary to protect the public until we can fully hear the matter," said Raymond L. Moore Sr., the president of the Board of Medical Practice.

Gosnell does not currently practice medicine in Delaware, Allen said yesterday. She said she is uncertain if he ever practiced in the state.

His Pennsylvania medical license was suspended last week.

The Delaware suspension is the latest development since the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration agents raided Gosnell's West Philly clinic, the Women's Medical Society, at 38th Street and Lancaster Avenue, on Feb. 18.

At the time, a law-enforcement source said, the agents were investigating the possibility that Gosnell was writing phony prescriptions.

What the agents found, authorities said, was far worse: bloodstained floors, fetus remains stored in jars, and evidence that unlicensed employees were giving medications to patients.

State investigators said that one patient, Karnamaya Mongar, died after she was heavily medicated for an abortion on Nov. 20.

Court records show that another patient, Semika Shirelle Shaw, died a day after she had an abortion at the clinic in 2000.