An abortion clinic in Ohio owned by the inventor of the partial birth abortion procedure is accused of violating the law when it performed the procedure without consent on a 31-year-old woman who was under the influence of heroin, according to a government report.
The Ohio Department of Health (ODOH) released an investigative report showing that the woman arrived at Martin Haskell's Women's Med Center in Dayton on June 11 last year with a friend.
The ODOH said the woman could not walk on her own or keep her eyes opened, and her speech was slow, Life Site News reported.
Because of her condition, the woman was placed in a wheelchair.
Her friend told the clinic's staff that the woman took "two Soma and several Percocet, and probably both Suboxone, and perhaps some heroin, on her way in."
Despite her "somnolent state," the abortion doctor did not ask her consent before aborting her baby. After the procedure, the abortionist treated her overdose and transferred her to a hospital.
The report said the abortionist's diagnosis was "suspected recreational drug overdose."
The clinic's staff knew that the woman was high on drugs and they "aministered Narcan, a drug used to counter opioid overdose, but only after the physician performed the abortion," the government report said.
It noted that the clinic violated state law for "failure to ensure a patient was allowed to refuse or withdraw consent for treatment when her physical and cognitive condition precluded her from participating in her treatment."
Because of the incident, the Dayton Right to Life lodged a complaint before the State Medical Board of Ohio against Haskell, Dr. Roslyn Kade and Dr. Jeffrey Glazer.
According to the complaint, "It is clear that the licensed physician(s) violated the law."
"The licensed physician(s) knew that the patient was under the influence of drugs and was semi-conscious. The patient was never given the opportunity to withdraw consent for the procedure, and could not have given legal consent given her state of mind at the time of the procedure," the complaint read.
It added, "Further, the licensed physician(s) did not administer medicine to stop the effect of the drug overdose until after she had completed the abortion. This was a clear act of negligence that risked the life of the patient."
Tessie Pollock, State Medical Board spokeswoman, told the Dayton Daily News that informed consent is needed to a physician's standard of care.
