Botched Abortion, Threw Out Live Baby-Please Read, so sad!

Lawsuit:
Florida Clinic Botched Abortion, Threw Out Live Baby

Thursday, February 05, 2009

TAMPA, Florida — Eighteen and pregnant, Sycloria Williams went to an abortion clinic outside Miami and paid $1,200 for Dr. Pierre Jean-Jacque Renelique to terminate her 23-week pregnancy.

Three days later, she sat in a reclining chair, medicated to dilate her cervix and otherwise get her ready for the procedure.

Only Renelique didn't arrive in time. According to Williams and the Florida Department of Health, she went into labor and delivered a live baby girl.

What Williams and the Health Department say happened next has shocked people on both sides of the abortion debate: One of the clinic's owners, who has no medical license, cut the infant's umbilical cord. Williams says the woman placed the baby in a plastic biohazard bag and threw it out.

BLOG: Click here to read Dr. Manny's take on this.

Police recovered the decomposing remains in a cardboard box a week later after getting anonymous tips.

"I don't care what your politics are, what your morals are, this should not be happening in our community," said Tom Pennekamp, a Miami attorney representing Williams in her lawsuit against Renelique and the clinic owners.

The state Board of Medicine is to hear Renelique's case in Tampa on Friday and determine whether to strip his license. The state attorney's homicide division is investigating, though no charges have been filed. Terry Chavez, a spokeswoman with the Miami-Dade County State Attorney's Office, said this week that prosecutors were nearing a decision.

Renelique's attorney, Joseph Harrison, called the allegations at best "misguided and incomplete" in an e-mail to The Associated Press. He didn't provide details.

The case has riled the anti-abortion community, which contends the clinic's actions constitute murder.

"The baby was just treated as a piece of garbage," said Tom Brejcha, president of The Thomas More Society, a law firm that is also representing Williams. "People all over the country are just aghast."

Even those who support abortion rights are concerned about the allegations.

"It really disturbed me," said Joanne Sterner, president of the Broward County chapter of the National Organization for Women, after reviewing the administrative complaint against Renelique. "I know that there are clinics out there like this. And I hope that we can keep (women) from going to these types of clinics."

According to state records, Renelique received his medical training at the State University of Haiti. In 1991, he completed a four-year residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Interfaith Medical Center in New York.

New York records show that Renelique has made at least five medical malpractice payments in the past decade, the circumstances of which were not detailed in the filings.

Several attempts to reach Renelique were unsuccessful. Some of his office numbers were disconnected, no home number could be found and he did not return messages left with his attorney.

Williams struggled with the decision to have an abortion, Pennekamp said. She declined an interview request made through him.

She concluded she didn't have the resources or maturity to raise a child, he said, and went to the Miramar Women's Center on July 17, 2006. Sonograms indicated she was 23 weeks pregnant, according to the Department of Health. She met Renelique at a second clinic two days later.

Renelique gave Williams laminaria, a drug that dilates the cervix, and prescribed three other medications, according to the administrative complaint filed by the Health Department. She was told to go to yet another clinic, A Gyn Diagnostic Center in Hialeah, where the procedure would be performed the next day, on July 20, 2006.

Williams arrived in the morning and was given more medication.

The Department of Health account continues as follows: Just before noon she began to feel ill. The clinic contacted Renelique. Two hours later, he still hadn't shown up. Williams went into labor and delivered the baby.

"She came face to face with a human being," Pennekamp said. "And that changed everything."

The complaint says one of the clinic owners, Belkis Gonzalez came in and cut the umbilical cord with scissors, then placed the baby in a plastic bag, and the bag in a trash can.

Williams' lawsuit offers a cruder account: She says Gonzalez knocked the baby off the recliner chair where she had given birth, onto the floor. The baby's umbilical cord was not clamped, allowing her to bleed out. Gonzalez scooped the baby, placenta and afterbirth into a red plastic biohazard bag and threw it out.

No working telephone number could be found for Gonzalez, and an attorney who has represented the clinic in the past did not return a message.

At 23 weeks, an otherwise healthy fetus would have a slim but legitimate chance of survival. Quadruplets born at 23 weeks last year at The Nebraska Medical Center survived.

An autopsy determined Williams' baby — she named her Shanice — had filled her lungs with air, meaning she had been born alive, according to the Department of Health.

The cause of death was listed as extreme prematurity.

The Department of Health believes Renelique committed malpractice by failing to ensure that licensed personnel would be present when Williams was there, among other missteps.

The department wants the Board of Medicine, a separate agency, to permanently revoke Renelique's license, among other penalties. His license is currently restricted, permitting him to only perform abortions when another licensed physician is present and can review his medical records.

Should prosecutors file murder charges, they'd have to prove the baby was born alive, said Robert Batey, a professor of criminal law at Stetson University College of Law in Gulfport. The defense might contend that the child would have died anyway, but most courts would not allow that argument, he said.

"Hastening the death of an individual who is terminally ill is still considered causing the death of that individual," Batey said. "And I think a court would rule similarly in this type of case."

Dr. Manny is great, a really nice guy. Very straightforward and tells it like it is!



Dr. Manny, Take his medical license away!

I'm referring to a physician in Florida who has been accused along with clinic staff of botching a late-term abortion and throwing out a living infant. This is one of the most horrendous stories that I have ever read ― regarding again ― a severe lack of proper medical care provided to a young woman and her child.

According to published reports, an 18-year-old girl went to a clinic in Florida for a late-term abortion at 23 weeks. Three days later, after receiving medication, the young woman went into labor and gave birth to a live baby girl. Since the doctor failed to show up in time, one of the clinic’s owners who was not even licensed to practice medicine, cut the umbilical cord, placed the baby in a medical waste bag, and threw it in the trash.

According to the autopsy report, the tiny baby later died of complications related to her severe prematurity. And as I’m sure you can imagine, people in the region are shocked and disgusted by the news.

Now let’s dissect this case a little bit …

Late-term abortions are quite dangerous, and free-standing abortion clinics like this one have become hazardous to women all over the country. As details of this case clearly illustrate, unlicensed personnel, lack of proper sanitary conditions and untrained physicians can all lead to horrific outcomes.

This particular physician already had a restricted license, permitting him only to perform abortions when another physician was present, and his track record of malpractice was quite extensive.

The state board of medicine of Florida is going to look at this case and determine whether or not to strip this physician of his license completely.

Let me make it easy for them: Burn his license and shut down that clinic!

Join the discussion on my Facebook page.

Tags: abortion clinic, baby, baby in garbage, Dr. Manny Alvarez, Dr. Pierre Jean-Jacque Renelique, Florida, late-term abortion, medical waste bag, mother, Sycloria Williams

Quote :

I don't care what your politics are, what your morals are, this should not be happening in our community," said Tom Pennekamp, a Miami attorney representing Williams in her lawsuit against Renelique and the clinic owners.

"The baby was just treated as a piece of garbage," said Tom Brejcha, president of The Thomas More Society, a law firm that is also representing Williams.

I don't quite understand the mother Filing a lawsuit against the clinic and Doctor.. She waited almost 6 months to have an abortion. She is as bad as the people at the clinic. It's not as if she wanted the child.

If nothing else is done about the abortion issue, the least those with an ounce of compassion can do is put a stop to these late-term abortions. It's barbaric and disgusting.

This is the very thing that pisses me off. People will do whatever it takes to protect and give rights to these murdering terrorists that would kill each and every one of us, including our children without giving it a second thought.

That's so sad. She waited way too late to have an abortion. She should have given it for adoption if she didn't want it that late.

Terizz wrote:

That's so sad. She waited way too late to have an abortion. She should have given it for adoption if she didn't want it that late.

I agree, why wait so long? She only had a few more weeks to go and she could have given the baby to a couple that would give anything to have a baby.

At 18 years old she should have known better. This is why there need to be laws set in place so these things don't happen.

I am happy to see in that report that even those supporting abortion are concerned about late term abortions. And admit these abortions are happing.

This little baby took it's first breath, it was alive, it could have lived with proper medical attention. It would have lived for sure if this mother and Doctor had waited just a few more weeks and let it come into the world when it was ready. Man the thoughts of it being put in a plastic trash bag and thrown away makes me sick.

I don't believe in abortion, but I don't want to take the option away from those that do. But there just has to be some type of law of put in place to put a stop to these late term abortions. it's sick.

People in the US are more concerned about protecting the rights of terrorists that would kill each and every one of us in a heart beat given the chance.

One of the first things Obama does is provide money to fund foreign abortions...

This was an adorable, alive, innocent newborn BABY that was thrown away like left over pizza. It's sick and disgusting. And shame on these people....Each and every one of them, including the mother.

Latest news on this Doctor is that he has lost his license.

Well if the mother hadn't treated the fully formed and capable of life fetus as a piece of trash to begin with the clinic couldnt have done what they did. There are many people at fault here.

23 week abortions should only be done for emergency reasons and not on demand in my opinion. That's where the true problem lies for me.

What they did was nothing short of murder, by placing that baby in a trash bag and throwing it out. If a young mother had given birth alone in her dorm room in a college and she had done what these doctors did she would be charged with murder. We know this because it has happened before, so the doctor and nurses who did this should be charged with nothing less either.

Morgan Rowan wrote:

Well if the mother hadn't treated the fully formed and capable of life fetus as a piece of trash to begin with the clinic couldnt have done what they did. There are many people at fault here.

23 week abortions should only be done for emergency reasons and not on demand in my opinion. That's where the true problem lies for me.

I couldn't agree with you more Morgan. There are many people at fault here, and the Mother certainly doesn't have any right to accuse or go after the Doctor or Clinic.

For her to even suggest that the baby was alive when that woman put the baby in the trash bag makes her just as guilty. Why didn't she say something?

If a baby was removed from a woman at 23 weeks for medical reasons to save the Mothers life, they would at least give the baby proper medical care. They would try to save the baby.

What happened to the 3 month rule? Was that just my imagination? Wasn't there a time when a Doctor wouldn't abort a baby after 3 months? Just think of how developed that baby was?

Would Planned Parenthood have done an abortion this late in a pregnancy?

Maybe it's time even those that agree with abortion look into the practice of these Doctor's and Clinic's that perform abortions. Is there any regulation on abortions at all?

I could be wrong but at this stage of pregnancy and this is speculation but I think this would have be a partial birth abortion. They are very graphic and horrible. Basically they put a whole in the baby's head and remove the brain and then the mother delivers the dead fetus. Considering this is probably the abortion this woman had, the nurse most probably did not conside the child ' alive ' simply because it had a heart beat or was breathing or whatever criteria they are using to call the birth ' live '. If the brain has been mostly removed then the child is no longer considered legally ' alive '. I think this story is your basic exaggeration to try to give you the picture of a perfectly formed little human being tossed in a garbage bag and thrown away. I'd venture to guess this baby was missing much of its head and therefore because it was the mothers choice to ' throw the baby away ' so to speak when she aborted then the nurse and clinic comply with her wishes.

The whole practice of disposing of our unwanted unborn is disgusting. Abortion is a horrible plague on this planet BUT at the same time so is over-population, starving children and abused unwanted babies so there just are no simple answers on what is right anymore.

This story makes my skin crawl. My niece was born at 23 weeks. 1lb. 2 oz.. She just turned 18, a senior in high school making straight A's even in advanced classes and is very active in lots of things at school and community and is picking out a college and has the kindest heart you can imagine. She was born 1 day past the legal abortion date and I can't image life without her or my nephew that was born 17 days later!!