Doctor Indicted In Abortion Death
BOSTON — A doctor who performed an abortion on a 22-year-old woman who later died has been indicted on charges of manslaughter.
Dr. Rapin Osathanondh was indicted Wednesday by a Barnstable County grand jury in the death of Laura Hope Smith.
Smith died at Cape Cod Hospital in 2007 after an abortion at the Women’s Health Center in Hyannis. Smith’s mother said that her daughter was 13 weeks pregnant when she had the abortion. EMTs were called when Smith stopped breathing. She was rushed to the hospital.
Osathanondh resigned his medical license in February after the Board of Registration in Medicine investigated the circumstances of Smith’s death at the urging of Smith’s mother, Eileen.
Cape & Islands District Attorney Michael O’Keefe said Smith died of cardiopulmonary arrest while under anesthesia.
“Basically, her heart stopped as a result of the manner in which the medical procedure was undertaken by the doctor,” O’Keefe said. “The manner in which it was done was, in our view, willful, wanton and reckless conduct.”
Smith’s mother alleged in a lawsuit that Osathanondh did not properly monitor Smith while she was under anesthesia.
“Had she been on the proper monitoring equipment, her heart rate, her pulse rate, her oxygen level, would have been monitored and any dangerous decrease could have been picked up immediately. Resuscitative or corrective measures could have been taken promptly, and would have avoided her death,” said Eileen Smith’s attorney, David Angueira.
Osathanondh’s attorney, Paul Cirel, called Smith’s death “an unfortunate tragedy,” but said Osathanondh is not to blame.
“We will vigorously defend him against the indictment and we have every expectation that Dr. Osathanondh will be exonerated,” said Cirel.
Osathanondh, 65, who is originally from Thailand, had been licensed to practice medicine in Massachusetts since 1974.
In its Feb. 20 “statement of allegations,” the board said Osathanondh did not have any means of monitoring Smith’s heart, and did not have oxygen or a functioning blood pressure cuff in the room during Smith’s abortion.
The board also alleged that Osathanondh “failed to adhere to basic cardiac life support protocol” and did not call 911 in a timely manner.
The board said the only other person who was present during the procedure was an office worker who did not have CPR training and was not trained in resuscitative measures.
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Comment from Christina
Time: July 18, 2008, 11:10 pm
Osathanondh is not the first abortionist to have untrained staff assisting with patients under general anesthesia: