Hospital Refuses Admission of One-Pound ‘Living Abortion’

A one-pound premature baby was in stable condition today at the Medical College of Georgia after a doctor at another hospital refused to admit it, saying he declined to try to save “living abortions.”

“Baby Cleveland” was born Tuesday, 16 weeks early, at Peach County Hospital in Fort Valley, Ga., where a team worked for more than three hours to keep her alive.

Peach County Hospital sought help from other facilities because it isn’t equipped to deal with a baby born that prematurely.

Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta had no available beds and Nancy Struth, a nurse at Peach County, said she called the Medical Center of Central Georgia in Macon and talked to an unidentified nurse.

“When I told her it weighed about a pound, she said no,” Struth said.

“It had nothing to do with the Medical Center, it was my decision,” said Dr. Ken Henderson, director of the Medical Center’s neonatal unit, adding that he does not accept babies weighing less than 1.1 pounds.

“I don’t accept babies that are living abortions,” he said. “The chances for survival are remote, less than 1 in 100. My policy is not to treat those not born in our hospital.

“Wait till you see what it cost to get the baby over there (to the Medical College).”

A spokesman at the Medical College in Augusta said, “I think the baby has got a sporting chance. Other than her level of maturity, she hasn’t done anything to hurt her chances.”