‘Abortion Assembly Line’ Blamed in Death

A Los Angeles woman who died after an abortion at Inglewood Women’s Hospital in 1987 was the victim of “an abortion assembly line,” in which a single doctor performed 74 of the operations in one day, the lawyer for her family argued Friday in Norwalk Superior Court.

In closing arguments during a malpractice trial against the now-closed hospital and two of its doctors, attorney David Berglund said Belinda Byrd died because doctors rushed her through surgery and failed to notice signs of internal bleeding.

But defense attorneys said Byrd died from a rare blood clot that formed in her lungs several hours after surgery.

‘Three Doctors’

“Had three doctors been standing there at the time, the chances of that woman surviving were practically nil,” attorney David Weiss said. “This case doesn’t belong in a courtroom. It belongs in a textbook.”

Byrd’s mother and three teen-age children are seeking damages, alleging medical malpractice against Dr. Steven Pine, who performed the abortion, the 28-bed hospital and its chief of staff, Dr. Morton Barke. The trial will resume Monday when the jury is scheduled to be charged by Judge Charles E. Frisco.

Weighed 95 Pounds

Byrd, who was 19 weeks pregnant at the time and weighed 95 pounds, sought the abortion because her doctor warned her that another birth could prove fatal, Berglund said. Byrd had undergone a Cesarean section in the births of each of her three children.

Byrd was one of 74 women who received abortions from Pine on Jan. 24, 1987, Berglund said. After an abortion that took about nine minutes, Byrd was transferred to the recovery room, where she spent about seven minutes before being taken to the hospital’s west wing, Berglund said.

Berglund contended in the trial that it was unsafe for Pine to perform so many abortions in one day and that patients were rushed through the hospital so quickly that adequate monitoring of patients was impossible.

Officials of the Inglewood Women’s Hospital said it was not unusual for one of its doctors to perform 74 abortions in one day.

Inglewood Women’s Hospital specialized in late-term abortions. Most abortions are performed in the first three months of pregnancy. Byrd was nearly five months pregnant.

Byrd’s abortion ended about 4 p.m., and nurses noted on medical records that her condition became critical sometime after 7 p.m. In dispute is the quality of care she received in the intervening hours, the cause of death and whether Pine and the hospital contributed to it.

Lapsed Into Coma

Byrd became unconscious and, after efforts to resuscitate her failed, she was rushed to Centinela Medical Center. Byrd went into a coma and died three days later.

A coroner’s report concluded that Byrd died of a punctured uterus suffered during the abortion. While not disputing that a punctured uterus occurred, the defense argued that the hospital and the two doctors were not negligent in their treatment of Byrd. Defense attorneys said slides taken by the coroner’s office after the original autopsy showed signs of a blood clot in the lungs.

Byrd’s death helped to prompt state health officials to launch an investigation of the hospital, which revealed what one official termed “battlefield conditions.” The state revoked the hospital’s license in February, 1988.

Less than two weeks later, the facility was reopened as West Coast Women’s Medical Group, an outpatient facility specializing in abortions. Months later, it was purchased by Edward Allred, a Long Beach physician who operates it as part of his Family Planning Associates Medical Group, which runs numerous abortion clinics throughout the state.

Berglund argued that Byrd’s condition deteriorated slowly from the moment she left the operating room but that her complaints of pain and weakness went unheeded by the hospital staff. Only when she went into cardiac arrest did the staff realize Byrd’s desperate condition, Berglund said.

Weiss and Robert Reback, attorney for Barke and the hospital, argued that a rare medical occurrence--a piece of uterine tissue lodged in Byrd’s lung--led to massive clotting, hemorrhaging and eventually death.