http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/kermit-gosnell-philly-abortion-clinic-workers-options-18943467 Philly Abortion Clinic Workers Saw Few Options DA: Philadelphia Doctor Accused of Killing Babies Auto Start: On |
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By MARYCLAIRE DALE Associated Press PHILADELPHIA April 12, 2013 (AP)
They say they were just doing what the boss trained them to do.
But eight former employees of a run-down West Philadelphia abortion clinic now face prison time for the work they did for Dr. Kermit Gosnell. Three have pleaded guilty to third-degree murder.
And Gosnell, 72, is on trial in the deaths of a patient and seven babies allegedly born alive.
In testimony at the capital murder trial this past month, an unlicensed doctor and untrained aides described long, chaotic days at the clinic. They said they performed grueling, often gruesome work for little more than minimum wage, paid by Gosnell under the table.
But for most, it was the best job they could find.
Unlicensed doctor Stephen Massof, 50, of Pittsburgh, said he could not get a U.S. medical residency after finishing medical school in Grenada and went to work for Gosnell as a "backup plan" after six years running a bar. He admitted killing two babies by snipping their necks, as he said Gosnell taught him to do.
Eileen O'Neill, 56, had worked as a doctor in Louisiana but relinquished her medical license in 2000 to deal with "post-traumatic stress syndrome," according to her 2011 grand jury testimony. She is the only employee on trial with Gosnell, fighting false billing and racketeering charges.
Yong Kim/Philadelphia Daily News/AP Photo Dr. Kermit Gosnell is seen during an...
View Full Size Yong Kim/Philadelphia Daily News/AP Photo Dr. Kermit Gosnell is seen during an interview with the Philadelphia Daily News at his attorney's office in Philadelphia, March 8, 2010.
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Watch Video According to one colleague, O'Neill was increasingly upset at the line of people who came to Gosnell's adjacent medical clinic for painkillers. And she was angry that he wasn't helping her regain her license.
"She said: 'All I do is break my neck for him all the time, and he never does anything for me. I'm going to have to do something about it,'" front desk worker Tina Baldwin testified this week, recalling a conversation with O'Neill.
However, O'Neill, like many others, stayed on at the clinic until a February 2010 drug raid, which was spawned by Gosnell's high-volume distribution of OxyContin and other painkillers.
Gosnell, once a gifted student in his working-class black neighborhood, had put his medical school education to work as a 1970s-era champion of drug treatment and legal abortions. But 30 years later, conditions inside his bustling clinic and his old neighborhood had deteriorated, according to trial testimony.
Defense lawyer Jack McMahon argues that no babies were born alive, and unforeseen complications caused the overdose death of the woman who died.
"Just because the place was less than state-of-the-art doesn't make him a murderer," McMahon said in opening statements last month.
Baldwin, like colleague Latosha Lewis, had trained to be a medical assistant at a for-profit vocational school before going to work for Gosnell in 2002. She handed out drugs at the front desk to induce labor, while Lewis helped perform ultrasounds, administer medications and deliver babies. Lewis worked from 10 a.m. until well after midnight, making $7 to $10 an hour.
"Gosnell recklessly cut corners, allowed patients to choose their medication based on ability to pay, and provided abysmal care — all to maximize his profit," prosecutors wrote in the 2011 grand jury report. "He was not serving his community. Gosnell ran a criminal enterprise, motivated by greed."
Baldwin now faces at least a year in prison, and perhaps much longer, after pleading guilty to federal drug charges and state charges that include corruption of a minor.
