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May 4, 2018 (Society for the Protection for Unborn Children) – A coroner has criticised repeated failures at a high-profile abortion centre where a woman died hours after undergoing a botched late-term abortion.

Aisha Chithira, who had travelled from Ireland at 22 weeks pregnant, died after “extensive internal bleeding” and cardiac arrest in a taxi on 21 January 2012. The termination took place at the Marie Stopes centre in Ealing, where the council recently banned pro-lifers from holding vigils and offering help outside the clinic.

“Repeated failures”

The inquest heard that she was discharged from the clinic despite vomiting and swaying so much she looked “drunk”.

Delivering a narrative verdict, acting senior coroner for west London Dr Sean Cummings said: “Her death resulted from the manifestation of a recognised complication of the procedure resulting in sometimes subtle and atypical symptoms and signs which were not appreciated as potentially sinister at the time.

“There were repeated failures of recording of observations by different clinicians involved in her care.”

Justice?

Dr Cummings identified an “element of complacency” within the clinic but said he could not return a verdict of neglect as invited because he was not satisfied there had been a gross failure. Dr Adedayo Adedeji, who carried out the abortion, and two nurses, were acquitted of manslaughter in May 2016, after the prosecution refused to offer evidence in court.

Tragic and avoidable

In a statement released after the verdict, Ms Chithira's widower Ryan Kapengule said: “When Aisha was taken from me in such a shocking way my world was torn apart.” The family's lawyer, medical negligence specialist Emma Doughty, said: “Ms Chithira died in tragic and avoidable circumstances leaving her husband and young daughter. It is crucial that lessons are learned to ensure a tragedy like this never happens again.”

No wonder they wanted a buffer zone

Dr Anthony McCarthy of SPUC said that the case “highlights the low ethical standards of the abortion industry and their contempt not just for unborn children but for the women in crisis whom they betray.”

He also said that the “repeated failures of recording of observations by different clinicians involved in her care”, are in line with the well over 2,600 failures found by the Care Quality Commission, alongside statements by staff to the effect that patients were treated like cattle. “Small wonder that Marie Stopes, which has shown little sign of reforming, wants a 'buffer zone' to stop mothers hearing about real help available to have their babies,” he concluded. 

Published with permission from the Society for the Protection for Unborn Children.