'House of Horrors' Murder Trial: Pa. Abortion Doctor 'Broke the Law as Standard Practice'
The Philadelphia abortion doctor, accused of the murders of one patient and seven babies, has been condemned by prosecutors for running his two multi-million dollar abortion practices with little regard for standard operating procedure.
In a recent motion, prosecutors argue that they want the jury to hear evidence which proves Dr. Kermit Gosnell indiscriminately prescribed pain killers and allowed untrained medical personnel to aid in the abortions.
Prosecutors argue that Gosnell's disregard for proper medical practices proves that the 2009 death of 41-year-old Karnamaya Mongar, who died of an overdose of anesthesia administered by an unlicensed employee, was no mistake, but rather an inevitable result of his botched practice.
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"The uncharged conduct is relevant and should be admitted. It shows that breaking the law was standard operating procedure," Assistant District Attorney Joanne Pescatore wrote in a recent motion, according to The Associated Press.
Nine other clinic workers are also being charged, along with Gosnell's wife, for third-degree murder after allegedly performing late-term abortions.
Six of those employees, including Gosnell's wife, Pearl, have pleaded guilty to performing illegal late term abortions.
Gosnell is being charged with running a "house of horrors" abortion clinic at the Women's Medical Center in West Philadelphia for over a decade. After a raid in Feb. 2010, federal authorities allegedly found fetal body parts in jars and blood-stained equipment at the Pennsylvania facility.
Gosnell could face the death penalty after being charged with first degree murder in the killing seven infants born alive, and third degree murder in the death of Mongar. A capital grand jury has been scheduled for March 2013.
"Pennsylvania is not a Third World country," read a grand jury report released after the investigation in January 2011.
"There were several oversight agencies that stumbled upon and should have shut down Kermit Gosnell long ago," the grand jury report read.
After Gosnell received his charges, Pennsylvannia legislators passed a bill which ensured stricter abortion regulations in the state, as prosecutors argued that one reason Gosnell was able to continue his alleged botched practice was due to the relaxed regulations of the state health department.
The doctor is currently up for a second trial on federal drug charges, in which he is being accused of administering 2,300 prescriptions a month for OxyContin and other highly addictive drugs, making a profit of $200,000.
Gosnell's separate drug case, which was scheduled for next month, has been postponed indefinitely.
Gosnell was due in court the morning of Monday, Aug. 13 for a pre-trial hearing, but the date has been pushed to October.
The 71-year-old defendant has six children, one of whom is a medical doctor and another a college professor. The doctor's 20 year old son, Barron Gosnell, has filed a petition with the Common Pleas Court to change his name, as he wants to shed his association with his father.
