ARTICLES

Hotline Defends Referrals

TO DANGEROUS SAN DIEGO DOCTORS

From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern time Monday through Friday, operators in Washington D.C. refer women considering abortions. The toll free number (1-800-772-9100) is sponsored by the National Abortion Federation. Abortionists who want to be listed by the hotline must join the federation.

San Diego has two abortionists listed with the hotline: Womancare, with clinics in Hillcrest and South San Diego, and OB-GYN Consultants, an 11-doctor practice in Hillcrest also called The Birthplace. In News Notes' April 1995 survey of abortionists, both Womancare and OB Gyn Consultants indicated they performed abortions up to 20 weeks.

Womancare has for some time employed Dr. Phillip Rand, once owner of four abortion mills in San Diego County, to perform abortions at its clinics. Rand has a long record of injuring women under his care. According to Superior Court records, at least 37 personal injury and malpractice lawsuits have been filed against Rand. Altogether, between 1974 and 1996, 45 different civil suits were filed against Rand. Judgments against him in some of those cases ultimately pushed him into bankruptcy and led him to announce in 1994 that he was being forced out of practice; he continues to work for Womancare. In addition, Rand is under investigation by the state Medical Quality Assurance Board, according to sources in the board's local office and the San Diego office of the California Attorney General.

Rand's bankruptcy means that, with the exception of one case, he has avoided paying judgments. The lawsuits reveal a decade-long record of injuries to women. In 1991, for example, Rand was sued by Ashleigh Pitchford after a botched abortion. The year before, Deborah Brown sued Rand after she delivered a dead fetus in her home following an attempted abortion by Rand. The same year, Marcia Lattimore filed suit after her uterus was perforated by Rand at a Womancare clinic. Rand allegedly told Lattimore her illness was the consequence of "eating the wrong foods."

None of this fazed the people at the National Abortion Hotline when contacted and confronted with Rand's record. A woman identifying herself only as "Susan" dismissed the particulars, charging instead that lawsuits against abortionists are political tools. Susan urged sympathy for Rand and other abortionists.

"Realize what it's like being an abortion provider," she said. "It's hard. Almost all abortion providers have lawsuits against them. It's an anti-choice tactic to get doctors to stop doing abortions. They're being targeted more than any other doctors."

According to Susan, pro-life advocates stand outside abortion clinics and solicit women leaving to file lawsuits. "They will sue you for nothing," she said. "They have their own legal clearinghouse, I think it's in Texas, and that's all they do, sue abortion providers."

As for the National Abortion Federation, Susan said, they check a doctor's credentials before listing him or her on their toll-free referral service. "We make sure that all our doctors have not had their licenses revoked, or that their license has not expired, or that they haven't lost privileges at their local hospitals," she said. "Other than that, there's really nothing we can do."

When pressed on the particulars of Rand's malpractice judgments, Susan again insisted that "anyone can file a lawsuit." When she was reminded that Rand had lost suits and had large judgments entered against him, she suggested a call to the state Medical Quality Assurance Board.

Susan was also adamant in her defense of Womancare. "That's a fantastic facility, Womancare," she said. "They're a good clinic. You get more personalized service there. They're known for their counseling."

Nonetheless, said Susan, if a woman were uncomfortable about going to Womancare, she could always go instead to OB-GYN Consultants. But one of the eleven doctors at OB-GYN Consultants also has been accused in a series of lawsuits of injuring his patients as well.

Dr. Karl L. Evelyn of OB-GYN Consultants has been sued by several women for malpractice. In May 1993, Natalie M. Paddock sued Evelyn for injuries she alleged were sustained in a 1984 tubal ligation. Her suit said she suffered excessive vaginal bleeding and abdominal pain for years until she discovered in 1992 that an IUD implanted by Evelyn had not been removed at the time of the sterilization. Evelyn settled the suit out of court. In 1987 he also settled a malpractice suit brought against him by Barbara Donnell in which she claimed to have undergone "an incomplete abortion process." He was also named as a defendant in a 1989 case stemming from a problem childbirth at Mercy Medical Center. That case, too, was settled out of court.

In the Mercy Medical Center case, Evelyn provided some disturbing testimony when questioned by the plaintiff's lawyer in 1992. According to court records, Evelyn's testimony was as follows:

Question: And your medical specialty is what, sir?

Evelyn: Obstetrics and gynecology.

Question: And are you board certified in obstetrics and gynecology?

Evelyn: No, I'm not.

Question: Have you ever taken the board examinations?

Evelyn: Yes, I have.

Question: How many times?

Evelyn: Twice.

Question: With what results?

Evelyn: I didn't pass.

The folks at the National Abortion Hotline were again unfazed when informed of Dr. Evelyn's history. An operator who refused to put a caller through to Susan said all she could do was check the membership list for another abortionist. "Bakersfield, Beverly Hills, Cypress, Fremont ... tell me when I get to one near San Diego," she said.

As it turns out, because of the way the National Abortion Federation compiles its information, there was one other abortion provider in San Diego County on their referral list, in La Mesa -- Dr. Edward C. Allred's Family Planning Associates Medical Group, which advertises abortions up to 24 weeks.

The NAF's Susan tried to reassure women that, despite the cases turned up by News Notes, the chances of a woman being injured by an abortionist were remote. "It's the safest outpatient procedure available in the United States," she said.

Both Womancare and Family Planning Associates maintain their own abortion hotlines. In the yellow pages under "Abortion Aid" is the number 287-5783, which turns out to be Family Planning Associates. Under "Abortion Hotline" is the number 298-9352, which is the same number as Womancare. Another listing, 298-0635, under "Pro-Choice Info Line," gives you a recorded message asking that you leave a detailed message for a callback later. That number, according to the criss-cross directory, is located at Woman- care's downtown office.