More grisly details emerge from 'house of horrors' abortion trial as medical examiner tells how he had to thaw out the frozen remains of 47 fetuses
Philadelphia Medical Examiner Sam
Gulino described his bafflement
when police in 2010 turned over bags seized in freezers at Dr Kermit
Gosnell's abortion clinic that contained 47 sets of fetal remains.
'It was really an unprecedented situation,' said Gulino, who talked to colleagues and searched medical literature.
'There was no guidance for how to proceed.
'This was something that in 15 to 16 years...I had never been asked to do.'
He decided to thaw the fetal remains gradually, to avoid the deterioration that comes with rapid thawing.
The other witness on Monday was a Philadelphia doctor who against Gosnell, describing how he performed a major number of the abortions in the city after Gosnell was arrested.
Gosnell is accused of performing illegal, late-term abortions and running a dangerously outdated clinic staffed by untrained workers.
Dr. Charles Benjamin is one of about four abortion providers left in Philadelphia in the wake of Gosnell's arrest two years ago.
Benjamin, by his own count, has performed 40,000 abortions over a 30-year career.
Benjamin said that he has registered nurses on staff to monitor patients, and that only he or a nurse anesthetist give anesthesia, unlike Gosnell's clinic, where workers hired to clean instruments or handle paperwork have testified that Gosnell trained them to administer potent intravenous drugs.
Benjamin also explained that he performs abortions after 17 weeks gestation in a hospital — in contrast to Gosnell, who performed about all of his approximately 1,000 abortions a year at clinics in West Philadelphia and Delaware.
On cross-examination, Benjamin acknowledged that his practice once had an abortion patient die of sepsis, although he said the woman was his partner's patient.
The trial is now in its fifth week, and could last another month.
An influx of reporters attended the trial Monday, spurred by criticism that some broadcasters were not covering the trial.
A gag order prevents lawyers from speaking outside and no cameras are allowed inside the courtroom.
Former workers have testified
that Gosnell had the aborted fetuses in the freezer because of a billing
dispute with his medical waste disposal company, which had stopped
coming.
Gulino classified the remains by gestational age, concluding that 17 were aborted in the first trimester and 26 in the second trimester.
He believed that one or two were possibly viable, a finding he was required to note under state law.
Gulino's testimony was expected to continue Monday afternoon.
Some of the most graphic testimony came last week when a former intern at the clinic named Ashley Baldwin said that she helped perform countless late-term procedures where aborted babies would show obvious signs of life outside the womb.
'They just looked like regular babies,' Baldwin said.
One baby was so big that Gosnell joked to her, 'This baby is going to walk me home,' the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
Gosnell, 72, is charged with seven counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of seven infants born alive during abortions. He allegedly killed the babies by cutting their spinal cords with scissors.
Baldwin recalled seeing the doctor use scissors to 'snip' the necks of newborns who were moving outside the womb.
'It was really an unprecedented situation,' said Gulino, who talked to colleagues and searched medical literature.
'There was no guidance for how to proceed.
'This was something that in 15 to 16 years...I had never been asked to do.'
He decided to thaw the fetal remains gradually, to avoid the deterioration that comes with rapid thawing.
On trial: Kermit Gosnell, pictured, is
accused of killing the babies at the Philadelphia Women’s Medical
Society clinic and a 41-year-old woman who was administered too much
anesthesia and suffered cardiac arrest
He said that the fetuses found in
Gosnell's freezer ranged in age between 12 weeks to some that were well
over the 24-week legal limit for performing abortions in Pennsylvania.The other witness on Monday was a Philadelphia doctor who against Gosnell, describing how he performed a major number of the abortions in the city after Gosnell was arrested.
Gosnell is accused of performing illegal, late-term abortions and running a dangerously outdated clinic staffed by untrained workers.
Dr. Charles Benjamin is one of about four abortion providers left in Philadelphia in the wake of Gosnell's arrest two years ago.
Benjamin, by his own count, has performed 40,000 abortions over a 30-year career.
House of horror: A grand jury photograph
shows what police say are plastic bags hiding body parts in a
refrigerator inside the Philadelphia practice
He doesn't do them after 21 weeks, or three weeks shy of the 24-week limit in Pennsylvania, he said.Benjamin said that he has registered nurses on staff to monitor patients, and that only he or a nurse anesthetist give anesthesia, unlike Gosnell's clinic, where workers hired to clean instruments or handle paperwork have testified that Gosnell trained them to administer potent intravenous drugs.
Benjamin also explained that he performs abortions after 17 weeks gestation in a hospital — in contrast to Gosnell, who performed about all of his approximately 1,000 abortions a year at clinics in West Philadelphia and Delaware.
On cross-examination, Benjamin acknowledged that his practice once had an abortion patient die of sepsis, although he said the woman was his partner's patient.
Murder? Some former employees at the Women's
Medical Society, said many women came to the clinic for abortions but
looked as if they were too far along in their pregnancies to be there
He
also conceded that first-trimester patients have the choice to be
lightly sedated or only given local anesthesia. Defense lawyer Jack
McMahon was trying to counter attacks by prosecutors that Gosnell let
patients pick their anesthesia based on how much they could pay.The trial is now in its fifth week, and could last another month.
An influx of reporters attended the trial Monday, spurred by criticism that some broadcasters were not covering the trial.
A gag order prevents lawyers from speaking outside and no cameras are allowed inside the courtroom.
Discovery: Investigators found these bags allegedly filled with body parts at the clinic in Philadelphia
'House of horrors': A former employee claimed he saw 100 live babies killed at the clinic, pictured
Gulino classified the remains by gestational age, concluding that 17 were aborted in the first trimester and 26 in the second trimester.
He believed that one or two were possibly viable, a finding he was required to note under state law.
Gulino's testimony was expected to continue Monday afternoon.
Rundown: An internal shot of the clinic, which was allegedly reeking of animal urine and feces
'They just looked like regular babies,' Baldwin said.
One baby was so big that Gosnell joked to her, 'This baby is going to walk me home,' the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
Gosnell, 72, is charged with seven counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of seven infants born alive during abortions. He allegedly killed the babies by cutting their spinal cords with scissors.
Baldwin recalled seeing the doctor use scissors to 'snip' the necks of newborns who were moving outside the womb.