The Age is reporting:
Health authorities are concerned that an anaesthestist working in an abortion clinic deliberately infected 12 patients with hepatitis C.
Victoria’s chief health officer Dr Jon Carnie said the doctor had been working at Croydon Day Surgery between 2008 and 2009 when he allegedly infected the female patients at the clinic, which is the state’s only late-term abortion clinic.
No word yet on why he might have done this. But are we supposed to be shocked by the the fact that someone who helps babies get ripped limb from limb wasn’t…quite normal.
April 9, 2010 at 4:15 am
It's a good thing abortion is so safe these days now that it's legal.
April 9, 2010 at 4:50 am
How dreadful. My father succumbed to Hep C contracted from a bad blood transfusion. It's not a nice way to go. 🙁
April 9, 2010 at 5:54 am
Goodness! I'm getting chemotherapy for HepC right now–bad blood transfusion for me too. I wouldn't wish this experience on anyone, even those who have gotten abortions.
April 9, 2010 at 9:13 am
Carmela and Anonymous, my prayers for you both for your current and previous times of suffering.
This doctor's actions are sadly a perfect example of what it means to lose all respect for life and the dignity of the human person, which is what is happening in modern society for dozens of reasons, most predicted by the Holy Father in Humanae Vitae over 40 years ago. We have few facts about this man's motivations, but just the idea that a modern-day physician somehow so abused his power over human life that he actually consigned women to die via Hepatitis C infection is utterly inhuman. As Matthew pointed out, however, anyone who participates in abortion procedures has crossed well over the line of human decency, so I suppose this news shouldn't totally come as a shock to us. Utterly disgusting, regardless.
April 9, 2010 at 12:11 pm
The anaesthetist has Hep C and obviously wasn't following proper infection control guidelines.
Whether or not he was deliberately infecting others is yet to be determined…
April 9, 2010 at 4:57 pm
@Craig– the kicker is, Hep C isn't especially communicable through casual contact. (I'm the one who lost my father to the disease.) The only precautions we needed to observe around my father was not to share drinking glasses or utensils. I'm not a physician and could easily be mistaken, but I don't think there could be a non-deliberate way to pass that particular virus along to someone else.
April 9, 2010 at 6:54 pm
Hep C is transmitted by blood and body fluids like HIV, but it is far more infective than HIV. That is, if a health care worker sticks himself with a needle he has just used to give a shot to a person with HIV and HCV, he is much more likely to get HCV than HIV. This does depend on the 'viral load' of each disease carried by the person, but at a low viral load of each , you might not get HIV but you very likely would get HCV.
Still, I have been racking my brains about how he could have done it accidentally. The actual abortionist could do it if he had a cut above glove level and put his hands in the woman that high up.
If the anesthesiologist were a druggie and was giving demerol and versed for conscious sedation, and he drew up the demerol, gave himself a little of it, then put the rest in the IV line with the same needle, well, that would do it. That might not be deliberate, but he'd have to know they were at high risk for contracting the disease via that route.
Susan Peterson
April 9, 2010 at 11:40 pm
Susan–
I would definitely consider your demerol scenario to fall in the "deliberate" category… 🙁
April 10, 2010 at 6:30 am
Thank you for your prayers, Kevin in Texas!
Craig–The only ways I can think of that the abortionist could accidentally have infected these women would still fall under the category of malpractice.
April 13, 2010 at 3:37 pm
Abortionists aren't the most moral of medical practicioners considering that they murder innocent babies for a living. So, infecting their patients for line is just a minor careless mistake that's no big deal.