Subject: Abortion Practitioner Sued for Killing Woman After Miscarriage
Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; December 18, 2001

Abortion Practitioner Sued for Killing Woman After Miscarriage

Pittsburgh -- The family of a Cranberry, Pennsylvania, woman who died
after surgery at UPMC Passavant Hospital following a miscarriage has filed
a wrongful death suit against the man who performed the procedure, saying
he improperly started the operation in his North Hills office and was
unprepared for the emergency that resulted.

The suit also charges that Gerald Applegate, a prominent abortion
practitioner who has a history of hospital suspensions and malpractice
lawsuits, was under suspension by Magee-Womens Hospital at the time of the
operation.

In addition, it says Applegate lied about his previous lawsuits when he
applied for staff privileges at Passavant, and that Passavant knew about
Applegate's problems and allowed him to stay on the staff.

The suit was filed yesterday in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court by
David K. Speicher, whose wife, Julie, died at Passavant on Feb. 27, 2000,
after Applegate's second attempt to remove the unborn child

Also named as defendants are Passavant, Magee and UPMC Health System.

Applegate could not be reached for comment. A UPMC spokesman said
officials could not comment on pending litigation.

Julie Speicher, who had two children with David, was expecting their third
in June 2000. But when she went for her monthly checkup on Feb. 24, 2000,
the unborn child was dead. Applegate decided to perform the removal
procedure, called an evacuation, in his office.

When complications arose and Speicher stopped breathing, Applegate called
911. Paramedics inserted a breathing tube and took her to Passavant.

On Feb. 25, Applegate tried to remoe the deceased baby again. But
Speicher's condition deteriorated and the next day she died. The Allegheny
County coroner's office classified the death as "therapeutic
misadventure." She was 32 and left behind her husband, their son, Adam, 6,
and daughter, Alyssa, 4.

The suit says Applegate should have begun the operation in a hospital
because he and his staff were unable to deal with an emergency in the
office where he also performs abortions.

Applegate had no nurse anesthetist, did not monitor Speicher's vital
signs, did no blood testing and, when Speicher stopped breathing, didn't
know how to intubate her because he'd never done it, according to the
suit. He also did not perform a procedure called osmotic dilation to
soften the cervix, which the suit said is a mandatory precaution in second
trimester evacuations.

Applegate, who still has staff privileges at Passavant and Magee, had been
under a three-month suspension by Magee at the time of the procedure,
according to the suit, because of failure to respond to pages to deliver
babies.

He didn't tell Speicher about the suspension, however, and used a Magee
consent form for the procedure. Because Magee operated the obstetrics unit
at Passavant, according to the suit, Applegate's suspension at Magee meant
he should have been prevented from using the Passavant facility.

According to the suit, he also used his own equipment at Passavant, a
violation of hospital policy.

The suit alleges that Applegate lied on his original 1993 application for
privileges at Passavant by claiming he had no lawsuits against him when he
actually had five. He was kept on junior active status for three years
instead of one because he had 43 violations for failure to complete
hospital charts on time, the suit says.

In all, Applegate has had nine medical malpractice lawsuits brought
against him in 10 years and has changed insurance carriers three times,
according to the suit, but Passavant did not suspend him.