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Jack Schuler, Esq.
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The Death of Diana Lopez

       It was not supposed to happen this way.

       Why did a healthy young mother die from a second trimester abortion at Planned Parenthood in Los Angeles? Just a tragic, occasional death because of the usual risk of surgery?

       No. The public records and documents related to this case tell a much deeper, troubling story about substandard care, exploitation of women, high volume profit, recklessness, gross negligence and prejudice -- all licensed by the County of Los Angeles

       Diana Lopez died on February 28, 2002. Planned Parenthood's records show that Diana had a hemoglobin less than 10 and also had a small cervical opening, or os. The Los Angeles County Coroner determined that Diana died from a massive hemorrhage caused by "traumatic perforation of the cervix" subsequent to an abortion at Planned Parenthood.

DIANA LOPEZ
1977-2002

       They noted that Planned Parenthood's own procedure protocols "absolutely contraindicated" taking a patient into surgery who has less than a ten hemoglobin. They also noted that Dr. Maltzer failed to obtain physician-required informed consent, that he failed to examine Diana prior to surgery and that he failed to adequately dilate her cervix. (CLICK for documentation).

       Although the Department of Health failed to note the most revealing part of Planned Parenthood's substandard care, it is clear in the patient record that the surgeon, Mark Maltzer, M.D. of Sacramento, was working so rapidly that it could only be described as working recklessly. Maltzer completed the delicate twenty week gestation abortion in only 6 minutes. Most women can't get their nails done in 6 minutes.

       On Mark Maltzer, M.D.'s own website, PregnancyConsultation.com, he states that this same procedure takes "ten to thirty minutes." Dr. Maltzer bought his Sacramento abortion business from the owners who had employed Dr. Bruce Steir who plead guilty to manslaughter in the death of Sharon Hamptlon in 1996. Steir went to jail and the business was sold to Maltzer and his wife. Later, Maltzer's Pregnancy Consultation Clinic was featured as one of the clinics caught in a nationally publicized sting of abortion clinics that were skirting state laws requiring the reporting of statutory rape of young teenaged girls (Significantly, the Los Angeles Planned Parenthood facility where Diana was killed was also caught in the same sting -- the LAPP scofflaws offered to provide an abortion and contraceptives to a 13-year-old girl impregnated by her 22-year-old boyfriend without notifying parents or authorities). 

       Dr. Maltzer volunteers to teach abortion techniques at the University of California at Davis Medical Center. He is, or has been, a member of both the River City Medical Group and the Sutter Medical Group. He is an active member of the Granite Bay Country Club and is an avid golfer when not flying to Los Angeles to do abortions on indigent women. 

       In April 2003, the Lopez family filed a wrongful death suit against Planned Parenthood of Los Angeles and against Mark Maltzer, M.D. They alleged that "Maltzer worked so quickly, recklessly and negligently pulling out sharp body parts of Diana Lopez's 19-20 week unborn infant that severe irreparable damage was done to the cervix causing massive, immediate hemorrhage from a traumatic cervical perforation that caused the death of Diana Lopez." (CLICK for documentation) Diana's death left her two sons, Frankie (4) and Fabian (2), motherless. Relatives struggle to provide for the boys.

       Several recent lawsuits filed against Planned Parenthood demonstrate a pattern of abuse and exploitation of women in a setting that emphasizes speed and volume with disregard for women as patients. The wrongful termination case of Colleen Kenny, a former Planned Parenthood employee, alleges that staff at Planned Parenthood were expected to keep a fast patient pace. In another case of Kimberly Thomas who almost died from massive hemorrhage and lacerated cervix, her attorney alleges that her D&E surgery was done in a rapid 6 minutes. The surgeon was Dr. Joseph Marmet who has a previous federal felony conviction. (CLICK for documentation) 

       A review of the Los Angeles County Superior Court index produced five pages of cases against Planned Parenthood between 1985 and 2002. One wonders why the Los Angeles County Department of Health continued to renew their license and failed to shut them down. (CLICK for documentation)

       A more detailed review of cases from 1972 to 1985 clearly reveal that Planned Parenthood has been substandard from the start. Apparently, despite their massive public relations campaign to the contrary, Planned Parenthood has demonstrated that they are more interested in using women to make a high profit and have little if no regard for the well being of the indigent women they claim to serve. (CLICK for documentation)