Records show Central Family Medical treated private patient information with same regard as junk mail. Groups call for closure in light of dangerous practices revealed by the document cache.
Kansas City, Kansas – Operation Rescue has come into possession of documents related to Central Family Medical, also known as Aid for Women, an abortion clinic in Kansas City, Kansas, that contain improperly discarded private medical information for 86 women, including at least four minors, who visited the clinic for abortions during the single month of April, 2012. 
Some of the documents indicate that the abortion clinic may in fact never report suspected abuse as required by law.
“Our concern is for the privacy of these women and for their health and safety for which Central Family Planning has shown very little regard,” said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue and Pro-Life Nation. “The violations are egregious and confirm the concerns of former Attorney General Phill Kline, who was publicly crucified by the administration of former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius for attempting to investigate and prosecute similar violations. This documentation proves that Kansas owes Phill Kline a sincere apology.”
The documents were leaked to Operation Rescue by a confidential informant after other efforts to alert regulators failed. The material had been improperly discarded by the abortion facility.
The records, which have been secured by Operation Rescue to protect the privacy of patients since Central Family Medical failed to do so, consist of the following and more:
Names of abortion patients. Patient ages. Gestational ages of their pregnancies. Patient phone numbers. Photocopies of patient driver’s licenses. The date and cost of the abortions. Sonograms with information such as patient name, date, and age of the pre-born baby. Empty cash envelopes that indicated the names of the abortion patients, date of the abortions, how much cash was placed in the envelopes, and other medical information. Kansas Department of Health and Environment Supplemental Termination of Pregnancy reports that were pre-printed with an “X” in the “No” box for the question of whether a report was made of suspected abuse as required by law. Clinic financial records Communications from the clinic medical director regarding a 2011 clinic licensing law that showed mocking contempt for safety regulations. Admission that the only suction mechanism they have to clear airways is a uterine cannula attached to the abortion suction machine that would likely injure the trachea. Admission that they will not intubate patients who need it out of fear of lawsuits. Admission that the surgical assistants have no licensing whatsoever.
Bloody Refuse
Other evidence gathered by the informant over the past year consisted of bloody refuse of abortions, syringes, and other medical waste. Laws regulating the disposal of biohazardous waste were completely ignored.
Women dazed and in a stupor
In addition, video recordings submitted to Operation Rescue show women leaving Central Family Medical in drugged states unable to stand or walk without assistance. The dazed women are seen on the videos being guided to awaiting vehicles by Mark Pederson, the clinic administrator, and clinic security guards. The videos clearly show Pederson openly carrying a gun in a holster on his hip.
Pre-printed forms reveal no abuse is reported
Aside from the mass violation of the privacy rights of women and Federal laws protecting private patient information, the pre-printed KDHE forms were most troubling.
Evidence included several forms. One form was pre-printed with all patient information left blank. One document contained the pre-printed information only on a blank page, and other forms were filled in with Patient Identification numbers and the dates of their abortions. Every form had a pre-printed “No” box marked next to question number 15: “Was report of physical, metal, or emotional abuse or neglect filed pursuant to K.S.A. 38-2223.”
“Central Family Medical has predetermined that no woman walking through their doors will have been the victim of abuse,” said Newman. “That places women, especially minor girls, at risk of being handed back to their abusers where they will suffer further harm. That alone is a betrayal of these vulnerable women and deserving of closure and criminal charges.”
KBI Specimen Boxes
In the documents cache were two KBI specimen boxes used to send specimens from abortions on minor girls to the KBI in the event abuse is alleged. The boxes bear the name of Yeoman, the patient, and the date of her abortion. One is dated May 13, 2006, and the second is dated January 4, 2012.
By statute, after the KBI clears the case, the specimens are returned to the abortion clinic for proper disposal. With the boxes were two padded envelopes from the KBI to Central Family Medical dated April 11, 2012, that apparently contained the two boxes that were returned to the abortion clinic for disposal. It was grossly improper for the abortion clinic to toss those boxes identifying minors who suffered potential abuse.
It is interesting to note that while the specimens were sent to the KBI, the Supplemental TOPS forms are pre-printed to indicate that no abuse report was filed.
Cash Business
The evidence contained dozens of cash envelopes with the patient’s name and other information, including the amount of cash in the sealed envelope. Each envelope was torn partially in half and the cash had been removed. Comparing the amount of cash to the other financial records from the clinic revealed a discrepancy.
“More cash seems to be coming in that is being reported,” said Newman. “This is predominately cash business that has no accountability. The business is ripe for financial abuse.”
Women are charged for abortions, and if they cannot pay the full amount, the balance is billed to the National Abortion Federation, according to the records.
Opposing clinic licensing
Central Family Medical joined with another abortionist, Herbert Hodes, in a Federal Court suit aimed at blocking a 2011 clinic licensing law. Central Family Medical was informed by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) that it failed to qualify for licensure based on information in submitted in a license application. The abortion businesses later received a temporary restraining order blocking the law from being enforced. Later, the cased was moved from Federal to State court where the state has filed motion has been filed to dismiss the case. A hearing is set for June 29 at 10:30 AM in Shawnee County Court’s Division 7 to consider the motion to dismiss.
Airway blockage “their fault”
Ronald Yeomans admitted in the leaked documents that his clinic fails to meet minimum safety standards. He openly mocked clinic licensing requirements and blamed women for complications. He stubbornly refused to provide certain emergency services out of fear of lawsuits, admitting that his staff does not have the training or skill needed to properly use certain emergency equipment without injuring or killing patients.
For example, Yeomans admitted that his clinic lacks airway management equipment that could save the lives of women in the event of an emergency. He admitted that the only suction mechanism the clinic had to clear mucus or other material from the airway was a uterine cannula attached to the abortion suction machine.
“Using them properly is the next question and would open us to further malpractice if damage to trachea,” Yeomans wrote. “This is when patient throws up during surgery, typically because they ate before surgery when they were told not. Patient irresponsibility becomes physician malpractice.”
Yeomans further objected to having equipment for intubation to open patient airways in the case of an emergency. He wrote, “More lawsuits if we intubate incorrectly and kill the patient…For example, let’s say the patient is choking on food that they weren’t supposed to have, their fault, but we intubate poorly and choke them further, now our malpractice fault.”
“Blaming women for complications and withholding emergency medical care from them out of fear of lawsuits is simply appalling. These people should not be in the medical field with attitudes and behavior as reprehensible as this,” said Newman.
Yeomans further objected to a requirement to have calibrated equipment, (“Does my computer and mop need to be calibrated, too?”), keeping hard copies of sonograms in medical charts, and having transfer agreements with local hospitals, among other things.
“There can be no doubt that abortionist Ron Yeomans and his administrator Mark Pederson, are operating a dangerous abortion business that poses a danger to the public. He says as much in his own writings,” said Newman. “Women who walk into that abortion clinic are playing Russian Roulette with their lives.”
Political hypocrisy revealed
Former prosecutor Phill Kline was recently recommended for discipline after an ethics panel castigated him concerning the handling of redacted medical records that he received as Attorney General after a contentious 3-year legal battle with two Kansas abortion clinics. As a result of the media hysteria over Kline’s possession and handling of the redacted records, Kline lost election, lost his career, and was forced to move outside Kansas for work.
“Those records contained no patient identifying information, yet you would have thought contained classified government secrets. I doubt if our nation’s nuclear secrets are kept as secure as the Sebelius Administration demanded for those heavily redacted records,” said Newman.
“Yet the documents in our possession discarded by the abortion clinic contain details of these women’s lives, including in some cases, personal contact information, the names of their friends that took them for abortions, how many previous abortions the women had, and even what kind of birth control they have used. These documents were easily obtained by a member of the public. If the State does not prosecute this abortion business, it owes an apology to Kline and compensation for wrongful prosecution.
“This exposes the hypocrisy of abortion clinics in resisting records subpoenas and fighting licensing laws. To abortion clinics, privacy rights are more about keeping abortion abuses secret than protecting women, whose sensitive personal information is treated with the same regard as junk mail.”
Operation Rescue has filed three complaints based on the discarded documents:
A complaint with the Kansas Board of Healing Arts has been filed against clinic abortionist Ronald Yeomans. A complaint with the Kansas State Board of Nursing against Frederick Menninger, RN, who reportedly administers anesthesia to abortion patients. Menninger is a member of the famed Menninger family of Topeka who are nationally respected pioneers in the field of psychiatry who founded the renowned Menninger Clinic, a mental health facility now located in Houston, Texas. A complaint with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment against Central Family Planning and its administrator Mark Pederson.
This evidence shows an abortion business with a well established pattern of reckless handling of private patient information and a disregard for women’s health and the law. Operation Rescue calls on the appropriate authorities to treat this matter as an urgent public health threat and close Central Family Medical immediately.
Learn about the Abortion Whistleblower’s Program
Visit the Central Family Medical (Aid for Women) profile page at AbortionDocs.org
