Los Angeles, Calif., Jan 31, 2008 / 02:00 am
The owner of a California abortion clinic chain faces trial on charges of practicing medicine without a license, Operation Rescue reported on Tuesday.
In addition, the accused woman’s clinics are now directed by a doctor accused of repeated negligence, including causing the death of a child during birth.
Bertha Bugarin, 47, owner of the Clinica Para La Mujer de Hoy abortion chain, was arrested last year on August 1 after five clinics were raided by the Health Authority Law Enforcement Task Force of the Los Angeles Police Department. She was charged with five felony counts of practicing medicine without certification and two misdemeanor accounts of dispensing medicine without a license. Her sister, Raquel Bugarin, was also arrested and charged with five counts of “aiding or abetting the practice of medicine without certification,” according to a September 7 press release from the Los Angeles Police Department.
“Bertha Bugarin allegedly managed medical clinics in Panorama City, Baldwin Park, Los Angeles and Huntington Park,” said the press release. “When physicians were not in the office, she allegedly performed medical procedures on five patients. In some incidents, she was allegedly assisted by her sister, Raquel Bugarin.” According to the press release, the incidents allegedly occurred in February and March 2007.
Bugarin has promoted her abortion clinics with street flyers distributed in Hispanic shopping areas. Some flyers offered a $10 discount.
Bertha and Raquel Bugarin were released on $500,000 and $100,000 bail, respectively. They are scheduled to appear in court on March 8 and if convicted they could face five years and eight months in prison.
Though Bugarin’s abortion clinics closed after her arrest, they reopened under the name Clinica Medica Feminina Para La Communidad, according the California Catholic Daily.
The clinics are now directed by abortionist Nolan Jones, who has a history of receiving disciplinary action from the Medical Board of California. He has been accused of repeated negligence, incompetence, and violation of probation.
In 1997 Jones was thrown off of the staff at San Bernardino Community Hospital for allegedly negligently causing the death of a child during birth.
According to a 1998 California medical board accusation cited by the California Catholic Daily, Jones ruptured the uterus of a mother in labor. Though a fetal heart monitor showed a slowing heart rate, Jones left the hospital for hours. While later performing a caesarian section on the mother, the accusation says, Jones observed the woman had experienced "a complete rupture of the uterus ... both the baby and the placenta were found in the abdominal cavity. The baby ultimately expired."