Summit Medical Center
The Summit Medical Center is a former women's healthcare clinic located at 1032 18th Street South, and later at 1801 14th Avenue South in Birmingham's Southside. The Birmingham center was part of a chain with 6 other locations in Montgomery, Bridgeport and Hartford, Connecticut, Atlanta, Detroit and Las Vegas. The Birmingham location was licensed in 1981.
Summit Medical Centers are, according to their website, one of the nation's leading abortion providers and an originator of outpatient second trimester procedures. In addition to abortions, Summit centers provide contraceptive and gynecological services and offer client counseling.
The center was the focus of a national Operation Rescue anti-abortion protest in 1994.
In 2004 a series of allegations of medical malpractice, including the death of a Summit Medical Center patient, led the Alabama's Medical Licensure Commission to suspend the license of Dr Malachy DeHenre.
In 2005 clinic doctor Deborah Lyn Levich was cited for not having a controlled-substance permit, but the issue was later cleared when she got the necessary permit.
In 2006 the Alabama Department of Health suspended Summit's license after alleged of violations in which non-physicians administered an ultrasound and provided RU-486 to a woman who was 8 months pregnant. The patient went to a hospital emergency room and delivered a stillborn 6 pound baby.
The Mediical Examiners Board banned clinic doctor Levich from practicing with nurse practitioner Janet King, an assistant who was named in the allegations, and held a hearing to review her medical license. The clinic voluntarily and permanently surrendered its license on June 15, 2006 in advance of a planned hearing.
Criminal charges against the clinic are being considered by the state Attorney General. King was indicted on two misdemeanor accounts of illegally performing an abortion and falsifying medical records.
References
- Garrison, Greg (May 21, 2006) "Clinic closing renews debate." The Birmingham News
- Velasco, Eric (January 28, 2008) "Trial delayed for nurse accused of illegally performing abortions." The Birmingham News