Medical Malpractice Turns to Manslaughter in Death of Abortion Patient

Obstetrician and Harvard research associate, Dr Rapin Osathanondh, has been charged with manslaughter due to the death his patient, Laura Hope Smith, as reported by the Associate Press in Boston, Mass.  

Smith, 22, sought the Cape Cod doctor to abort her 13-week pregnancy and died following the surgical procedure. 

Prosecutors allege that Osathanondh failed to monitor Smith while under anesthesia, failed to call 911 in a timely manner when she had a cardiopulmonary arrest and failed to admit his actions in an attempt to cover them up.

The trial will be held in Barnstable Superior Court. Most cases of medical malpractice, referred to as negligence, are handled through lawsuits in civil courts.  It is rare for a physician to be charged criminally. 

Andrew Meyer, a Boston attorney that specializes in medical malpractice stated, "Civilly, you only need - for a doctor to be held accountable - evidence that he was careless and negligent in his care.  That would not normally be enough for a prosecutor to bring a criminal action. However, the more extreme the action, the more extraordinary the negligence, the more likely it is that it may cross over that line where it also becomes criminal."

Cape & Islands District Attorney, Michael O'Keefe, is prosecuting Osathanondh, 67.  He refused to answer questions about the case before trial, but, at the 2008 indictment said that Osathanondh's actions were "willful, wanton and reckless."

When the state Board of Registration issued the list of charges against Osathanondh - questioning his overall competence - he resigned his medical license.  The board stated that he lacked the means of monitoring Smith and that he, "failed to adhere to basic cardiac life support protocol" for not calling 911 quicker.

Osathanondh assured his medical staff members that he did give Smith oxygen and monitored her with a pulse oximeter.  Neither was found to be true by the board. 

Paul Cirel, Osathanondh's lawyer, said, "It's an unfortunate fact of medicine that rarely - but sometimes - patients die, even when they are being given the best of care."

Osathanondh, a native of Thailand, was licensed to practice medicine in Massachusetts in 1974.  Besides his obstetrics practice, Osathanondh was a visiting scholar at the Harvard School of Public Health in 2002 and also worked as a research associate before being barred. 

Smith, born in Honduras, was raised in Sandwich on Cape Cod, with her adoptive parents, Tom and Eileen Smith.  She was working in retail at the time of her death.

David Angueira, the attorney for Smith's parents, says that the criminal case is their "quest for justice," and that they, "firmly believe that this man is responsible for the death of their beautiful daughter and that he should be punished in accordance with the law for what he did. They want to make sure that the medical community gets a very clear message that when you engage in medical procedures, they must be done properly and safely for the benefit of patient safety."

Potential jurors can expect to be dutifully questioned about theirs attitude on abortion -  to assure no prejudice is held toward either those seeking abortions or those performing them.

Meyers concluded, "Of course, there are some jurors who think that just the fact that someone is performing this procedure, the doctor is guilty of some criminal act, but that is not what he's charged with. In picking jurors, one must be extraordinarily careful that that hot-button issue doesn't bleed into the actual underlying case for which this doctor is being tried."

If you, or someone you cherish, have been harmed by a doctor's treatment, contact a medical malpractice attorney to help you with your case.