State health officials have shut down one of New Jersey's largest abortion centers after finding violations at an Englewood clinic that posed "immediate and serious risk of harm to patients." Metropolitan Medical Associates will remain closed until it corrects the deficiencies that prompted the closure, state officials said. State reports show the clinic performs more than 10,000 abortions a year.
The shutdown order cited problems "including but not limited to infection control, instruments, equipment used for sterilization of patient care use items and the processing of equipment." The Department of Health and Senior Services refused to release the detailed list of violations to the public until the clinic has an opportunity to dispute the findings and the state issues its final report.
An order to halt medical services is extremely rare. This is only the second time in the last five years that the department has closed one of the state's 619 ambulatory-care facilities for "deficient care," said health department spokesman Nathan Rudy. The state's two-day investigation of Metropolitan Medical was spurred by a complaint filed last week by Newark Beth Israel Medical Center after its emergency room treated a woman for complications following her abortion at the clinic, according to two sources close to the investigation. The hospital told the state it was concerned the abortion may have been done improperly, the sources said...
Of course, a business that involves the most gruesome, unnatural, and lethal exploitation of women and their preborn babies is hardly the place to expect strict adherence to health requirements. And so, happy as I am that any abortion center is shut down for awhile, the fact is that many more should be closed for violation of health and safety standards.
And as far as the New Jersey health officials' concern about "immediate and serious risk of harm to patients" -- duh...that's the very definition of what abortion clinics offer.
Read the rest of the news story about Metropolitan Medical here.
