Jesse Ketchum (physician)
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Dr. Jesse Ketchum was a physician who provided both illegal and legal abortions in Ypsilanti, Michigan and Buffalo, New York.
Ketchum initially operated his illegal abortion practice alongside a legitimate medical practice in Michigan. But his legal medical practice faced problems. Ketchum was sued for malpractice at least 12 times in Oakland County alone, and at least three times in neighboring Wayne County. After a $3 million suit alleging that his negligent handling of a birth caused the infant to suffer mental retardation, Ketchum lost his privileges at Beaumont Hospital. Once he began performing abortions, at some point in the 1960s, he was recruited by Clergy Consultation Services (CCS), an international abortion referral network. CCS provided him with a steady stream of abortion cases, mostly women from Ohio and Illinois.[1]
The Michigan State Police busted the abortion ring on January 3, 1970, by running a policewoman through it. Ketchum was arraigned and released on $25,000 bail. Ketchum's attorney persuaded a judge not to prosecute on the grounds that Michigan's law limiting abortions to those "necessary to preserve the life of the woman " was unconstitutionally vague.[1]
Ketchum continued to operate his abortion business until January 30, when he inadvertently hired an off-duty police officer to work as a driver. Police arrested Ketchum as he was preparing to perform an abortion on a 17-year-old girl. They seized Ketchum's rusty, pitted, blood-stained instruments, which were found in a plastic bag along with the girl's $500 fee. Ketchum was arraigned and released on $1,000 bail.[1]
In May, he was arrested yet again for abortion, this time performing one on a 25-year-old Ohio woman in his hospital.[1]
When outpatient elective abortion became legal in New York on July 1, 1970, Ketchum set up shop in a Buffalo motel suite, and he eventually did set up practice in an office. [1]
The first year of Ketchum's New York practice appeared to be largely uneventful. Then on May 28, 1971, Ketchum did a D&C abortion under general anesthesia on Mrs. L of New Baltimore, Michigan. Only later, at an undisclosed time, did Mrs. L discover that she had suffered severe internal lacerations which Ketchum had failed to detect and correct. She sued Ketchum.[2]
Ketchum began at some point to perform hysterotomy abortions, which involve cutting open the uterus to extract an intact fetus, in his office. He caught the attention of health authorities when a woman, Ms. Smith, who had traveled from Michigan for his services, bled to death in his office from numerous unsutured lacerations after an outpatient hysterotomy on June 16.[3][4][5] On October 20 of that year, Ketchum performed another outpatient hysterotomy, on a woman from Ohio. This patient was sent to a hospital when she hemorrhaged, but despite emergency surgery she bled to death as well.[1]
Because Ketchum had left Ms. Smith unattended in his facility until she was moribund, he was arrested in January of 1972 and charged with criminally negligent homicide in her death.[6] Ketchum was freed on $10,000 bail, and went about his business while his attorney handled the matter. He still had the criminal abortion charges pending in Michigan, but after two and a half years of trying to get uncooperative and elusive witnesses to show up, prosecutors dropped one of the charges. Two others were pending.[1]
Ketchum's defense argued that Ms. Smith's death was a medical mishap and not a criminal matter, and that the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision barred prosecution of physicians on charges stemming from abortions. Dr. Milan Vuitch, from Washington, DC, even testified on his behalf. Ketchum was, however, convicted on October 4, 1973 and sentenced to prison in Attica.[6]
Using Roe as leverage, Ketchum was able to free himself on $10,000 bond, pending appeal. He returned to Michigan and resumed his abortion practice there, this time legally. On April 18, 1974, an Ohio woman, Ms. W, was brought to Ketchum's practice by Thomas Pimbly, who had referred her for the abortion. Pimbly assisted Ketchum in performing an outpatient saline instillation abortion, done without so much as a rudimentary physical examination. Ms. W was hospitalized, losing a lot of blood, her uterus, and very nearly her life.[1]
A Michigan prosecutor filed suit against Ketchum alleging "gross negligence tantamount to criminal care of patients," and stating that Ketchum performed abortions "at times and in manners and places contrary to law," and in violation of state health guidelines, with inadequately qualified staff, lack of medical histories, and failure to maintain proper records. On April 30, a judge granted a court order banning Ketchum from practicing in Michigan. However, within a week another judge lifted the injunction, holding that the medical board, not the courts, should address the problem.[1]
On May 12, 1974, Ketchum was found guilty of disorderly conduct for "indecent and obscene conduct in a public place," in this case a pornography theater. On May 23, Ketchum performed an abortion on a woman who then discovered that her pregnancy test had been negative. On June 3, Ketchum was caught in a sting set up by a homemaker who had heard he'd been doing abortions on women who only thought that they were pregnant. Last but not least, Ketchum was discovered to have been prescribing amphetamines after his state license to dispense these drugs had expired. These events led the medical board to suspend Ketchum's license for "unprofessional conduct, immoral conduct and departure from and failure to conform to minimal standards." His license was revoked in Michigan on October 30, 1974.[1]
In May of 1975, Ketchum's appeals ran out, and he was sent to Attica for three years for the death of Ms. Smith.[6]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Doctor convicted in N.Y. practicing in Detroit area," Robert L. Pisor, The Detroit News, April 26, 1974
- ^ New York Supreme Court, County of Erie, Index No. 62821
- ^ Journal of American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, March 1974
- ^ New York State Journal of Medicine, October 1975
- ^ "Maternal Mortality Associated With Legal Abortion in New York State: July 1, 1970 - June 30, 1972," Berger, Tietze, Pakter, Katz, Obstetrics and Gynecology, March 1974
- ^ a b c US District Court, Western New York, Ketchum v. Ward, No. Civ-75-79, 422 F. Supp. 934 (1976)
