West Phila. Abortion Clinic Worker Testifies To Routine and Repeated Violations
By Tony Hanson
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A former employee at Dr. Kermit Gosnell's West Philadelphia abortion clinic today testified that the doctor told another employee to lie about the medical care of a woman who died at the clinic during an abortion in 2009.
Gosnell is charged with this patient's murder and the deaths of seven babies allegedly born alive and then killed (see related story).
Sherry West, who pleaded guilty as part of a plea agreement, testified that she and other workers routinely inserted intravenous lines and administered medications while Gosnell was not at the medical center. She says she was trained by other employees, including a teen, who worked there.
She couldn't pronounce in court the name of a medication she administered.
And West testified that after the death of Karnamaya Mongar in 2009, Gosnell twice told another employee who actually administered the medications to say that he -- Dr. Gosnell -- had done so.
Gosnell has pleaded not guilty. The defense was beginning cross-examination of the witness this afternoon.
