Just weeks after the Kermit Gosnell horror story came to a close, an abortion doctor in Delaware has been accused of “unprofessional, incompetent and negligent conduct” while working at a Planned Parenthood clinic.
Timothy Liveright, 68, is under investigation by both the Delaware state senate and the state attorney general’s office. While Liveright vehemently denounces accusations that his abortions are in any way reproachable, several nurses have come forward testifying against his techniques as well as his behavior, according to the Wilmington News Journal.
This behavior, according to a letter nurse Jayne Mitchell-Werbich wrote to her bosses, included talking to himself, making racist comments about a patient’s nationality or race, leaving patients drugged and complaining about the lack of staffing or “workable” equipment at the facility.
In fact, Mitchell-Werbich described the clinic as an “absolute nightmare” — a nightmare in which Liveright would sing hymns to a patient during an abortion surgical procedure as the woman silently cried.
Liveright defended himself by saying that he would do whatever was necessary to take the patients’ minds off of the task at hand, including “humming a song, telling a joke, talking about their country of origin,” according to the News Journal.
“It’s pure bulls**t,” he said. “They’re jumping on whatever they can jump on. I don’t know what their agenda is, but I don’t think I’m a danger to the public.”
The attorney general’s office didn’t find Liveright’s quirky behavior funny or calming, however. It noted in the citation that the physician was actually a “clear and immediate danger to the public.”
The office also cited him for failing to properly assess patients, failing to adequately document procedures, over-sedating patients, causing at least one perforation during surgery, failure to administer oxygen properly and failing to act with due competence and diligence to avoid unnecessary complications, which resulted in patients requiring emergency hospital treatment.
Despite adamantly declaring his innocence, Liveright has voluntarily given up his Delaware license, claiming that his “work was no longer needed.” He also said that while his practices are without fault, Planned Parenthood suffers from management, operational and staffing issues.
The Division of Public Health agreed with Liveright on the Delaware Planned Parenthood facility — they cited the clinic with 14 violations of heath regulations this week, including equipment issues and expired medicines.
At around the same time Planned Parenthood spoke out against Gosnell’s horrific abortion practices, the Delaware clinic shut down after the Health and Social Services violations came to light; it later reopened without performing surgical abortions, Liveright and the chief executive officer.
“For those of you who may have heard speculation and falsehoods about our services in recent months, I want to provide clear information,” newly hired CEO Ruth Lytle-Barnaby said in a statement on the Planned Parenthood of Delaware’s website. “Patients are our top priority, and we insist on the highest professional standards of care. Like all high quality health care providers, if we become aware of any deviation from these standards we take swift corrective action.”
