Burnaby General Hospital

Burnaby General Hospital

A hospital that commits abortions in Burnaby, British Columbia

Issues

INCOMPLETE ABORTIONS

In January 1987, numerous media accounts document an alleged incomplete abortion performed at Burnaby General Hospital by well-known abortionist Dr. Nelson Savein. Donna Harrison claimed that after her abortion of January 21, 1987, she passed "parts of the baby". Hospital medical director Dr. Chapin Key stated in a Vancouver Sun article (January 28, 1987) that Harrison's problems "could be normal complications. He further stated that "It happens. It's not uncommon but it happens."
An article in the January 28, 1987 edition of The Province noted that Burnaby Coroner Gerald Tilley would not conduct an investigation as "A coroner's investigation is ordered only under certain circumstances - when an aborted fetus is more than 20 weeks old; to determine whether an abortion was done under a doctor's care; to find out whether trauma might have caused a miscarriage, or to establish whether any illicit drugs were involved."
On April 2, 1991 Cynthia Mostad filed a Statement of Claim in BC Supreme Court against Dr. Kennard Robertson
(Case No. C912537) alleging an incomplete abortion from March 16, 1990 - which occurred at Burnaby General Hospital. The claim states that the doctor failed to to ascertain that the abortion had not been completed successfully and a child was born on September 21, 1990.