Judge Ed Gaschler, a state administrative judge, ordered the revocation of Dr. Ann Kristen Neuhaus’ medical license after ruling that the Kansas doctor did not perform adequate mental health examinations on 11 patients (ages 10 to 18) before referring them to the late Dr. George Tiller for late-term abortions in 2003. The order will now go to the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts for review. If the Board approves the order, Dr. Neuhaus will still have the right to file an appeal.
Dr. Neuhaus maintains that she complied with accepted standards of care, conducting face-to-face interviews with each patient before making a referral. The witness against Dr. Neuhaus, a psychiatrist from Virginia, said that Dr. Neuhaus should have referred the younger patients to an adolescent psychiatrist before determining that an abortion was appropriate. Dr. Neuhaus’ attorney said that she “was not a rubber stamp for abortion on demand” but treated each patient as an individual.
The complaint was filed by an Operation Rescue staffer in 2006 with the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts. Operation Rescue staff have filed medical board complaints against a number of abortion doctors across the country, including the late Dr. George Tiller and Dr. Lee Carhart.
Associated Press 2/22/12; Feminist Daily Newswire 9/13/11
