RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia has suspended the license of a Fairfax abortion clinic whose owner has a decades-long record of violations and criminal charges stemming from substandard care in multiple states.
The state Department of Health found 26 deficiencies at the Virginia Health Group on Arlington Boulevard during a two-day inspection this month and immediately suspended the clinic’s operating license.
Inspectors observed dirty equipment, expired medication in unlocked cabinets, lax storage of medical records and a failure of staff to sterilize and maintain medical equipment and follow hand-washing protocols, according to a 52-page report.
In one case, a patient had to be rushed to an emergency room for prolonged bleeding after sutures were not available at the clinic, the report says. In another, a nurse used a plunger to unstop a toilet and then held a patient’s hand during a surgical procedure without changing scrubs, according to the report.
The clinic is registered to Steven Chase Brigham, according to state records. It is one of 14 facilities in Virginia, Maryland and New Jersey listed on the website of corporate parent American Women’s Services. Attempts to reach Brigham were unsuccessful.
In several states, Brigham’s medical license has been suspended, relinquished or revoked, or he faced criminal charges, public records indicate. Those states include New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Florida and California.
The Fairfax clinic appealed the license suspension, and an administrative hearing is set for next month. As of April 8, the clinic had canceled all abortion appointments but continued to see patients for follow-up visits, administrator Ebony Fobbs wrote to the state. About two weeks later, another clinic official wrote to the state requesting an “informal fact-finding conference,” in part to show that some of the deficiencies had been corrected.
“Despite the 52 pages of deficiencies that we were dismayed to receive,” director of operations Kirsy Japs wrote, “we believe that we are not fundamentally irredeemable health care providers who should not be afforded the opportunity to correct these problems and return to providing health care.”
Advocates on both sides of the abortion debate have called for the permanent closure of Brigham’s facilities in Virginia. He also has a clinic in Virginia Beach, which passed inspection this month with minor citations.
“Evidence of wrongdoing at Brigham’s American Women’s Services facility in Fairfax is part of a clear pattern of repeated and serious misconduct that poses a significant threat to patient safety, and which cannot be allowed to go unchecked in Virginia,” Vicki Saporta, president of the National Abortion Federation, said in a statement.
Antiabortion advocates say the clinic report on the Fairfax clinic confirms the need for licensing and routine inspections put in place in 2012. Those requirements include strict hospital-style building rules that have come under assault in Virginia and elsewhere.
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(c) 2016, The Washington Post ยท Jenna Portnoy
