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Abortion Doc Let Patient Bleed To Death. Now He’s Facing Prison

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Grace Carr Reporter
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A judge is about to determine the fate of an abortion doctor who let a six months pregnant woman bleed to death in a botched abortion procedure.

After hearing three weeks of testimony, Judge Gregory Lasick will sentence New York doctor Robert Rho Tuesday for allowing Jamie Lee Morales to bleed to death after a failed abortion procedure on July 9, 2016, Operation Rescue reported.

One week after learning she was pregnant, 30-year-old Morales went to Rho’s clinic, Liberty Women’s Health Care in Flushing, New York, and paid him $6,000 to abort her unborn child.

Rho performed the procedure, but severe bleeding began during the operation. Rather than call the hospital to report an emergency, Rho quickly stitched up Morales and allowed her to continue hemorrhaging internally. The doctor let Morales leave the clinic with her sister five minutes after the procedure, giving her no further instructions or advice to seek immediate medical attention. (RELATED: Doctor Admits Letting Patient Bleed To Death In Botched Abortion)

Morales fell unconscious while driving home and her sister called 911. By the time the medics arrived, Morales was dead. Rho — whose clinic had previously been investigated for inadequately trained medical staff as well as unsanitary operating conditions — closed his clinic shortly after Morales’ death.

Authorities arrested the doctor three months after Morales died, The Associated Press reported.

Rho entered a plea deal with prosecutors on May 4 in order to avoid 15 years for second-degree manslaughter, the original charge issued against Rho. The doctor will likely receive a four-year prison sentence under the plea bargain.

“It’s about greed and arrogance,” Assistant District Attorney Brad Leventhal said during Rho’s trial in Queens County Criminal Court, according to Fox News.

The doctor plans to open up another abortion clinic after he finishes his prison sentence, Operation Rescue reported.

No other abortion doctor has faced criminal prosecution in New York except for obstetrician David Benjamin who was convicted of murder after letting a patient bleed to death in 1995. Former Philadelphia abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell was also charged with three counts of first-degree murder and sentenced with life in prison in 2013 after years of medical malpractice and the murder of born-alive babies, according to The New York Times.

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