Biskind Convicted of Manslaughter for Botched Abortion.(John Biskind and Carol Stuart-Schadoff guilty in death of LouAnne Herron)(Brief Article)

Three years after LouAnne Herron bled to death from a botched abortion, a Phoenix, Arizona, jury convicted abortionist John Biskind of manslaughter February 20. Biskind tore a two-inch gash in Herron's uterus during the April 17, 1998, abortion, and later left the A-Z Women's Center without giving her emergency care.

Biskind and clinic administrator Carol Stuart-Schadoff, who was convicted of negligent homicide for failing to schedule a registered nurse to work on the day of Herron's death and failing to quickly call paramedics, will be sentenced March 20.

Biskind is the first doctor in Arizona to be found guilty in a criminal court for killing a patient. Usually such charges are resolved by the state medical licensing board or in civil cases.

"We don't usually prosecute doctors for bad medicine," prosecutor Paul Ahler told the Associated Press, "but this case was so bad we had to make a stand."

The jury agreed with the prosecution. "The evidence kind of spoke for itself," jury foreman Russell Craig told the Arizona Republic. "We felt [Biskind] didn't provide the standard of care any person should expect."

Herron's unborn baby was between 23 to 26 weeks old at the time of the abortion. Biskind performed the 45-minute procedure, which cost the 33-year-old Herron $1,250 due to the advanced gestational age of the baby, and sent Herron to a recovery room that had no registered nurse to monitor her condition.

Medical assistant Teresa Jensen told the court that Herron was in pain and frightened as she lay in the recovery room, the Republic reported. Jensen testified that Herron asked, "Is everything OK? What's wrong with me?"