Affiliate: Planned Parenthood Southeast includes Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi.
Locations: 1. Covered here: 1. The center in Mobile has closed, but because it had substantial problems, its material has been moved to the “closed centers” page.
Patients who feel a need to file a complaint:
Alabama Health Care Facilities – Filing Complaints
See also our Georgia page for Employee Rights documentation under the Southeast Affiliate, which includes Alabama.
Birmingham
Clark
Court Document:
AL Birmingham Clark 2012 Malpractice Comlaint
Excerpt:
Page 4
- On August 20, 2010, defendants performed an ultrasound showing estimated fetal gestational age of 8 weeks 4 days. . .
Page 5
- On September 14, 2010, plaintiff presented to emergency department of BMC Princeton Medical Center in Birmingham Alabama with complaints of nausea, vomiting and left lower quadrant pain.
- On September 14, 2010 following physical examination and ultrasound exam at the emergency department of BMC Princeton Medical Center, the ultrasound showed evidence of a 13-week gestation that was extrauterine involving left adnexa (fallopian tube), this finding prompted emergency admission of plaintiff for surgical intervention, pain management and treatments.
- On September 15, 2010, at MBC-Princeton Medical Center, plaintiff underwent a laparoscopy with conversion to laparotomy in which plaintiff’s left tube was removed with the 13-week fetus and placenta.
Court Document:
AL Birmingham Consent Agreement for Downgrade of License to Probation, 2010
Excerpts:
1. In order to settle this dispute, Planned Parenthood voluntarily accepts a downgrade of its license to operate the Center to probational status . . .
5. . . . Planned Parenthood agrees that it shall:
a) . . . the Center’s policies shall also require reasonable measures to verify that any individual signing the consent for an abortion involving a minor patient is actually a parent or legal guardian capable of giving such consent . . .
b) Develop and implement written policies and procedures to ensure full compliance with the mandatory reporting requirements of the Alabama Child Abuse Reporting Act . . .
f) . . . maintain an infection surveillance logbook in the manner required [by Alabama law] . . . .
Note: The Consent Agreement cited above, while primarily dealing with the reporting needed to prevent sexual abuse, also contains requirements for better infection surveillance.
Health Department Documents:
Highlights:
Clinic Conditions
The clinic failed to ensure staff cleaned equipment used in surgery, cleaned chairs in the recovery room, or washed their hands. In another inspection, investigators noted staff failed to clean recliners between patients for twelve hours.
An examination table was in disrepair, increasing the chance of infection.
The facility was using expired lab tubes.
Staff were administering lidocaine from an open bottle with no label stating when it was opened.
Surgical equipment wasn’t tested or checked before use. A subsequent inspection found expired surgical tools.
Refrigerated medication was not kept at the required temperature.
Inspectors observed staff cleaning surgery tables with an unlabeled solution.
There was no documentation of emergency exits in the outdated emergency evacuation plan.
Staff
The facility allowed a registered nurse to illegally call in prescriptions not ordered by a physician.
There was no policy to ensure doctors were competent and qualified, such as observation of surgical procedures and interactions with patients.
The medical director failed to document an annual review of competency for two doctors on staff.
Four medical employees had no record of a Hepatitis B vaccine or a TB test. There was also no record of a nurse practitioner being screened for hepatitis.
The facility had an infection control committee, but none of its members were physicians. They therefore failed to ensure those overseeing infection prevention were trained and qualified.
In another inspection, it was found the committee only met annually, not semiannually, as facility procedure required.
There was no job description on record for the Health Center Manager.
Medical Records and Labels
Paperwork given to women before surgery failed to include the names of medications given, or what medications were to be taken home, and omitted the name of the doctor operating on them.
Discharge orders weren’t signed by a physician.
Staff failed to document the times when or locations where Rhogam shots were administered.
Staff failed to conduct inventories or log doses of a controlled substance. A nurse admitted they did not keep an “accurate count” of doses of the injectable sedative.
Incidents
In 2014, two employees sold drugs to patients in the parking lot. The director fired all staff. To hire and train new staff, the facility was closed, but the director never informed the Health Department of the closure. None of the former employees cooperated with health inspectors.
Staff failed to give discharge instructions to a patient after surgery. This could have put the patient at risk of subsequent infection or other complications.
Treatment of Patients
Staff failed to perform pregnancy tests prior to abortion procedures.
Other
The telephone number of the Alabama Department of Public Health complaint hotline was neither posted where patients could see it nor given in the patient instructions.
AL Birmingham Google 1. Accessed 09.07.21.
AL Birmingham Google 2. Accessed 09.07.21.
AL Birmingham Yelp 1
