Jurors Can’t Agree on Abortion Death Blame; Mistrial Declared

A malpractice suit filed by the family of a woman who died after an abortion at Inglewood Women’s Hospital in 1987 ended in a mistrial Friday because jurors could not agree on whether the hospital or two of its doctors contributed to the woman’s death.

The jury said the now-closed hospital and Dr. Morton Barke, its chief of staff, did show negligence in the handling Belinda Byrd’s abortion, but jurors could not agree on whether the negligence contributed to Byrd’s death.

In the case of the third defendant, Dr. Steven Pine, who performed Byrd’s abortion, the jury could not agree on whether he even showed negligence in his handling of the patient. Pine settled out of court for $250,000 earlier in the week, but the jury was unaware of the settlement.

The plaintiffs had to show that the defendants were negligent in their handling of Byrd and that their negligence contributed to her death.

David Berglund, the attorney for Byrd’s mother and three children, predicted that a settlement with the Barke and the hospital would not be reached and that the case would return to trial.

Byrd, who was in her 19th week of pregnancy, slipped into a coma several hours after her abortion on Jan. 24, 1987. She was then taken to Centinela Medical Center where she died three days later.

Berglund argued in court that Pine and the hospital staff did not adequately monitor Byrd after the operation. He called the Inglewood hospital “an abortion assembly line” in which Byrd’s was one of 74 abortions performed by Pine in one day. A coroner’s report ruled that Byrd died from a perforated uterus suffered during the abortion.

Byrd’s death was one factor that led state health officials to launch an investigation of the hospital, which resulted in a revocation of its license in February, 1988. Family Planning Associates Medical Group, an abortion clinic run by Dr. Edward Allred, now operates on the site.

The defense said during the trial that Byrd’s condition appeared relatively normal to hospital staff until she suddenly suffered a heart attack and lost consciousness because of a rare blood clot that formed in her lungs.

“If there’s a message at all, it’s that this is a very complicated case, clouded by emotions, that is not easily decided,” said Robert Reback, the attorney for Barke and the hospital.