http://www.operationrescue.org Massachusetts Abortion Death Case Slowly Progressing October 21st, 2007 Hyannis, MA – The abortion death of Laura Hope Smith has finally been reported Sunday — five weeks late — in a secular newspaper, The Cape Cod Times. The story of this tragic abortion death was also reported last week in the National Catholic Register. Laura’s mother, Eileen Smith, has been working tirelessly to see to it that her daughter’s death is not “swept under the rug,” and that those responsible for it are brought to justice. Smith’s attorney filed a Complaint for Discovery on October 4, for information from the Medical Examiner’s office, the hospital, the abortion clinic, and abortionist Rapin Osathanondh, who committed Laura’s abortion on September 13, in the 13th week of her pregnancy. Next week, Smith is expected to file for administrative control over Laura’s estate so she can have access to her daughter’s medical records. Because of pressure brought by Operation Rescue, District Attorney Michael D. O’Keefe met with Mrs. Smith on Oct. 11, about the possibility of criminal charges against Osathanondh. However, she was informed that no case against the abortionist can go forward without Laura’s autopsy report, which is due to be released within the next several days. Smith also told Operation Rescue that she filed her own complaint with the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine last week asking for an investigation and discipline of Osathanondh for his part in her daughter’s death. A private citizen filed a previous complaint with the Board just days after the fatal abortion. Earlier this month, Mrs. Smith granted an interview to a major film company and flew to New York to tape the segment about Laura’s tragedy. No release date for the interview has been set. “We await Laura’s autopsy report with great anticipation, and pray that the Medical Examiner has the integrity to release the unvarnished truth about Laura’s death, instead of a whitewashed report designed to protect the abortion industry, as we have seen done in other places,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. “A young woman lies dead from an obviously botched abortion, yet the man responsible, Rapin Osathanondh, continues to ply his grisly trade in Hyannis. It is imperative that he be brought speedily to justice, before anyone else is injured or killed.” ============================= Parents search for clues in daughter's unexplained death By Mary Ann Bragg STAFF WRITER October 21, 2007 HYANNIS — Eileen and Tom Smith had just sat down to watch the evening news when they received a call no parent ever wants to get. The woman on the other end of the line was hysterical. She said the Smiths' 22-year-old daughter, Laura, was in the emergency room at Cape Cod Hospital. The doctors were looking for next of kin. And there was more. Laura Smith had been pregnant for 13 weeks. And, earlier that day, she had been at a clinic that provides abortions. Abortions in Massachusetts Number of abortions: 2004: 24,366 2005: 23,268 Number of deaths: No reports of deaths associated with legal abortions for the past several years. Source: Massachusetts Department of Public Health As it turned out, the Sandwich resident had already died by the time she arrived at Cape Cod Hospital around 6:22 p.m., hospital spokesman David Reilly said. Just what killed Laura Smith is still pending — a fact that evokes frustration for Eileen Smith and her husband, Tom. And since that horrible phone call on Sept. 13, Eileen Smith has made it her mission to find out who, if anyone, can be held accountable for her beloved daughter's death. Laura Smith's passing has also ignited the local and national anti-abortion movement. Two weeks after she died, Operation Rescue, a national organization, called for a criminal investigation. "The Anchor" newsletter of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fall River, which includes Barnstable County, reported on the death in its Oct. 12 issue, according to diocese spokesman John Kearns. Smith's story was also picked up by the Christian Newswire. Eileen Smith wants more information about what led to her daughter's death. She is now represented by a Boston lawyer who filed a complaint for discovery Oct. 4 in Barnstable Superior Court to obtain medical records and autopsy results. Named in the court complaint are Cape Cod Hospital, the state medical examiner's office, Cape & Island Center for Women's Health at 68 Camp St., and gynecologist Rapin Osathanondh, a state-licensed physician with offices at 68 Camp St. and in Brookline. Osathanondh did not respond to two phone messages left on his cell phone requesting an interview. His attorney also did not return a call requesting an interview. A Times reporter also went to the women's health clinic, but Osathanondh was not available. In the next few days, Smith plans to file for administrative control over her daughter's estate, she said Thursday. A parent does not automatically have access to a deceased, adult child's medical records, according to attorney Frank Riccio of Braintree, who serves on a health law panel of the Massachusetts Bar Association. Once the parent becomes the administrator of the estate, then that person can file for medical records through federal medical privacy law authorizations, Riccio said. Smith is also interviewing medical professionals and friends, searching the Internet and medical databases and reading her daughter's diary to try to get some answers, she said. "We didn't even know our daughter was pregnant," said Smith, a former Sandwich resident who now lives in Florida. She said her daughter was engaged and her fiance knew about the pregnancy. Fatal clinic visit On the day she died, Laura Smith went to the women's health clinic with her friend Karen Trott of Dennisport, for the first of two appointments that day, Trott said. Smith received an initial treatment, to prepare for the abortion that would take place later in the afternoon. She was not allowed to drive, so the two women spent the day together, with Trott driving, running errands and talking, Trott said. "I couldn't eat all day long because she couldn't eat." At around 4 p.m. Smith and Trott returned to the clinic and waited for Smith to be called into the office. Trott left for a short time at around 5 p.m., thinking the procedure would be done in about 15 minutes. When she returned she waited and waited, becoming increasingly upset, she said. "And then all of a sudden (an assistant) comes out and says she's not breathing," Trott said. "And I was like, what do you mean she's not breathing?" Rescuers from the Hyannis Fire Department were sent to 68 Camp St. at 5:49 p.m. on Sept. 13, performed CPR on an unnamed patient and transferred the person to Cape Cod Hospital, according to a fire official. He could not reveal the name of the patient because of medical privacy laws. Trott drove to the hospital as well and asked to see Smith but wasn't allowed to do so. When she asked about Smith's status, she was told, "It doesn't look good." It was Trott who called Eileen and Tom Smith. The state medical examiner hasn't determined the cause of Smith's death, a state spokesman said. And Cape & Islands District Attorney Michael O'Keefe is awaiting those results before determining whether further action should be taken, he said. Eileen Smith met with Osathanondh in the lobby of the Boston Harbor Hotel in Boston about 10 days after Laura's death. Smith said she learned from Osathanondh that her daughter had a suction-type abortion, and that she was anesthetized during the procedure. She saw the waiver her daughter signed, the permissions she gave and the list of drugs she was given, Smith said. She declined to give further details, citing the court case. Abortion-related death is rare in the United States, according to government statistics. Deaths are a rarity In national figures from the Centers for Disease Control, there were 846,000 legal abortions and nine abortion-related deaths in 2002. In Massachusetts, 23,268 abortions occurred in 2005, with no abortion-related deaths in several years, according to a state Department of Public Health spokeswoman. Osathanondh is one of 181 gynecology specialists licensed by the state. He graduated from a medical school in Thailand in 1967 and has no criminal convictions, incidents of hospital discipline or board of registration discipline in the last 10 years, according to state records. In 2003, he made a "below average" malpractice payment, the only one for him in 10 years, state records indicate. The state Board of Registration in Medicine cannot confirm or deny whether a complaint has been made against Osathanondh in connection with Laura Smith's death, board spokesman Russ Aims said. For Smith's parents, though, her sudden death hurt on many levels. Her father had, a few days earlier, spent time alone with his youngest of four children, driving her home to Sandwich after her summer-long stay at the family's New Jersey home. She had worked that summer at a designer bag and shoe store in Stone Harbor, N.J., a job she loved, her mother said. Laura Smith, who was adopted and originally from Honduras, had also begun to ask deeper questions about her past and wanted to contact a brother from the first family that adopted her. When that adoption failed, the Smiths became Laura's parents. Eileen Smith thought her daughter was strongly opposed to abortion. "That's the confusion we have," she said. "That is one of the answers I don't have." Mary Ann Bragg can be reached at mbragg@capecodonline.com.