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Source: Omaha World Herald; December 25, 2002
Planned Parenthood in Nebraska Put on Probation
for Abuses
Lincoln, NE -- Complaints from a pro-life advocate prompted Nebraska
state health
officials to conduct surprise inspections at Planned Parenthood
sites in Lincoln and Omaha.
Inspectors found violations serious enough to place Planned Parenthood's
South Street facility in Lincoln on probation in mid-October for
four months.
Inspectors also issued written warnings to two Planned Parenthood
offices in Omaha.
Julie Schmit-Albin, executive director of Nebraska Right to Life,
had complained about the Planned Parenthood facilities in a letter
to state health officials.
Richard Nelson, director of the Health and Human Services System's
Regulation and Licensure Department, confirmed the inspections and
their findings.
The violations included unlicensed workers providing medications,
including injections, without proper training and registration under
state law; questions about whether patients' gowns and bed linens
were properly sanitized; and medical equipment being sterilized
in the laundry area.
Chris Funk, chief executive officer of both the Omaha and Lincoln
Planned
Parenthood organizations, claims violations were corrected almost
immediately.
Only the Lincoln abortion facility was placed on probation, Funk
said, because of the violation about sterilizing instruments.
She said that Planned Parenthood immediately ceased using unlicensed
workers to distribute medications and that the Lincoln facility
now sends its linens off-site for laundering.
The Omaha offices also were cited by health inspectors for using
unlicensed workers to distribute medication, for inadequate records
on new employee orientation, an out-of-date patients' rights statement
and inadequate documentation of infection control and disaster preparedness
plans.
Funk said the violations resulted from Planned Parenthood failing
to keep up with state law governing medical facilities.
She said other state health officials had told her the medication
law did not apply to family planning clinics. And, she said, the
clinics were unaware that 2001 law changes applied to them, such
as one requiring that instrument sterilization be kept separate
from laundry services.
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