On October 1, 1914, eighteen-year-old Lillie Giovenco died at Wesley Hospital in Chicago from complications of a criminal abortion.

Dr. Eva Shaver, Dr. Leopold Pijan, and Dr. John Fernow were held by the coroner in Lillie’s death.

The Directory of Deceased American Physicians lists a Dr. John A. W. Fernow, born February 14, 1863 in Alton, IL. He died from abdominal cancer on September 2, 1922, in Chicago. An Allopath, he was first licensed in Illinois in 1901, but is not listed as having a practice until July 12, 1913 in Chicago. He attended Alton High School, Johnson’s Commercial School, and the St. Louis College of Pharmacy before attending the University of Illinois at Chicago Health Sciences Center. He graduated from the University of Illinois College of Medicine in 1901.