Patricia Roeteens, quackery, 1970s, infectionSUMMARY: “Patricia,” age 16, died after an abortion performed around 1975.

Patricia is listed by Life Dynamics on the “Blackmun Wall” of women and girls killed by safe and legal abortion.

Patricia was 16 years old and five weeks pregnant when she went to a doctor’s office for an abortion. For some reason, the doctor chose an antiquated technique that had been common in illegal abortions. He inserted a catheter into Patricia’s uterus and left it in overnight.

The next day, Patricia’s doctor removed the catheter and performed a D&C to complete the abortion.

Two days later, Patricia arrived in an emergency room, reporting fever and severe abdominal pain. She told the ER physician of the abortion. She was diagnosed with sepsis, given antibiotics, and told to return to her doctor for follow-up.

Several hours after leaving the emergency room, Patricia returned because she felt even worse. She was admitted to the hospital and given more antibiotics.

The doctor who did Patricia’s abortion came to the hospital and examined her. He attributed her symptoms to a reaction to the antibiotic, and had the medication discontinued temporarily.
Less than five hours after she was admitted, staff at the hospital found Patricia with no blood pressure. They were not able to revive her.

Autopsy confirmed the diagnosis of sepsis, caused by an incomplete abortion.
Since no date was given for Patricia’s abortion, I estimated her year of death to be 1975.

As you can see from the graph below, abortion deaths were falling dramatically before legalization. This steep fall had been in place for decades. To argue that legalization lowered abortion mortality simply isn’t supported by the data.

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Source: Life Dynamics “Blackmun Wall” citing “Death after legal abortion by catheter placement,” Grimes, Cates, Tyler, American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, v. 129, September 1, 1977, p. 107-8

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1. 1900s
2. 1910-1919
3. 1920s
4. 1930s
5. 1940s
6. 1950s
7. 1960s
8. 1970s
9. 1980s
10. 1990s
11. 19th century
12. 2000-2009
13. 20s
14. 30s
15. 40s
16. NAF
17. abortifacient
18. abortion
19. abortion mill
20. abortion mortality
21. abortionists
22. abortionists — female
23. abortionists — male
24. alabama
25. anesthesia
26. arizona
27. black women
28. botched abortion
29. california
30. chicago
31. colorado
32. connecticut
33. cover-up
34. death
35. deaths
36. deception
37. delay in transport
38. delay in treatment
39. district of columbia
40. dumped body
41. ectopic
42. embolism
43. falsifying forms
44. fetal indications
45. florida
46. former criminal abortionist
47. george tiller
48. georgia
49. hemorrhage death
50. hospitals
51. illegal – doctor
52. illegal – midwife
53. illegal – nurse
54. illegal – paramedical
55. illegal – post roe
56. illegal – unknown
57. illegal – untrained
58. illegal abortion
59. illinois
60. inadequate documents
61. inadequate equipment
62. inadequate resuscitation
63. incomplete abortion
64. indiana
65. infection
66. kansas
67. legal abortion
68. llinois
69. louisiana
70. maryland
71. massachusetts
72. maternal indications
73. maternal mortality
74. michigan
75. mills
76. missouri
77. mortality
78. national abortion federation
79. new jersey
80. new mexico
81. new york
82. north carolina
83. ohio
84. oklahoma
85. pennsylvania
86. planned parenthood
87. pre-roe legal
88. previous misconduct
89. prostaglandin
90. quackery
91. questionable stories
92. ru-486
93. rupture
94. saline
95. secret abortion
96. self-induced
97. suicide
98. teens
99. texas
100. wisconsin