Feds seize abortion doc's papers

Federal agents greeted controversial West Philadelphia physician Kermit B. Gosnell early yesterday with a pair of search warrants, authorities said.

Beginning about 7 a.m., investigators searched Gosnell's home in Mantua and his shuttered office, the Women's Medical Society, at 38th Street and Lancaster Avenue in West Philadelphia.

The feds hauled away documents and records that will likely figure into a sprawling investigation that started Feb. 18, when the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration raided Gosnell's office to look for evidence that he was writing illegal prescriptions.

What they found, according to state records, was a "deplorable" facility that had bloodstained floors, jars packed with fetus remains and unlicensed employees treating abortion patients. Two patients died of complications related to abortions they had in the office.

The Pennsylvania Department of State temporarily suspended Gosnell's license a few days after the February raid.

Yesterday's developments didn't come as a surprise to the 69-year-old physician, according to his attorney, William J. Brennan.

"Well, it's certainly not unexpected in a federal investigation that something like this would occur," Brennan said. "Dr. Gosnell was cooperative with the federal agents. He's doing fine."

Brennan noted that Gosnell has not been charged with committing any crimes by state or federal authorities.

Whether that will change remains unclear.

State investigators have said that one of Gosnell's patients, Karnamay Mongar, died on Nov. 20 after he performed an abortion on her. Before the abortion, she was medicated by an unlicensed employee of Gosnell's.

According to a civil lawsuit, another woman, Semika Shirelle Shaw, died of a perforated uterus after she had an abortion at Gosnell's clinic in 2000.

Several other women have successfully sued Gosnell over the last two decades for botched abortions.

Many other former patients recounted horror stories to the media after Gosnell's name made headlines in February.

That same month, state authorities declared that two employees who were identified as medical doctors on a sign outside Gosnell's practice were, in fact, not licensed to practice in the state.

In an interview with the Daily News last month, Gosnell spoke of his longstanding devotion to serving impoverished residents in West Philadelphia and Mantua, where he has spent most of his 43-year medical career, and said he would be vindicated over time.

Indeed, more than a dozen patients later contacted the People Paper and described Gosnell as a caring man who treated patients like family.

A week after Gosnell's comments appeared in the paper, the state Health Department filed a show-cause order in Commonwealth Court to prevent anyone from performing abortions at the Women's Medical Society.

The order cited 14 violations of state law that were discovered during two raids of the clinic.