By Gretchen Keiser

The Atlanta Surgi-Center, an abortion clinic on Spring Street that has regularly been the site of pro-life demonstrations, has “serious problems” according to a state-issued report following an unannounced inspection.

The violations of state regulations found during the July 12, 1989 inspection by the Department of Human Resources prompted the state to revoke the center’s operating permit August 24 unless the abortion clinic appeals.

According to published reports, the clinic’s operators plan to appeal and to bring the clinic into compliance with state regulations.

Several telephone calls to clinic administrator Beth Petzelt by The Georgia Bulletin were not returned.

A copy of the letter sent by the DHR Office of Regulatory Services to Ms. Petzelt said, “serious problems were found in the course of this inspection.”

One of the areas concerned the administering of anesthesia and the protocol used, according to the state report sent to Atlanta Surgi-Center.

The same anesthesia dosages were administered to two patients March 11, 1989, the report says, although one patient was five feet, five inches tall and weighted 115 pounds, while the other weighted 167 pounds. “Five of five medical records reviewed indicated that the same anesthesia dosages were administered. The weights ranged from 107 to 167 pounds. Two of the five records contained no documented height,” the report says.

“The consultant anesthesiologist stated that she had been in the facility ‘perhaps a couple of times’ in 1988 and that she had dropped in occasionally in 1989. She also expressed surprise at the dose of anesthetic being used and the fact that a standard dose was used for each patient regardless of their weight,” the report continues.

Other violations of state regulations cited refer to a “complicated case” on March 1, 1989, which required transfer to a hospital from the clinic. The records on the case do not clearly document the condition of the person on discharge from the facility, do not show that oxygen was administered and do not show that a facility staff member accompanied the patient upon transfer, the report says.

The state report also charges that “the physician signed records that patients are fully recovered when, in fact, insufficient time has elapsed for full recovery to have taken place before the next procedure is begun.”

The Atlanta Surgi-Center was raided May 11 by Fulton County investigators from the offices of District Attorney and Solicitor General. With a search warrant from Fulton County Superior Court Judge Luther Alverson, they seized patient records, files and other material to determine whether the clinic is following procedures and the reporting of abortions a required by the state.

The investigation was prompted by a report that a woman, later identified as Catherine Pierce, was rushed to Crawford Long Hospital after an abortion in early March at the Atlanta Surgi-Center. According to the affidavit for search warrant, Ms. Pierce, who is 27, went into a coma following the abortion procedure and is now in a nursing home in Tennessee. Her family told investigators she will remain in a vegetative state, the affidavit said.