Doctor tried for manslaughter after botched abortion

NEW YORK » A doctor who performed a badly botched abortion that caused a patient to bleed to death was characterized by prosecutors on Tuesday as careless, greedy and someone who operated far outside the medical norm.

A jury in Queens heard closing arguments in the case against Dr. Robert Rho, who was charged with manslaughter in the 2016 death of Jamie Lee Morales.

The criminal prosecution of doctors over medical errors is rare, but Assistant District Attorney Brad Leventhal said Rho’s mistakes went beyond civil malpractice.

During the operation, Rho severed Morales’ uterine aorta, ripped her cervix and pierced her uterine wall. Profuse post-operative bleeding forced the doctor to perform another procedure, but that did not fix the damage, prosecutors said.

Rather than call an ambulance, prosecutors said Rho sent Morales home with her sister, despite signs she was in grave condition, because he wanted to get back to seeing other patients.

“It’s about greed and arrogance,” Leventhal said. “Jaime Morales bled to death because this defendant did nothing.”

Morales, 30, fell unconscious in her sister’s car. Medics responding to a 911 call brought her to the hospital, where she died.

Defense attorney Jeffrey Lichtman said that while Morales’ death was a tragedy, it was not a crime.

He told the jury Morales was conscious and speaking when she left the clinic and that Rho was not aware of how badly she had been injured.

Lichtman told the jury that while they might be swayed by the graphic realities of Morales’ abortion, “don’t be led by your emotion; this is too important. The people who have doubt about this case, I ask you to stand strong.”

The attorney said Morales never told Rho she suffered from medical conditions that made her prone to more intense bleeding.

Jury deliberations were expected to begin on Wednesday.

Rho, 53, of Lake Success, closed his clinic and surrendered his medical license after Morales’ death.

Even before the death, Rho had been investigated by state officials over concerns that he was performing procedures improperly and using assistants who lacked medical training, witnesses said at the trial.