From Marie Tasy, Executive Director
New Jersey Right to Life
TRENTON --- A judge has recommended revoking the medical license of Steven Brigham, a doctor suspended for skirting state law by starting late-term abortions with five women in his South Jersey office and ordering them to drive to Maryland to finish the procedure.
The final decision will be made by the state Board of Medical Examiners, which suspended Brigham's license nearly four years ago after finding "his continued practice presents a clear and imminent danger" to the public.
Brigham operates clinics under the corporate names American Women's Services, American Wellness Center, American Women's Center, Grace Medical Care and Grace Medical Services, in Elizabeth, Mount Laurel, Paramus, Phillipsburg, Toms River, Woodbridge and Voorhees.
Brigham's attorney, Joseph Gorrell, could not immediately be reached for comment on Administrative Law Judge Jeff S. Masin's decision, which he issued on Aug. 13.
Masin also recommended Brigham pay $30,000 in fines and two-thirds of investigative and court costs.
In a hearing last month Gorrell asked Masin to consider his client a target of "selective enforcement" who thought he was following accepted medical practices. Another judge deciding a similar matter in 1996 ruled Brigham could keep his license.
The Attorney General's Office claimed Brigham had used the two-state practice to evade New Jersey law prohibiting doctors from performing abortions after the 14th week of a patient's last menstrual period outside a hospital or other licensed medical facility. Brigham did not have hospital admitting privileges.
One of Brigham's patients, an 18-year-old woman who was 21 weeks pregnant, suffered a lacerated uterus and bowel and needed emergency surgery. Like the four other patients cited in the state's case, she had been injected with an abortion-triggering medication, digoxin, in his Voorhees office, and drove to his clinic in Elkton, Md. She was injured while the fetus was being removed by another doctor under Brigham's supervision.
Masin wrote in his 92-page decision he believed Brigham "had a sincere desire to provide a service to women seeking such procedures . . .limited by legal and possibly financial considerations."
"For reasons that he deemed appropriate," Masin wrote, Brigham created "a sort of split practice" in New Jersey, where he held a license, and in Maryland, where he did not.
But given Brigham's unwillingness "to carefully follow the licensing rules and regulations that govern his practice of medicine," suspending his license is not enough of a punishment, according to Masin's decision.
"I recognize the difficult and controversial nature of the area in which he practices, and the validity of the concerns about access and safety that were a part of the record. Possibly, in part his conduct has been influenced by what he may perceive, rightly or wrongly, as inappropriate roadblocks to access for patients. However, it seems that Dr. Brigham has finally cut enough corners."
The record of Dr. Brigham's past conduct is troubling," Masin wrote. "He has suffered license revocations. He has run afoul of the licensing authorities in New York, Pennsylvania and Florida. Indeed, part of the Florida discipline, similar to the current case and the violation of Maryland law, involved his practicing in that State in violation of the rules governing eligibility to practice. He has a conviction for failure to file income taxes. And here, he demonstrated a willingness to play fast and loose with the law in Maryland that governed his right to practice medicine."
Conservative and anti-abortion rights organizations praised the decision.
"We urge the N.J. Board of Medical Examiners to issue an expedited final decision to ensure that Dr. Brigham's license is permanently revoked," said Marie Tasy, executive director of New Jersey Right to Life. "We urge the NJ Attorney General to take immediate action to protect the public health and safety of our citizens by permanently prohibiting him from owning and operating clinics in our state."
John Tomicki, executive director of the League of American Families, also said he supported the judge's decision.
"I have attended many of Steven Brigham's clinics to distribute information regarding these procedures and his checked background and difficulty in other states so we are delighted the Administrative Law Judge has supported revoking Mr. Brigham's license, and trust the Board of Medical Examiners will follow the ruling," Tomicki said.
The medical board has advised the prosecutors in the Attorney General's office and Brigham's attorney they have until Sept. 5 to respond to Masin's decision, and then until Sept. 15 to challenge each others' responses, according to the state Division of Consumer Affairs. A final hearing at which the board will decide to accept or reject Masin's decision has yet to be scheduled.
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