Delta Women’s Abortion Clinic Left Patient Records, Much More

By Woody Jenkins, Editor

Since the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973 legalized abortion-on-demand in Louisiana, the biggest abortion provider in this state has been Leroy T. Brinkley. Brinkley, who is not a physician, operated out of six different locations in Baton Rouge and three in New Orleans over the past 40 years.  Perhaps the largest was Delta Women’s Clinic, which began operating at 756 Colonial Dr. in Baton Rouge in 2001.

Brinkley’s abortion doctors performed an esti-mated 40,000 abortions at that location alone.

When the United States Supreme Court issued the Dobbs decision on June 24, 2022, ending abortion on demand in Louisiana and other states with strong pro-life laws, Brinkley filed an appeal but lost, and the clinic, which had been the scene of great controversy, closed its doors forever on Aug. 24, 2022.

As it turned out, the story was far from over. Brinkley moved out of the clinic on Nov. 20, 2022. The place went up for sale, and it was 

purchased by pro-lifers.  When they entered their new premises, they were shocked to find Leroy Brinkley had only taken things of monetary value and had left almost everything else behind.

The new owners of 756 Colonial Drive invited the Central City News to come take a look at what they found inside.  Here are some of the things they showed us:

•MASSIVE ARRAY OF INDIVIDUAL MEDICAL RECORDS — There appear to be thousands of patient files, containing everything about each patient, including personally identifiable information such as name, date of birth, address, phone number, medical history, allergies, the day of the abortion, details of complications, and much, much more.  

•THIS FLAGRANT VIOLATION OF THE HIPAA LAW could theoretically subject abortion clinic owner Leroy Brinkley and his staff to massive fines.  The penalties for violating HIPAA go up to $450,000 per offense.  However, there is an annual maximum fine of $1.5 million.  HIPAA also has criminal penalties in the most extreme cases, which could include this one.

•SONOGRAMS — Perhaps Most Disturbing: Each File Contains a Sonogram of the Baby about to be Killed. So the patient files include a graphic historical record of what happened at Delta.  The scrupulous detail in the files and especially the sonogram leave a permanent record that this unique little person was here, if only for a few months. 

•APPOINTMENT RECORDS.  Each entry in the appointment book contains personally identifiable information about the patient and represents still another violation of HIPAA on right to privacy.

•RECEIPT BOOKS show how much each patient paid for the abortion.  Once again, this is personally identifiable information that violates HIPAA.

•PATIENT SIGN-IN SHEETS that record who came by name and the abortionist who served them.  Again, these lists contain personally identifiable records and are another violation of the HIPAA law.

•ROLODEX shows names of  businesses but not patient information. The Rolodex is interesting because it shows two things: What businesses in Baton Rouge and surrounding areas were willing to do business with an abortion clinic.  It also reveals the widespread network of pro-abortion doctors, attorneys, and organizations.

• A SOPHISTICATED SECURITY SYSTEM monitoring the entire abortion clinic.

•CREDIT CARD information that shows payments by patients.  Once again, this is personally identifiable information and could violate HIPAA.

•NEEDLES AND SYRINGES, known in the Medical Field as Sharps, were left behind.

•INSTRUMENTS USED TO PERFORM ABORTIONS, most in their original packaging.

•A SUCTION MACHINE, used to pull babies apart bit by bit in the gruesome work of the abortionist, was left behind.

• PERSONAL MESSAGES MEMOS, PASS CODES, INSTRUCTIONS, AND SECRET MESSAGES.  These documents provide an inside look at business and work environment which is like no other.  When your main business is killing people, it’s a amazing what problems you focus on.

•DOCUMENTS SHOWING 

How Delta Used Patients for Political Purposes.  When the Louisiana Legislature passed a law requiring that each abortion clinic have a physician on staff with admitting privileges at a local hospital in case a patient had a life-threatening emergency, Delta Women’s Clinic gave each patient a form asking them to allow Delta to disclose certain information about them to use in a legal challenge to the law.

•TAX RETURNS, W-2’s, AND DAILY AND ANNUAL INCOME REPORTS

•COMPUTERS.

•STACKS AND STACKS OF COMPLAINTS Filed by the La. Dept. of Health Against Delta Women’s Clinic.  The complaints against Delta and Delta’s responses are some of the most interesting things in what was found inside Delta Women’s Clinic.

If one can ignore the fact that the employees spent their days busily killing as many unborn children as they possibly could and making as much money as they possibly could, the bureaucratic complaints and their answers about things like lack of parental consent, filthy conditions, using the same equipment on woman after woman without proper sterilization and such make perfect sense.

That is kind of world DHH employees worked within.  They were tireless in their efforts to require Delta Women’s Clinic to operate under the same rules as every other medical facility in Louisiana.

You can see their passion and diligence in their carefully reciting the details of every rule and showing specifically how Delta was violating that rule.

However, they must have known what the owner of Delta, Leroy Brinkley, clearly knew: Nothing would be done!

Here were some of egregious failures of Delta as documented by the La. Dept. of Health and Delta’s half-hearted effort to operate as a legitimate medical facility in Louisiana:

•Delta Women’s Clinic was repeatedly cited for using syringes that were stored in unsanitary conditions. For example, syringes were loaded with drugs, placed in a refrigerator unlabeled and undated, and left unprotected from contamination.  Delta admitted this.

• Patients under Conscious Sedation were left without being monitored for cardiac status, respiratory status, and level of consciousness during surgical procedures.  By not monitoring the patient, they could fall into a deep sleep and have adverse cardiac or respiratory activity requiring emergency intervention.  Delta admitted this.

•Delta admitted it failed to have a quality assurance program.  It also admitted to failing to formally identify and address problem prone areas, such as infection control.

•Delta admitted to failing to have pre-op assessments.  By not performing these, women having an abortion could have serious undiagnosed medical conditions that would make having an abortion very dangerous.

•Delta repeatedly allowed patient records to be exposed to the public by doing things such as throwing patient records in the dumpster.

•Delta admitted to administering outdated medications, which could result in serious adverse reactions.

•Delta admitted to failing to decontaminate vaginal probes between each patient use.  By failing to properly clean the ultrasound probes, women were at risk of being infected with bacteria, STD’s, and other diseases.

•Delta admitted to using single-dose intravenous fluid multiple times.  By using single use IV bags multiple times, women were in danger of cross contamination and increased risk of infection.

•Delta admitted to having physicians pre-sign prescriptions, rather than knowing the patient and her circumstances.

•Delta admitted to having pre-signed prescription pads in the reception area where anyone could pick them up and fill in the drug to be prescribed.

•Delta admitted to not meeting staffing requirements by not having a clinic administrator for long periods of time, leaving no one in charge.

•Every abortion clinic is requiring to have a functioning governing board that meets regularly, but Delta’s often did not meet for long periods of time.

•Delta admitted to having no idea how many medical records were in its possession or having a plan to protect them.

•Delta admitted that rooms for patients had holes in the wall where the ultrasound machine was located, allowing the passage of dirt particles and rodents to enter the room.

DHH found and the Central City News has read many other violations by Delta Women’s Clinic but space does not permit all to be reported.  Despite all of its shortcomings, Delta Women’s Clinic on Colonial was never closed by DHH or the State of Louisiana