Doctor Terminates Wrong Fetus, Loses License

(CBS/AP)  A Sarasota doctor has lost his medical license after performing a pregnancy termination procedure on the wrong fetus.

The Florida Board of Medicine revoked Matthew Kachinas' license at a meeting Friday. The St. Petersburg Times reports that Kachinas was treating a woman who was about 16 weeks pregnant with twins in January 2006.

The woman had asked the doctor to perform a selective termination procedure on the male fetus, which had congenital defects. An ultrasound later showed that other fetus, a female that did not appear to have medical problems, had been terminated.

Kachinas told the newspaper that he thought he would be able to do the procedure "safely and appropriately," though he had never tried it before.

Kachinas also told the paper that he settled with the woman, identified in state records as K.M. A $250,000 liability settlement was paid out for an incident on the date of the mistaken termination, according to records.

K.M. eventually returned to Kachinas to terminate the second fetus.

[noniemous]

BrendaSueBob What are our options for getting rid of you?

[BrendaSueBob]

I wish all of the Pro Choice could all go back in time, to the moment of conception, and be aborted. Since you have no regard as to how you began, and think that babies are disposable. And that we should be able to choose and design our unborn, and if we don't like what God gave us, we should just be able to kill them. There are many options for the unwanted besides abortion.

[mobinepal]

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[newmark3]

chattyone09 you are right mom got paid for killing baby. I don't feel sorry for her either. We have babies in this world that are born with defects and we have people in this world that sustain injuries due to disease and accidents. Do we kill them NO, so who made you'll God to say when a fetus which is by the way a human being because this is where life begins. I would never get an abortion IT IS MURDER.

[pak31]

To newsterl, to say a 16 week old fetus isn't a son and is just a mass is cruel. Every human HAS to start out as a cell, then form, that is the process. Abortion stops the growth and development of a human. If the "mass" isn't a son then how did they know it was a boy???? If it is a mass then how was it's heart beating??? I heard my daughters heart beat after just 9 weeks of pregnancy, it will be something I never forget. People can do what they want I guess, they will have to bear the consequences etc. I guess I just don't understand why people don't think a fetus is alive, even though it's not fully formed and viable.

[pak31]

Also wanted to add that if you search the internet for pictures of a fetus at 16 weeks, it doesn't look like a mass, it is a fully formed body.

[jenarosa]

That's what she gets for wanting to kill her baby in the first place. I don't have any sympathy for her because actually, she makes me as sick as the guy that did her abortions.

[pak31]

I agree. This story makes me sick to my stomach. I love how people just treat a baby like it's a disposable thing. Like it's a wart. That is what you get when you let man do God's work. Plus they say the female fetus didn't "appear" to have defects. Well that doesn't sound very convincing to me. Did they even know that the boy had defects for sure either? Come on, when you get pregnant you should go into thinking we take what we get, we deal with what we are given. It's just a shame.

[Dgunner]

In the United States we kill our babies baby our killers and neglect our military veterans.Throw good money after bad. Pay out millions to lobbys and when the so called leaders of this country try to get anything right they blame each other and nothing gets doneor the majority vote wins the day until four years later.The next president lies to old voters.No wonder the polls are down. Some americans don't think it matters.Washington wouldn't recognize a honest man if Jesus walked in and sat next to them.Dead beat parents are a drag on this economy anchor babies are killing the immigration laws and welfare is the new government job.Drug dealers are killing our future and congress keeps turning thier dead ear to the problem . WE DESERVE EVERY PLIGHT WE ENCOUNTER.

[mahdeealoo]

Mother Nature wasn't too happy about what was being done.

[Clouseau2]

For all those criticizing the mother for terminating the fetus with a congenital birth defect, lets examine two likely possible outcomes here if the doctor had not screwed this up. 1) mother makes heart-wrenching decision to abort the fetus with the defect. The healthy baby is born and we have a happy family, except of course the mother will always bear the knowledge of having made this decision. 2) mother decides not to abort the fetus with the defect. Two babies are born, one healthy and one terminally ill. The terminally ill baby lives for a week in intensive care, has several complicated surgeries, racks up $500,000 in medical bills in the process, sending the family into bankruptcy, and the mother ends up severely depressed due to the stress of watching her sick baby struggle and ultimately die. Option 2 is the better one?????

[erasmus111]

"...when I cant even deduct my dog's medical costs from MY taxes."


You have a dog? Poor doggie. : (

[MPHgrad]

She could have opted for option .1 and adopted, not gone through IVF which in all likelihood resulted in several miscarriages prior to this successful implantation.

[THEpartychief]

You people crack me up. This story is about a lady (and her husband , I presume) had to make the hardest decision of their lives and you want to rant about "murder". What a joke you are. This family made the heart-wrenching decision to abort (you know , that's what the United States Supreme Court said is a MEDICAL procedure) a fetus that was severely deformed.
You will espouse the death penalty while at the same time calling a medical procedure murder. Absolutely astounding...
I don't suppose you now think that this family got proper retributation from this doctor. How much is YOUR child worth to you?
Is $250,000 enough for your son?
This a case where "limits" on what you can sue a doctor for are NOT warranted. This doctor (and most importantly , his insurance carrier) should have to pay this family MILLIONS of dollars for this obvious case of medical malpractice...

[pawprints02]

There is no amount of money that compensates for a child. Likewise, to those who are saying to kill the possible deformed baby was okay because of the possible medical costs later - shame on you. We are talking about a son, a child, a human - not a used car you decide to junk. As for your generalization about all pro-life supporters supporting the death penalty - you are wrong. I am pro-life, and I do not support capital punishment. I am not alone. However, your logic breaks down. These are apples and oranges. On the one hand is over 50,000,000 million INNOCENT babies killed by abortion in the past 30 years. On the other a few CONVICTED felons. If I cannot get everything I want in one candidate, I am going for those who try to stop the slaughter on innocent babies. More babies have died by abortion than in all US wars COMBINED. And incidentally, I could care less that the SC has said this is a MEDICAL procedure. The SC also once called black americans property and women chattel. That did not make either anything less than human - and neither are these babies. Governments can only dehumanize certain segments of society if the people LET them. DON"T LET THEM. If it has a heartbeat, and unique human DNA - it is human with the right to life, liberty, etc. No government, or SC, can take away those inalienable rights.