Pa. governor fires employees, overhauls rules in abortion flap

Associated Press

HARRISBURG, Pa.

Some state employees have been fired and two Pennsylvania agencies have overhauled their regulations in the wake of allegations that a Philadelphia doctor performed illegal abortions that killed a patient and viable infants, Gov. Tom Corbett announced Tuesday.

“It happened because people weren’t doing their jobs, plain and simple,” Corbett said.

Corbett said four attorneys and two supervisors at the departments of Health and State were either fired or resigned on Friday and that eight additional employees involved in the internal investigation remain on the state payroll. Others had previously resigned, he said.

“This doesn’t even rise to the level of government run amok,” Corbett said at a Capitol news conference at which he described his administration’s actions in the month since Dr. Kermit Gosnell and eight employees of his West Philadelphia clinic were charged criminally.

“It was government not running at all,” Corbett said. “To call this unacceptable doesn’t say enough. It’s despicable.”

Corbett said the Department of State, which licenses medical professionals, has changed how it handles complaints and now requires more detailed reports. It also will train lawyers on investigative procedures, rules and regulations, and how to prosecute complaints, he said.