The Florida Board of Medicine has suspended Dr. Christopher Saputa after he injured three women at the American Family Planning abortion facility in Pensacola. The Department of Health, which had pushed for greater punishment and asked for a full revocation of Saputa’s license, said Saputa did not have the training or licensing to perform abortion procedures. Investigators involved in the case called Saputa a “great public danger.”
As previously reported, Saputa seriously injured the women — two who nearly died — after performing high-risk abortion procedures in 2022. On March 23, the patient “K.J.” experienced severe hemorrhaging that one report revealed was the result of “two cervical lacerations, a lower uterine perforation that opened into the abdomen, and a larger tear in the left lower uterine segment.” According to WUWF, she was forced to undergo a total abdominal hysterectomy and fallopian tube removal as a result of her injury.
After an abortion on April 28, the patient “D.W.” underwent septic shock and had to have a hysterectomy and appendectomy after it was revealed Saputa had punctured her uterus.
On May 5, the patient “D.C.” was given two times the recommended dose of misoprostol, the second drug in the abortion pill regimen. Because she had previously had C-sections, this amount was dangerous. As a result, she experienced a possible uterine rupture and such significant blood loss that surgeons determined she was “minutes away from death.” As a result of her injuries, she has been advised never to get pregnant again.
“Despite not being competent to perform these procedures, the respondent did so at American Family Planning and two patients in this case – because of respondent’s lack of skill and his lack of knowledge regarding issues related to OB/GYN procedures,” said Kristen Summers, chief legal counsel for the Florida Department of Health. She added, “Both patients were severely injured and require immediate emergency care.”
Summers also noted that another significant issue was Saputa’s post-surgical emergency triage procedures. K.J., for example, was at the facility hemorrhaging for 45 minutes to an hour before a nurse called an ambulance.
A report on the injuries released last year indicated that Saputa did not have the training or expertise required to commit abortions.
“The fact that Dr. Saputa experienced all three of these complications within weeks of each other indicates that he lacks the technical skill to be able to safely practice gynecological procedures,” the report said.
The abortion facility, American Family Planning, permanently closed in January.
