SOUTH JERSEY

Why a South Jersey doctor who ran abortion clinics can no longer practice medicine

Jim Walsh
The Courier-Post
Dr. Steven C. Brigham (center), who operated abortion clinics in South Jersey, has lost a bid to regain his New Jersey medical license.

TRENTON – A doctor who ran abortion clinics in Voorhees and Mount Laurel has lost a bid to practice medicine again in New Jersey.

An appeals court on Friday upheld a license revocation for Steven C. Brigham, finding he engaged in “gross negligence” while providing late term-abortions to almost 250 women between September 2009 and August 2010.

The 99-page decision also said Brigham violated medical regulations with a process that initiated abortions at his South Jersey medical offices, but completed the procedures one or two days later at an Elkton, Maryland, “surgical center.”

The three-judge panel found “ample evidence” that Brigham had practiced medicine without a license in Maryland.

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It also said the state Board of Medical Examiners, in taking Brigham’s license in 2014, “weighed the public interest and the continued need for pregnancy termination services against countervailing concerns that society be protected from professional ineptitude.”

'A deliberate sham'

Brigham’s attorney, Joseph Gorrell of Roseland, Essex County, expressed dismay at the ruling.

“We are, of course, deeply disappointed by the decision, as we believe the board’s order of revocation was contrary to law and a miscarriage of justice,” he said. “We are exploring all options as to future actions.”

The appeals court made one finding in Brigham’s favor.

Because the abortions occurred in Maryland, it said, Brigham had not violated the state’s Termination of Pregnancy regulation.

According to the ruling, Brigham’s appeal included an argument that the board’s “bias and unfairness was due to the fact that this matter concerned ‘the explosive issue’ of late term abortions.”

Brigham, who earned his medical degree in 1987, contended Maryland law allowed him to perform abortions there in consultation with a doctor licensed in that state, George Shepherd Jr.

But the state board, agreeing with an administrative law judge, argued the arrangement was “a deliberate sham.”

Friday’s ruling noted Shepherd was an obstetrician/gynecologist and stroke victim “in his mid-80s” who “had not seen any patients, medically, since 2001.”

It said Shepherd, who lost his license in 2010, never performed any abortions at the Elkton office and was not always present when the procedures occurred.

The appellate ruling found Brigham practiced medicine without a license “at the very least, every time Shepard was not physically present …"

Among other findings, it endorsed the board’s criticism of Brigham’s record-keeping and his “failure to be forthright and honest with his patients.”

The ruling also said evidence supported the view that “Brigham's patients were exposed to harm by his lack of hospital or (licensed ambulatory care facility) privileges to deal with unforeseen complications.”

Brigham, who opened his first Voorhees office in 1992, ran clinics under names that included American Women's Center, American Wellness Center, Grace Medical Care and Grace Medical Services.

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