Kermit Gosnell, a former abortion doctor who investigators claimed killed seven babies and one of his patients, has died in Pennsylvania.
Gosnell, who was serving life in prison on murder and manslaughter convictions, was 85, according to Department of Corrections officials.
The former doctor, who was convicted back in 2013, died earlier this month at a hospital. Authorities did not disclose the date, the location or the cause of his death.
He was most recently being held at State Correctional Institution Smithfield in Huntingdon County.
Gosnell first came across law enforcement’s radar in 2010 at Women’s Medical Society, a former clinic he ran in Philadelphia.
Federal investigators searched the clinic that February and found deplorable conditions.
Fetal remains were also found inside different areas of Gosnell’s clinic, including in bags placed in cabinets and a freezer. Cats were also defecating and urinating throughout the clinic, which has blood-stained floors and furniture.
Following their procedures, patients were left to recover “on dirty recliners covered with blood-stained blankets.”
Gosnell’s medical license was suspended, and in 2011, he was arrested for the murders of seven babies who were born alive until he used scissors to sever their spinal cords.
Gosnell said the practice, which he called “snipping,” was performed hundreds of times at his clinic.
He was also accused of being responsible for the death of Karnamaya Mongar, a 41-year-old woman from Bhutan native who died in 2009 from an overdose of anesthetics.
Gosnell was found guilty in 2013 of involuntary manslaughter for Mongar’s death and murder for the killings of three of the seven babies.
The District Attorney at that time, Seth Williams, called Gosnell a “monster” after the verdicts were delivered.
Gosnell was also found guilty of 21 counts of performing illegal late-term abortions and 211 counts of violating the state’s 24-hour waiting period before performing abortions.
He also pleaded guilty to operating a “pill mill” out of his office.
After his trial, state investigators started looking into how Gosnell was allowed to continue performing abortions. It turned out the state had not performed a routine inspection of his abortion clinics in 15 years.
Two top state health officials were fired as a result, and lawmakers imposed tougher regulations on abortion clinics.
Gosnell did not take the stand at his 2013 trial. His defense attorney argued at trial the fetuses were stillborn alive and that any movements they may have made were posthumous twitching or spasms.
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