ABORTION: ESCOBEDO HEARING DELAYED BY STATE

A state administrative hearing has been moved back from October to December in the case of a doctor accused of misconduct and negligence regarding abortions he performed in Cape Girardeau and St. Louis.

The hearing had been scheduled for Oct. 7-9 in Jefferson City but was rescheduled for Dec. 17-19, said Sara Trower of the Missouri Attorney General's office.

An eight-count complaint filed by the State Board of Registration for the Healing Arts charges that the doctor, Bolivar Escobedo of St. Louis, negligently performed abortions; misused controlled drugs; operated an abortion clinic without a license; performed surgical procedures without a registered nurse, blood bank or adequate equipment on hand; and performed abortions without having surgical privileges at any Missouri hospital.

The complaint was filed in February 1990 following an approximately yearlong investigation by the board of healing arts.

Trower, an assistant attorney general handling the case, said this week that the hearing was rescheduled at the request of the healing arts board.

She said the board's action was prompted by "Dr. Escobedo's failure to respond appropriately" to requests by the state for information as part of the "discovery" process associated with the legal proceedings.

"We served over 100 interrogatories on Dr. Escobedo," Trower said.

"It's not unusual in a case of this size and magnitude for the respondent (the person accused) to do everything he can to thwart the discovery process," the assistant attorney general pointed out.

An added factor, she said, was that Paul M. Spinden, the administrative hearing commissioner who had been handling the case, has been appointed to the Western District Court of Appeals in Missouri.

On Sept. 19, Spinden issued the order rescheduling the hearing, said Trower.

The administrative hearing commission is supposed to be comprised of three commissioners. But since the death of a commissioner several years ago, the commission has been operating with only two commissioners, Trower said.

With the departure of Spinden, the commission is left with just one member. But Trower said she expects a new commissioner will be appointed soon.

It will be up to the hearing commissioner, following completion of the hearing, to determine if there is cause to discipline Escobedo, she explained.

The actual punishment, said Trower, rests with the State Board of Registration for the Healing Arts, which regulates Missouri doctors. The punishment could range from a reprimand to revocation of Escobedo's medical license.

Escobedo is one of two doctors who have performed abortions in Cape Girardeau and are facing allegations of negligence.

The other is Dr. Scott R. Barrett Jr. of St. Louis, who has performed abortions in Cape Girardeau and at the Central Health Center for Women in Springfield. His state administrative hearing is scheduled Dec. 3-5.

A spokeswoman at Escobedo's Women's Health Center in Cape Girardeau said in June that abortions have not been performed here since late 1989.

Two of the counts against Escobedo concern unsuccessful abortions, one in Cape Girardeau and the other in St. Louis. The healing arts board said Escobedo was "grossly negligent" and that the abortion attempts constituted misconduct.