An administrative law judge Wednesday ruled that Florida should approve a license for a Pensacola abortion clinic after regulators last year rejected the application because of what they alleged were problems at a now-closed clinic in Louisiana.
Judge Yolonda Green issued a 40-page recommended order siding with July Medical Services, which challenged a decision by the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration to deny the license.
July Medical Services, which does business as Hope Medical of Pensacola, submitted an application in March 2023 to operate a clinic that would provide abortions and other services, such as ultrasounds, contraception and counseling.
But AHCA denied the application after obtaining information from Louisiana officials about the similarly named June Medical Services, a Shreveport clinic that closed in 2022 and has ties to July Medical Services. The agency cited a “pattern of deficient performance” at the Louisiana clinic in its decision about the Pensacola license, according to Green’s ruling.
The judge, however, concluded that “AHCA failed to demonstrate that any ‘pattern of deficient performance’ on the part of June Medical, a separate entity, should be attributed to July Medical. Therefore, the license should be issued.”
“The operation history of June Medical raises some concerns about their compliance with state regulations,” Green wrote. “It also raises concern about the safety of patients. However, based on the evidence of record, there was no threat or actual harm to patients. All the deficiencies proven were corrected. Based on the foregoing, the competent substantial evidence establishes that June Medical’s Louisiana deficiencies did not establish a pattern of deficient performance.”
Green added that the Florida agency “argued that denial of July Medical’s application for an abortion clinic would be to protect the general health, safety, and physical and emotional well-being for patients. Yet AHCA disregarded there was no harm to any (Louisiana) patient’s well-being and the state of Louisiana renewed June Medical’s license each year that it was licensed.”
The ruling does not assure that a Florida license will be issued. Under administrative law, the recommended order will go back to AHCA for final action.
But it comes as Florida voters prepare to decide in November whether to pass a ballot measure that seeks to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. It also comes nearly four months after a state law took effect preventing abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.
The ruling said July Medical Services is owned by Michael Rothrock, whose late mother, Robin Rothrock, founded the Louisiana clinic about 1980 and operated it until she died in 2010. Ownership of the clinic went to Robin Rothrock’s estate, with her son becoming executor in 2011.
Green’s ruling said that July Medical Services’ administrator, Kathaleen Pittman, served as administrator of the Louisiana clinic.
AHCA initially approved a license for the Pensacola clinic but later said the approval was in error because a required site inspection had not been completed, Green wrote. The inspection was conducted in May 2023 without any deficiencies found.
But the agency issued an initial notice of intent to deny the license application in July 2023 and a revised notice in September. That came after Kim Smoak, a deputy secretary of the agency, reached out to the Louisiana Department of Health for information about June Medical, according to Green’s ruling.
The Louisiana agency provided documents about deficiencies and alleged deficiencies at the Shreveport clinic from 2004 to 2021, the ruling said.
Green said Louisiana citations against the clinic “consisted of lack of documentation in personnel files, lack of board meeting minutes and inadequate documentation to verify physician's orders failed to demonstrate diligence. Most of these violations were non-repeated offenses.”
She also cited an incident in which the clinic did not report to authorities that a 14-year-old patient had been impregnated by a 17-year-old, a crime in Louisiana. But Green said that “incident alone is not sufficient to establish a pattern of deficient performance.”
In addition, Green wrote that Michael Rothrock was not the owner of the Shreveport clinic and did not operate it.
“Even if there were evidence to support Mr. Rothrock being responsible for June Medical’s performance, he clearly was not responsible for performance during the period from 2004 through 2011, which was before he became executor of the Robin Rothrock estate,” Green wrote. “Executors are fiduciaries who are responsible for carrying out the deceased person's final wishes, and acting in the best interests of the beneficiaries."
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