Officials from Pennsyl-vania’s Department of Health ordered Soleiman M. Soli, who ran two clinics in Bensalem and the Germantown section of Philadelphia, to cease performing abortions at both clinics, called Abortion as an Alternative Inc., and to file plans of correction. But two days later, Soli announced he would shut down the clinics instead. He then reportedly retired.
Conflicting records show Soli is either 73 or 83.
Health issues at Soli’s clinics were discovered after Pennsylvania health regulators renewed routine inspections of free-standing abortion clinics around the state after investigations at Philadelphia clinic led to charges of eight counts of murder for the deaths of a woman and seven babies who were born alive and then stabbed to death in the spine with scissors.
At Soli’s clinics, the Department of Health found a host of health violations including: drugs that were decades past their expiration dates, inadequate or inoperable equipment and poor record-keeping and mishandling of fetal tissue.
In an email to the Associated Press, Stanley J. Milavec Jr., Soli’s attorney, wrote: “Dr. Soli served his patients for more than 53 years as a board-certified obstetrician and gynecologist. He retired last year.”
The AP reported it had obtained a copy of the October 26 inspection report of Soli’s Bensalem facility. The AP said the report outlines how investigators found that drugs and equipment required to resuscitate abortion patients were missing and that it took the doctor and his secretary 10 minutes to figure out how to use the clinic’s oxygen tank, the mask for which was found covered in dust.
The report also found that dozens of long-expired drugs and medical equipment were found at the office, some dating back decades, including Benadryl from 1970, a saline vial from 1978, progesterone from 1982 and Depo-Provera from 1989.
Supposedly sterile trays of medical instruments were not wrapped properly and the ultrasound machine, microscope and blood pressure cuffs had not been inspected, certified or calibrated.
The report went on to find that Soli’s medical license, which was first issued in 1967, expired at the end of December and he was placed on inactive status last month, according to the Pennsylvania Department of State. Soli received his medical degree from Shiraz University in Iran in 1958, according to American Board of Medical Specialties records.
The Associated Press reported that inspectors also found that tissue from fetuses was left outside the Bensalem clinic in unsecured containers for collection “for an undetermined length of time with potential exposure to the public.”
The November 1 inspection of Soli’s Philadelphia clinic also found nonworking or missing equipment and expired pharmaceutical drugs, some of which dated back to the early 1990s.
The state health agency said that when health inspectors asked about fetal tissue samples inside a cabinet in the procedure room, Soli reportedly said he did not know why they were there and then placed them in a trash bag for disposal.
Inspectors also said the clinics only bathroom lacked ceiling tiles, leaving the pipes exposed. The AP also reported that inspectors found Soli’s lunch was kept in the same refrigerator as the clinic’s drugs.
“Opened, uncapped needles were also found lying directly on the floor under the cabinet with the identified medications,” inspectors said. That was also reportedly where drugs for sterile intravenous use were stored, because, Soli and his staff said, they had to be hidden from neighborhood drug dealers. The inspection reports said the office had been broken into several times.
The AP report also said Soli told the inspectors he did not have a written transfer agreement with a hospital for emergency care, which is required, but did have privileges at two hospitals.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Soli’s has a malpractice history that includes a case settled for $35 million.
It said the state Board of Medicine never disciplined Soli. He has been sued for malpractice at least six times since 1981.
The $35 million settlement involved a baby born brain-damaged after he was deprived of oxygen during his mother’s 13-hour labor, according to news reports from the time. Soli was sued along with a medical resident he supervised and the Albert Einstein Medical Center, where the delivery occurred.
During the delivery, Soli went home, leaving the resident in charge. The resident did not recognize signs that the baby was in distress and needed to be delivered immediately, news reports said.
