State: Fetuses in landfill; McAllen abortion provider punished for improper disposal
A McAllen women’s health clinic that performs abortions was penalized Wednesday for improper disposal of pathological waste, including fetuses, according to a Texas Commission on Environment Quality document.
TCEQ penalized Whole Woman’s Health $17,430 for failing to treat pathological waste according to approved methods of treatment and disposition, according to a TCEQ executive summary containing docket information for the case.
Specifically, the docket states the clinic allowed its pathological waste, including fetuses, to be treated by steam disinfection treatment followed by deposition in a municipal solid waste landfill.
Under Texas Administrative Code, treated recognizable human body parts, tissues, fetuses, organs and the products of human abortions, spontaneous or induced, shall not be disposed of in a municipal solid waste landfill, according to docket information.
Amy Hagstrom Miller, president and CEO of the organization, said in a news release Thursday that Whole Woman’s Health became aware of the problems last year when the TCEQ investigation was under way and released information about it at that time.
The statement said that the company had hired the firm Stericycle to handle its medical waste and, after learning it did not do so properly, switched waste management companies immediately.
“We relied on the expertise of Stericycle to ensure compliance with all applicable laws and regulations related to medical waste management and we were very upset to learn of the mishandling of our medical waste,” it reads. “In the end, both Whole Woman’s Health and Stericycle were assessed fines by the TCEQ.”
The statement added that the organization is proud of its standards of care and medical services to women in McAllen.
TCEQ Executive Director Mark R. Vickery, P.G., confirmed that Whole Woman’s Health implemented corrective measures, including disposing of pathological waste according to approved methods of treatment and disposition, on May 19, 2011, according to the docket information.
TCEQ deferred $3,486 for expedited settlement, according to the docket information.
Whole Woman’s Health is a patient-centered women’s healthcare practice that offers abortion services up to 15 weeks and six days of gestation, according to its website.
The clinic was one of 31 regulated entities penalized by TCEQ on Wednesday for violations of state environmental regulations, according to a TCEQ document.
TCEQ’s Region 15, which includes the Rio Grande Valley, had 278 complaint records from Jan. 1, 2011, to Feb. 8, 2012, with 21 complaints still open, TCEQ records indicate. TCEQ’s records list 31 pending enforcements in Cameron County and 71 for all of Region 15.
Recent investigations include a fire last week at a warehouse near Rio Hondo and a tire fire last year in San Benito.
The fire at the warehouse off Farm-to-Market Road 106 consumed more than 6,000 gallons of paint, 200 gallons of deck cleaning solution, 100 pints of porch and floor enamel, and 75 32-ounce containers of wood preservatives as well as laundry detergent, cleaning equipment and tools, officials said.
TCEQ said it is investigating the fire.
The San Benito fire case has been turned over to the Attorney General’s Office for enforcement. Last August, the fire consumed a pile of approximately 22,000 tires at Waldrep Salvage, owned by Bobby Ray Waldrep. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has accused Waldrep of numerous violations of the Texas Solid Waste Disposal Act.
--
Monitor staff writer Elizabeth Findell contributed to this report.
--
Mark Reagan is a stringer for the Valley Morning Star in Harlingen.
