Mass. doctor to be sentenced on manslaughter charge in death of woman during abortion

Mass. doc faces sentence in abortion patient death

BARNSTABLE, Mass. — A Massachusetts doctor faces sentencing after pleading guilty to manslaughter in the case of a woman who died after he performed an abortion on her.

Dr. Rapin Osathanondh (oh-SATH’-an-on) will be sentenced in Barnstable Superior Court on Tuesday. He pleaded guilty Monday, just as his trial in the 2007 death of Laura Hope Smith was scheduled to begin.

Prosecutors alleged that Osathanondh did not properly monitor the 22-year-old woman from Sandwich while she was under anesthesia and failed to call 911 in a timely manner.

Osathanondh resigned his medical license after the state Board of Registration in Medicine issued a list of charges against him.

He faces a maximum of 20 years in prison on the manslaughter charge.