Dr. Delhi Thweatt, the Catonsville physician who performs abortions at the Hillcrest abortion clinic in Harrisburg, is a defendant in a civil lawsuit involving the death of a woman following an abortion he performed.

Scott B. Morse is suing Dr. Thweatt, a second doctor and three other employees of the Hillcrest Women's Medical Center for damages in the death of his wife following a 1996 abortion.

According to the complaint filed in the Dauphin County, Pa., Court of Common Pleas, Kelly Morse, 32, of Derby, Vermont, went to the Hillcrest clinic on June 19, 1996, to undergo an elective dilatation and curettage procedure.

Five days earlier Mrs. Morse had been evaluated at the clinic by Dr. Earl McLeod, who determined that she was 8 weeks pregnant.

Mrs. Morse, at that time, was allegedly known to be an asthmatic and allergic to various medications, including 'caine' drugs, such as Novocaine and sulfa drugs.

On the day of the abortion, due to overcrowding in the waiting room, Mr. Morse, who accompanied his wife, waited outside.

Dr. Thweatt was the attending physician for the abortion, which reportedly began at 11:08 a.m.

At 11:10 a.m. Mrs. Morse was allegedly administered 12 cc's of 1 percent Lidocaine. Immediately afterwards, she experienced severe difficulty breathing.

The surgical procedure was recorded as having ended 4 minutes after the administration of the Lidocaine.

A licensed practical nurse in attendance retrieved Mrs. Morse's inhaler from her purse, but despite several puffs, Mrs. Morse complained that she could not breathe, and became extremely agitated.

Dr. Thweatt was located and examined the patient, who was suffering from worsening and progressive dyspnea, or shortness of breath, and cyanosis, or blue-black discoloration of her body from lack of oxygen.

According to the filed complaint, as Mrs. Morse gasped for air and agonized in severe dyspnea for over 15 minutes, neither Dr. Thweatt nor any of the other clinic employees intubated her or otherwise established an open airway.

Dr. Thweatt allegedly improperly administered Epinephrine subcutaneously instead of intravenously. The drug could not be absorbed due to Mrs. Morse's state of shock.

An ambulance was summoned at 11:24 a.m., 14 minutes after Mrs. Morse began having difficulty breathing. It arrived 5 minutes later, just as one of the employees ran out of the clinic and called to Mr. Morse to come in.

He came in with the ambulance crew to see his wife's naked and blue-black discolored body laying on a table, protruding halfway out of the exam room into the hallway.

The ambulance crew immediately recognized that Mrs. Morse was in shock. A paramedic quickly intubated her and administered Ephinephrine intravenously.

Within minutes the ambulance crew transported her to the Polyclinic Medical Center, administering CPR and additional Epinephrine on the way. At the medical center she was described as being deeply comatose without any response to stimuli.

She was admitted to the intensive care unit where, over the next 48 hours, her condition continued to deteriorate. On June 22 she was pronounced dead.

Mrs. Morse left two children, a son and a daughter.

The suit charges Dr. Thweatt with negligence in failing to properly recognize Mrs. Morse's risk of an allergic reaction to Lidocaine, given her known reaction to 'caine' drugs; improperly administering Lidocaine with Ephinephrine, which contained a sulfite, a known allergen; failing to administer Ephinephrine intravenously; failing to intubate Mrs. Morse or otherwise establish an open airway; failing to have available resuscitative equipment, resuscitative drugs, and necessary personnel for management of resuscitative emergencies; and intentionally delaying calling an ambulance to avoid bad publicity for the clinic.

No date has been set for trial as of yet.

In addition to the civil lawsuit in Pennsylvania, Baltimore County Circuit Court records show an extensive list of garnishments and judgments against Dr. Thweatt.

In 1997 the State of Maryland issued a notice of lien and judgement against Thweatt for $17,901 for unpaid taxes; a lien and garnishment of $11,156 for unpaid income taxes, and a notice of lien and judgment for $26,421 for unpaid taxes.

Federal tax liens were issued against the doctor for $22,465 in 1995 and $18,125 in 1996 for failure to turn in Form 941 taxes.