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'House of horrors' abortion clinic worker 'was handed a screaming newborn with no eyes or mouth and asked to deal with it'
- Dr Kermit Gosnell, 72, is on trial for 'murdering seven babies and a woman, 41' at an abortion clinic in Philadelphia
- His former employee Sherry West testified at his trial that she saw women visit the clinic who appeared too pregnant to be there
- She testified that she was asked to 'help' with a underdeveloped newborn whose screams 'sounded like a little alien'
- Eight clinic employees have pleaded guilty to various charges in the case
By Lydia Warren
A woman who worked at a Philadelphia abortion clinic has testified how she was handed a glass pan carrying a screaming newborn with no eyes or mouth and told to deal with it.
Sherry West, who is a witness in the murder trial against her former boss Dr. Kermit Gosnell, said that when the tiny 'specimen' screamed 'it sounded like a little alien'.
West is testifying in the case under a deal with prosecutors after she pleaded guilty to third-degree murder involving the death of a 41-year-old woman at the clinic.
Gosnell, 72, is charged with murdering seven babies at Philadelphia Women's Medical Society and with the death of the woman, who suffered cardiac arrest after she was given too much anesthesia.
Horror: Sherry West, left, has testified that she witnessed undeveloped fetuses being born at the clinic run by Dr. Kermit Gosnell, right, who is on trial for murdering seven babies and one woman
He performed illegal, late-term abortions and when the babies were born alive, he would sever their spinal cords to kill them, prosecutors have claimed over the four-week trial.
West agreed that she was shocked at the size of the women who visited the clinic, as many looked as if they were too far along in their pregnancies to undergo an abortion.
She said that she hated working at the clinic but, like other employees there, she was given a job by Gosnell when she was struggling and desperate for money, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
She had left her job as a surgical technician after 22 years when she contracted hepatitis C and began suffering from depression. She had not received a pay check in nearly two years when Gosnell, who had been her own doctor for two decades, offered to find her some work.
On trial: Kermit Gosnell, pictured, is accused of killing the babies at the Philadelphia Women’s Medical Society clinic and a 41-year-old woman who was administered too much anesthesia and suffered cardiac arrest
She went on to learn how to perform ultrasounds and give IV sedatives and drugs.
In one particularly graphic description, she spoke about a time when she was handed a 18- to 24-inch-long newborn in a glass pan by an assistant who asked for her help.
'I saw it, and I thought, "What do you expect me to do?"' she said. 'It didn't have eyes or a mouth but it was like screeching, making this noise. It was weird. It sounded like a little alien.'
She said she was so 'freaked out' that she left the room and did not know what happened to the baby.
She insisted the employees did not give drugs to patients without first calling Gosnell.
Murder? West, a former worker at the Women's Medical Society, said many women came to the clinic for abortions but looked as if they were too far along in their pregnancies to be there
'House of horrors': Another former employee claimed he saw 100 live babies killed at the clinic, pictured
House of horror: A grand jury photograph shows what police say are plastic bags hiding body parts in a refrigerator inside the Philadelphia practice
She said she was present when Karnamaya Mongar went into cardiac arrest during an abortion in November 2009 and that Gosnell later held a staff meeting to tell workers what to say to police.
West did as she was told, explaining: 'I felt a loyalty to him because he had been my doctor for so long.'
Other employees have described how they saw about 100 babies born alive and then 'snipped' with surgical scissors in the back of the neck, to ensure their 'demise'.
Others spoke of gruesome scenes at the clinic which was allegedly found dirty and rundown with rusting surgical instruments.
'Victim': Karnamaya Mongar, 41, died at Gosnell's clinic during an abortion procedure in November 2009
A Grand Jury report said the clinic was crawling with cats and reeking of animal urine and feces. Furniture and blankets were stained with blood and instruments were not properly sterilized.
Disturbingly, the report alleged that fetal remains were stuffed into: 'cabinets, in the basement, in a freezer, in jars and bags and plastic jugs'.
'It would rain fetuses. Fetuses and blood all over the place. It is literally a beheading. It is separating the brain from the body,' one former employee Stephen Massof told NBC.
But he said he believed the intentions of his boss were honest and that the doctor believed he was helping the women, often extremely poor, who came to him
The doctor: Kermit Gosnell
Charged: Pearl Gosnell
Employee: Elizabeth Hampton
Arrested: Tina Baldwin
Assistant: Lynda Williams
Worker: Adrine Moton
Accomplice: Eileen O'Neil
Locked up: Stephen Massof
Held: Maddline Joe
'I believe that Dr. Gosnell was honestly trying to help women and protect them from abuse and neglect,' Massof said.
The trial is in its fourth week and is expected to last another month. If Gosnell is found guilty he could be given the death penalty.
Eight clinic employees have pleaded guilty to various charges, while a ninth is on trial with Gosnell.
Gosnell's lawyer denies the murder charge and disputes that any babies were born alive. He also challenges the gestational age of the aborted fetuses, calling them inexact estimates.