Karnamaya Mongar came to America with dreams of a better life. The 41-year-old woman and her family were political refugees who survived 18 years of living in a wooden hut in Nepal.
Yet only six months after moving to the United States, those dreams quickly became a nightmare.
Mongar died during an abortion procedure at a clinic owned by Kermit Gosnell, the Philadelphia abortion doctor who prosecutors say also murdered seven infants through illegal abortions.
Mongar’s family members plan to sue Dr. Gosnell in connection with her death. Karamaya’s daughter Yashoda Gurung says that the family brough Mongar to the Women’s Medical Society for an abortion back in 2009. Mongar was 18 weeks pregnant at the time.
Gurung claims that things took a turn for the worse after an employee gave Mongar anesthesia.
“We were waiting but it was a long time and my mom was not outside,” said Gurung.
Gurung says that she began to panic after hearing an ambulance pull up to the building, but a female worker told her to calm down.
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“She said, ‘your mom is good, don’t worry about that.’”
Gurung claims that her and other family members were then rushed from one waiting room to another upstairs. She says that as she continued to ask about what was going on, the staff continued to ignore her.
Gurung finally caught a glimpse of her mother as emergency medical workers took her to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Hours later, Mongar was dead.
Police say that she died from an anesthesia overdose and that the person who gave it to her was unlicensed.
Prosecutors have charged Dr. Gosnell with Karnamaya’s murder. Nine of his employees also face charges in connection with alleged illegal abortions.
"I want justice," says Gurung.
Gosnell’s next court appearance is next month. He is currently in jail without bail for the murder charges.
