Changes

Estes challenged the board’s decision to revoke his license, and the trial court reversed the revocation. While Estes was convicted of performing an illegal abortion, his patient recanted her testimony during the license revocation hearing and claimed that she was confused and sick with a fever during the criminal trial. His patient’s inability to speak English also hampered the efforts of the prosecutor to cross-examine her. The prosecution failed to provide any other admissible evidence to support the charges. The board also failed to file an appeal of the circuit court’s decision in a timely fashion. The board was forced to reinstate Estes as practicing physician and surgeon. The Estes cases demonstrated the difficulty in enforcing ethics laws. Even though Estes was convicted of performing an abortion, the court was not willing to use that conviction as evidence against Estes. Medical boards had to prove their cases in their own administrative hearings.