An Ocala doctor has been prohibited from performing abortions after state health officials determined that he performed an abortion at AdventHealth Ocala on a pregnant patient during her third trimester.
Dr. Hersell Orlando Lindo, who is a licensed obstetrician gynecologist in Ocala, was fined and reprimanded by the Florida Department of Health’s Board of Medicine last month for an abortion that he performed in 2019.
According to court records, on February 21, 2019, a pregnant patient visited AdventHealth Ocala at 1500 SW 1st Avenue and requested a “therapeutic abortion due to multiple fetal abnormalities.”
In medical records, the patient, who was identified in the complaint as “L.A.,” was listed at “24.2 weeks gestational age and at 26 weeks gestational age.”
The complaint states that Lindo performed an “abortion via cesarean section” on the patient and that neither he, nor “any other physicians at AdventHealth Ocala” certified in writing that the abortion was “medically necessary to save” the woman’s life.
At the time, Florida law prohibited abortions in the third trimester of pregnancy, which was defined as beginning in the 24th week of gestation through birth.
Earlier this year, Governor Ron DeSantis signed the Heartbeat Protection Act into law. The new law prohibits physicians “from knowingly performing or inducing a termination of pregnancy after the gestational age of the fetus is determined to be more than 6 weeks,” with exceptions.
The complaint goes on to indicate that Lindo “failed to perform a statutory or legal obligation placed upon him as a physician by failing to obtain a written physician certification that the termination of pregnancy was medically necessary to save” the patient’s life.
The case was settled in April and in July, Lindo was permanently restricted from performing abortions and was ordered by the DOH Board of Medicine to pay $1,995.69 in reimbursement for costs incurred during the investigation.
Additionally, Lindo was ordered to complete five hours of continuing medical education in “laws, rules, and ethics” and three hours of continuing medical education in “medical record-keeping.
According to a practitioner profile maintained by the Florida Department of Health, Lindo currently holds staff privileges at the Ocala Regional Medical Center (HCA Florida Ocala Hospital) and West Marion Community Hospital (HCA Florida West Marion Hospital). His primary practice is located at 202 SW 17th Street, Suite B, in Ocala.