Tougher Punishment Urged for L.A. Doctor : Health: Director asks medical board to revoke license of physician after deaths of two women who had abortions at his clinics.

The Medical Board of California’s executive director has asked board members to reconsider a decision not to revoke the license of a Los Angeles doctor accused of incompetence and negligence in the deaths of two young women who underwent abortions at his clinics.

Last month, the medical board suspended Dr. Leo F. Kenneally’s license for a year and placed him on 10 years probation, noting that his clinics in Pacoima and central Los Angeles are among the few places where low-income women can get affordable abortions.

But the disciplinary action fell far short of the license cancellation sought by medical board executive director Dixon Arnett, who wants another hearing on the matter.

The medical board accused Kenneally in 1990 of failing to quickly call paramedics when an 18-year-old woman stopped breathing and suffered cardiac arrest while undergoing an abortion in 1987. The woman was admitted to a hospital, where she died about two months later.

Board investigators also said Kenneally did not properly care for a woman who suffered a seizure during a 1986 abortion. Kenneally continued to perform the abortion rather than deal with the seizure, the board said. The woman, 22, later was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

The board also accused Kenneally of mishandling five other abortions that resulted in injuries between 1988 and 1993.

In a May 27 ruling, Administrative Law Judge Milford A. Maron agreed that Kenneally was negligent in the two deaths. But the judge wrote that Kenneally is an “unselfish and committed provider” of abortions in poor neighborhoods.

Kenneally operates Her Medical Clinics at 13309 Van Nuys Blvd. and 2700 Figueroa St., and has performed about 100,000 abortions in the last 10 years, according to the medical board.

In an Aug. 26 petition filed on Arnett’s behalf, state Deputy Atty. Gen. Adrian K. Panton asked six members of the medical board to reconsider whether to revoke Kenneally’s license.

Panton said that in four of the five cases cited between 1988 and ‘93, Kenneally delayed sending the women to hospitals for emergency treatment. In the fifth case, the woman was released from a clinic in so much pain that she collapsed an hour later.

Panton also said the terms of Kenneally’s probation were too lenient, urging that the physician be monitored by another doctor and required to undergo an intensive clinical training program and pass an exam.

In a petition opposing Panton, Kenneally’s attorney, Jay N. Hartz, said it was unnecessary and unfair to force Kenneally to undergo another license hearing.

Times staff writer Virginia Ellis in Sacramento contributed to this story.