Joseph W. Rucker
Joseph W. Rucker
Education
Joseph Rucker graduated from the University of Michigan Medical School in 1958.[1]
License Suspended for Illegal Abortion
Circa 1978, the Michigan Board of Medicine acted on one of several complaints pending against Joseph Rucker in which he was accused of attempting to perform an illegal abortion in his clinic on a 14-year-old girl who was seven months pregnant. The sixth-grader began hemorrhaging during the abortion and was taken to hospital for treatment. A few days later she gave birth to a baby girl. A piece of scalp about the size of a 50-cent piece was missing, according to the complaint.
Michigan law required that abortions on women over 14 weeks pregnant be performed in a hospital. Rucker's license was suspended by the board. In addition to the suspension, the board ordered that Rucker take an additional 50 hours of training in obstetrics and gynecology.[1]
Complaints
Rucker battled the Michigan medical authorities since 1976, when the attorney general's office lodged the first of many complaints against him.[1]
