Kermit Gosnell, a controversial figure at the center of one of the nation’s most disturbing criminal cases, has died.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Authorities say Gosnell, the former West Philadelphia doctor convicted of multiple counts of murder, died on March 1 while in custody.<\/p>\n
Gosnell, who was 85, was serving multiple life sentences after a 2013 conviction tied to the deaths of infants born alive during illegal procedures, as well as the death of a patient.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A jury convicted Gosnell<\/a>\u00a0of three counts of first-degree murder for cutting the necks of babies born alive during illegal procedures, as well as involuntary manslaughter in the death of a woman who died during an abortion at his clinic and other charges related to violations at his clinic.<\/p>\n Gosnell also pleaded guilty<\/a> to federal charges related to running a\u00a0pill mill<\/a> out of his clinic, which led to an additional prison sentence and a $50,000 fine.<\/p>\n The case drew national attention and sparked intense debate over medical oversight and abortion laws.<\/p>\n Gosnell was being held at State Correctional Institution Smithfield in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, and died at a hospital. \u00a0<\/p>\n Officials have not yet released details about his cause of death.<\/p>\n “House of horrors”<\/p>\n Gosnell’s grimy West Philadelphia clinic became known as the “house of horrors.” Former employees testified he routinely performed illegal abortions past Pennsylvania’s 24-week limit, that he delivered babies who were still moving, whimpering or breathing, and that he and his assistants dispatched the newborns by “snipping” their spines, as he referred to it. \u00a0<\/p>\n Conditions at his clinic became known during a 2010 investigation of prescription drug trafficking. Investigators described a foul-smelling place with bags and bottles of fetuses and jars of body parts, along with bloodstained furniture and dirty medical instruments.<\/p>\n State authorities had failed to conduct routine inspections of all its abortion clinics for 15 years by the time Gosnell’s facility was raided. In the scandal’s aftermath, two top state health officials were fired and Pennsylvania imposed tougher rules for clinics.<\/p>\n Gosnell did not testify at his 2013 trial, but his\u00a0defense attorney argued<\/a>\u00a0that none of the\u00a0fetuses<\/a>\u00a0was born alive and that any movements were posthumous twitching or spasms.<\/p>\n \n More from CBS News\n <\/p>\n