The report caps a yearlong investigation of Gosnell and his Lancaster Avenue clinic, which was shut down after a raid last February.
But the report is sure to be just the beginning of finger-pointing and soul-searching as city and state health officials, legislators, and those on both sides of the bitter abortion debate seek to understand how the clinic operated for 31 years, apparently with little oversight.
"The inaction of public agencies is exposed," District Attorney Seth Williams said Wednesday at a news conference.
In addition to Gosnell, his wife, Pearl, and eight employees - none of whom had medical credentials, authorities say - were arrested Wednesday morning. Four of the workers are also facing murder charges.
Williams said the prosecution was not about the morality of abortion.
"I am aware that abortion is a hot-button topic," he said. "But as district attorney, my job is to carry out the law. A doctor who knowingly and systematically mistreats female patients, to the point that one of them dies in his so-called care, commits murder under the law."
Philadelphia lawyer William Brennan, who represented Gosnell before Wednesday's arrest, said he had not read the report and had not been formally retained as Gosnell's attorney.
"I would say simply that it's important to remember that Dr. Gosnell is presumed to be innocent," Brennan said.
The investigation began last February, after federal and state drug agents and Philadelphia police raided the clinic at 3801 Lancaster Ave. on suspicion that Gosnell was illegally dispensing narcotic painkillers. (A federal drug-trafficking investigation is continuing.)
