Verdicts

Missouri
Chiropractor At Fault for Ruptured Cervical Disc
A Missouri jury found a chiropractor at fault for cervical disc injuries and awarded his patient $118,366 on February 21. Leslie Krieger, 32, sought treatment for hip pain from Ellisville, MO-based chiropractor Leonard R. Suiter. He treated her on several occasions by manipulating her neck and back. Krieger alleged that a few days after her last visit, she could not get out of bed, and was subsequently taken to the emergency room. There, an MRI showed a ruptured cervical disc at C5-C6. Krieger sued Suiter for medical malpractice. He argued pre-existing degenerative joint and disc disease, and claimed that his treatment did not cause the injury.

New York
Jury Finds Hospital Negligent in Delayed Cesarean Birth
A jury found a hospital liable for permanent injuries suffered by a baby whose emergency Cesarean delivery was delayed for almost an hour.
In Wise v. McCalla Ms. Wise, whose baby was due in 6 days, presented over the 4th of July weekend, 1997, to Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn with complaints of abdominal pains. All medical witnesses, including the defendant, agreed that in order for an obstetrician to diagnose labor, the patient must have both regular uterine contractions and progressive dilatation of the cervix. All medical witnesses, including the defendant, agreed that this patient had neither of these criteria. Nevertheless, the defendant assumed that the patient's abdominal pains were due to labor. At delivery, an abruption of 20% of the placenta was found. The plaintiff argued that this was the cause of the abdominal pains and that the defendant was negligent in failing to consider the possibility of placental abruption.
The defendant argued that his diagnosis of labor was correct and that the abruption must have occurred immediately before the delivery. The fetal heart monitor tracing showed some decelerations starting with the time of the patient's admission at 9:45 a.m., and by 11:00 a.m. this pattern was so 'non-reassuring' that the obstetrical resident ordered preparations for an emergency Cesarean section because he was concerned about fetal well-being. At about 11:15 a.m.,
the defendant-attending obstetrician overruled the resident's plans for an emergency Cesarean section. At 12:25 p.m., the tracing became non-reassuring again, and the defendant ordered the emergency Cesarean section.