Opening Statments

A jury was selected late in the morning consisting of 6 women and 9 men. Three alternates were chosen due to the length of this trial. The juror who was incoherent yesterday made it on the jury. He did make more sense today.

Finally opening statements! The patient, a 40 something woman, hurt her neck in a serious motorcycle accident and was plagued by pain and numbness. She was referred to a doctor, one of the defendants in this trial, who has done over one thousand spinal surgeries. An MRI showed she had protruding discs in her neck and it was agreed surgery was needed. After surgery when she arrived in her hospital room from the recovery room it was noticed there was blood on her sheets and blankets and her neck was swelling. She was taken back to the operating area where, while waiting for doctors, her breathing became labored and the swelling worsened. The poor woman was conscious as her airway was becoming restricted and appeared frightened. She was turning purple and her tongue was protruding.

After she lost consciousness the anesthesiologist (who is also being sued), there to prepare her for surgery, could not find her airway due to severe swelling and a blood clot. He tries several different methods. Finally the doctor arrives. They try to push air into the lungs with no success. Sutures to surgical site are removed to allow intubation but the trachea still can’t be found. At last the doctor was surgically able to access the airway and patient was put on a ventilator. By that time it was too late. Brain damage, due to lack of oxygen, was done. A cross section image of her brain shows none of the texture of a regular brain.

The argument is going to be that the doctor should have been there sooner. That some of the nurses did not recognize the seriousness of the situation at first and had some miscommunication. That the anesthesiologist should have called for assistance. The plaintiffs are going to be asking for 3.5 to 5 million dollars.


One of the selected jurors realized during the lunch break she knew the patient in question and her family. We are quickly down to 14 jurors, 9 men and 5 women.

The power point (if it’s even called that anymore) presentations during openings have been impressive. I love watching attorneys bring in all their technology and try to get it set up in a Courtroom that hasn’t changed much since probably the 50’s.

A reporter, who looks about 18 years old, from the local news rag is here. One of his stories about a recent trial was so wrong I will be interested in seeing how he reports this.