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September 18, 2008

No verdict reached in malpractice case

Parents sued doctor for failing to perform a Caesarean section when it was necessary

By Tim Krohn

MANKATO — Jurors deliberated into the evening but went home without reaching a verdict in the medical malpractice case against the Mankato Clinic and obstetrician Carla Goerish.

Jurors are expected to return to the Blue Earth County Courthouse this morning to continue deliberations.

The case involves a baby delivery that led to severe nerve injury to the baby‘s left shoulder.

Attorneys for 5-year-old Ashley Sheldon and her parents, Scott and Andrea, argued Goerish was negligent by not recognizing the fetus was so large it should have been delivered by Caesarean. They say Goerish was negligent for failing to order a C-section when labor failed to progress as it should have.

Sheldon had a vaginal delivery, at which time the baby’s shoulder was injured. The injury, her lawyers argued, will cause lifelong limitations and significantly reduce future earnings.

But Dave Alsop, the attorney for Goerish and the Mankato Clinic, told jurors during closing arguments Thursday that Goerish took reasonable precautions during the 2003 delivery.

The six-day trial in Mankato, presided over by Judge Norbert Smith, featured several doctors and other expert witnesses testifying about a wide range of accepted medical practices.

In closing arguments, Alsop said the contention that Goerish, who delivers more than 400 babies a year, did virtually everything wrong that night is unreasonable.

Alsop said the size of a fetus can’t be easily determined and that a C-section presents significant complication risks.

In his closing arguments, Michael Djordjevich, representing the Sheldons, showed jurors a radiology report that said measurements of the fetus were “suggestive of a macrosomic fetus.” Macrosomia is a medical term to describe a fetus or newborn of excessive weight. He said accepted, published medical standards suggest a C-section be done with macrosomic fetuses.

Djordjevich also showed notes made by Goerish prior to the delivery in which she suggested she would order a C-section if the labor did not progress well. Djordjevich, using charts of the progression of the labor, said Goerish failed to follow her own plans by not ordering a C-section when the labor did not progress as quickly as it should have.

Andrea and Scott Sheldon also testified they had requested a C-section be done because of the baby’s size and because of other risk factors in the pregnancy, but that Goerish disagreed. Goerish testified the Sheldons never requested a C-section.

Finally, the family argued the damage to the baby’s arm occurred because Goerish pulled the baby’s head too hard, a claim Goerish denied.

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