Medical: January 2010 Archives

The testimony of New Jersey state-hired psychiatrist Dr. Daniel Greenfield was postponed this week after poor weather and a last-minute motion by the defense combined to push back his planned testimony.  The psychiatry expert will testify Feb.10th in the trial of a drunken driver accused of killing two teenage girls in Kinnelon, NJ.  Eugene Baum, Jr., is accused of running down cousins Mayada and Athear Jafar on April 20, 2006, and faces two counts each of aggravated manslaughter and death by auto. Baum’s BAC level at the time of the crash was found to be .305, nearly four times the limit that a driver is considered legally intoxicated.  Greenfield's report, which the prosecution planned to use to educate the jury about the physiological effects of alcohol, includes graphs and tables representing the relative probability of motor vehicle accidents caused by rising blood alcohol content levels.

For more, see dailyrecord.com.

Jennifer King will argue over the next several weeks to keep her third-grade son, Christopher, who has Down syndrome, included in a regular classroom for the entire school day.  The  special education hearing will take place in West Shore School District, PA.  King believes there are more ways to modify her son’s curriculum within a mainstream classroom and that doing so gives him a better chance of success after schooling. “It is almost inevitable that the expectations drop when the child is moved to a special education classroom,” King said. “My son’s capability could be far, far greater than anybody can imagine right now. I’m careful not to limit what the possibilities would be for him.”

Perry Zirkel, an education and law professor at Lehigh University and a special education expert, said due process hearings have increased nationally over the last two decades, a trend mirrored in Pennsylvania. He said the state ranks among the 10 most litigious in the nation in special education. King will argue to keep her son included in a regular classroom for the entire school day. The district wants to put him in a special education class for two subjects each day.

Parents routinely spend several thousand dollars on attorney’s fees and expert witnesses for a due process hearing that usually spans several days over the course of weeks. Districts can spend as much or more per case for attorneys to review and draft documents, prepare witnesses and see the disagreement through the legal proceeding.

For more, see pennlive.com.

A Lancaster County, PA, nurse was convicted Friday afternoon of murdering 11-year-old Brent Weaver, a cerebral palsy patient.  Private-duty nurse Joy O'Shea Woomer, 50, was convicted of third-degree murder and drug delivery resulting in death and delivery of a controlled substance. 11-year-old Brent Weaver died from a lethal dose of morphine in the family's East Hempfield Township home on Sept. 27, 2002. 

Forensic pathology and toxicology expert Dr. Michael Baden testified Wednesday that he believes the fatal dose of morphine was mixed in with the child's food. A licensed practical nurse for 25 years, Woomer, of East Hempfield Township, consistently denied giving the boy any medication.

From lancasteronline.com. 

Forensic pathology and toxicology expert Dr. Michael Baden testified Wednesday in the case of 11-year-old Brent Weaver who died from a lethal dose of morphine.  Joy O'Shea Woomer, the private-duty nurse who was hired to care for the cerebral-palsy-stricken boy on the night he died,  is on trial in Lancaster County Court, and accused of homicide. 

Woomer, 50, of East Hempfield Township, PA, denies the charges and denies giving the boy any medication.  After listening to several medical experts called by the prosecution on Tuesday, the jury heard Wednesday from Baden who says he believes the fatal dose of morphine was mixed in with the child's food.

For more, see http://lancasteronline.com/. 

Jopseph Hotz of Rushville, NE, convicted of second degree counts of murder and attempted murder and four other charges, will spend 21 years in the Nebraska Department of Corrections before he will be eligible for parole.  Hotz’s attorneys, Jeff Pickens of the Nebraska Commission on Public Advocacy and Dawes County Public Defender Paul Wess, argued that Hotz should be found not guilty by reason of insanity.

Their forensic psychology expert witness, Dr. Daniel Wilson, testified that Hotz suffered from a drug-induced psychosis after ingesting mushrooms. The state's expert witness Dr. Park Dietz, who did not testify, wrote in his report that Hotz suffered from a drug induced psychosis but said that he was still capable of forming intent – including the intent to kill Pfeiffer.

For more, see http://www.thechadronnews.com/chadron/front/.

A New York City jury has awarded almost $19 million to the family of a 76-year-old nursing home patient that the family says developed more than 20 pressure sores due to nursing home neglect. The family of John Danzy filed the lawsuit against the Brooklyn Queens Nursing Home after  Danzy died in 2003 of an infection allegedly caused by the nursing home six months after he was removed from the facility.

The verdict, which included $15 million in punitive damages, was the first in New York state history to result in punitive damages against a nursing home, according to the New York Post. The award also included $3.75 million in compensatory damages.

The lawsuit accused the nursing home of falsifying records to make it appear that they had been taking proper care of Danzy. An FBI medical records review expert witness said that it appeared that nursing home staff went back into the records and changed skin check logs to make it look like they had found the pressure sores.

For more, see aboutlawsuits.com.

After more than three years of investigation into an online pharmacy based in Mobile,AL, the trial of 10 men charged in a steroids conspiracy is set to begin this week.  Brett Branch, who ran a health company that authorities contend illegally sold steroids, is one of 12 people named in the 198-count indictment.  Branch and business owners stand accused of recruiting doctors to write bogus prescriptions for anabolic steroids, which Applied Pharmacy Services filled. Authorities contend that the pharmacy, where Branch once worked as a salesman, filled thousands of prescriptions outside legal parameters.

Pharmaceutical experts Paul Doering, a professor at the University of Florida's College of Pharmacy; and Dr. Gary Wadler, who has a sports medicine and internal medicine practice in Manhasset, N.Y., and serves as a professor of clinical medicine at the New York University School of Medicine will testify for the prosecution.

For more, see blogal.com.

Kenneth Wells, 56, is tentatively scheduled for trial Jan. 26 for growing marijuana in his home in unincorporated St. Charles County, MO. Wells' defense suffered a serious setback last month when Circuit Judge Nancy Schneider ruled that she will not allow evidence at trial of Wells' medical condition or medical history.  Jurors won't know of Wells' health problems or that marijuana limits the number of his seizures and lessens their severity.

Defense attorney Wayne Schoeneberg had planned to call neurology expert witness - Dr. Denis J. Petro, a neurologist and clinical drug researcher in Arlington, Va.  According to Petro's sworn statement, here's what he would have said if allowed on the stand:

"Marijuana is safe and effective in the treatment of seizure disorder as manifest in this case. In patients who have not obtained adequate seizure control with conventional therapy, cannabis offers a rational alternative at least as safe as conventional therapy for intractable chronic epileptic seizures. Mr. Wells has been exposed to multiple medications over the past 26 years to treat his seizures with risks far higher than with cannabis."

For more, see suburbanjournals.stltoday.com