It is important to demonstrate that every deviation made was in the best interest of this patient. Jurors routinely find against doctors who fail to order tests or fail to read test results. Jurors are particularly disapproving of doctors who order tests but fail to request their results. As with the recommendations for standard procedure, emphasize the ways in which your client requested and evaluated the appropriate tests. The important message to the jurors is that your client knew of the tests and would have used them if the doctor had believed they were in the best interest of the patient at the time.
Jurors often have difficulty understanding the critical nature of time in medical procedures.
Use visuals such as time lines to vividly illustrate what time factors were being considered and how your client was factoring them into his or her decisions. The more jurors learn about the doctor's decision-making process, the more easily they can see the situation from the doctor's point of view and be willing to accept his or her interpretation of the facts. Walking jurors through that decision-making process by showing them how the damage to the child would have been worse from the increased time without oxygen would help them assess the appropriateness of your client's decision. As bad as the damage to the child was, show that it would have been worse had the doctor chosen to wait. Everything is relative.