Opinion ID: 733298
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Statements of Hospital Personnel

Text: 10 Karonda was taken to Mercy Hospital around 7:00 p.m. She was first examined, briefly, by Dr. Anton Dubrick, the emergency room physician on duty. Then two registered nurses assessed the vital signs of Karonda and her baby. Nurses Susan Fifield and Jodi Smalley used a Doppler device to obtain a fetal heart tone. 4 Because the Doppler amplifies the sounds through a speaker, the heart beat was audible to everyone in the room. 5 The nurses monitored both the fetal and maternal heart rates. They obtained a fetal heart rate of 148 beats per minute and a maternal pulse of 120. 11 Nurse Smalley informed Dr. Dubrick of the results; he then palpated Karonda's abdomen and found it soft and normal. Although all the evidence indicated that Karonda and her baby were stable, on the advice of Dr. Trupin, the obstetrician-gynecologist on call, Dr. Dubrick ordered a sonogram. 12 Dr. Delores Fernandez, a diagnostic radiologist, viewed the ultrasound images for approximately fifteen minutes. During that time, Karonda stated that she had felt the baby moving when she was in the emergency room but had not felt it move since she had been taken to the ultrasound room. Dr. Fernandez saw no evidence in the sonogram of fetal motion or of cardiac activity. She concluded that the baby was dead. Dr. Dubrick then notified Karonda that her baby was dead. The stillborn baby was delivered two days later, at 5:31 p.m. on September 19, 1989. The autopsy report, requested by the Urbana Police Department, listed that time and date as the official time of death of the baby. 13 Dr. Barrett Dick, the anatomical and clinical pathologist who performed the autopsy the next morning, September 20, 1989, spent two hours and twenty minutes examining the body of the baby. Also present were eleven other aids and witnesses-assistants from histology and radiology, photographers, a secretary, and Officer Regan from the Urbana Police Department. The forensic autopsy report presents the following observations and findings: 14 Our conclusions are based upon the known circumstances of death as related to us at the time of autopsy, the postmortem examination, and various laboratory studies. This stillborn fetus was the product of an estimated 22 week gestation. The mother sustained abdominal trauma during a domestic dispute with fetal heart tones initially noted then later disappearing. The dead fetus was delivered two days later. At postmortem examination, no structural abnormalities were noted in the fetus or the placenta. The fetus was noted to be somewhat macerated, consistent with intrauterine death. The tissues were noted to be very pale and also had no hemoglobin staining. This suggested that the baby was very anemic but no cause of this could be demonstrated. Specifically, no source of bleeding was noted on examination of the fetus and the placenta, and no evidence of feto-maternal hemorrhage was found based on the acid elution test on maternal blood. 15 8 Loose Pleadings at C 367. Dr. Dick declined to offer his opinion as to the cause of death. He stated that the cause was undetermined with a suggestion of blood loss inferred because of marked paleness of the tissue and lack of hemoglobin staining. Id. at C 367, 372. In his summary, Dr. Dick stated that the ultrasound was interpreted as having suggestion of fetal skull fracture with overlap of the fetal skull bones. Id. at C 374. The pathologist also explained that the data were based on the dissection and microscopic examination of the important organs; his detailed review of each organ and body part led him to conclude that no structural abnormalities were found. Id. at C 381-86.