Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, December 10, 1993 TAG: 9312100241
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Dr. Mary Slusher-Clements' actions were not responsible for the death of Dexter Kingery of Franklin County, a jury decided.
During a three-day trial in Roanoke Circuit Court, Kingery's family claimed that Slusher-Clements misdiagnosed the extent of Kingery's pneumonia and should have admitted him to Franklin Memorial Hospital in May 1991.
Kingery, 40, was allowed to return home, where he died the following day.
But Bevin Alexander, a Rustburg attorney who represented Slusher-Clements, argued that Kingery insisted on going home despite the doctor's advice to the contrary.
And in what Alexander called an issue of "paramount importance" to the case, Kingery had a blood-alcohol content of 0.40 percent at the time of his death - four times the level at which someone is considered too drunk to drive.
"This is a case about control," Alexander told the jury. At all times, he said, Kingery had control over his treatment and over his decision to drink alcohol while seriously ill.
Marshall Mundy, a Roanoke attorney who represented Kingery's family, had argued that Slusher-Clements was negligent in diagnosing and treating Kingery's illness.
X-rays showed the pneumonia was far more advanced than the doctor believed, Mundy said in opening arguments to the jury, yet she failed to take routine steps such as ordering blood tests.
Mundy contended that Kingery died of respiratory problems brought on by pneumonia; Alexander argued his death was due to choking caused by excessive drinking.
Slusher-Clements had a residency at Roanoke Memorial Hospital but was working nights at Franklin Memorial at the time of Kingery's death.
Coastal Emergency Services Inc., which contracted her to work at the Rocky Mount hospital, also had been sued, but Judge Roy Willett removed the company from the case last week.
by CNB