www.courttv.com/trials/scheible/030607_ctv.html -
[Cached Version]
Published on: 3/6/2007
Last Visited: 3/7/2007
Dr. Bruce Berman berated the medical care that Madeline Neumann received from Dr. Jaimy Bensimon and the staff of Morse Geriatric Center, who are accused in a civil suit of battery, breach of contract and negligence.
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"[Bensimon] ignored her express wishes and inflicted upon her one of the most dehumanizing, humiliating and debilitating procedures that one can do in medicine," Berman said.
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Berman said the intubation caused Neumann unnecessary pain and suffering.
"In my opinion, it's one of the worst things a physician can do," he testified.
Berman, a board-certified doctor, said he reviewed Neumann's files and found many of Bensimon's actions were "serious departures from the generally accepted standards of care."
He said the most severe of Bensimon's oversights was his failure to ask Neumann , who suffered from seizure disorder and Alzheimer's disease , to file a Do Not Resuscitate order.
When nurses found Neumann unconscious, he said, Bensimon should not have told them to call 911.
"He should have told the nurse to make her feel as comfortable as possible and to monitor the patient until he could come in," Berman told jurors.