WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A doctor testified Monday that a 92-year-old grandmother was "assaulted, plain and simple" when medical professionals ignored her end-of-life wishes and kept her on life support for six days.
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.
"[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.
After Neumann was found unresponsive on Oct. 17, 1995, Bensimon instructed paramedics to take her to the hospital. She was intubated and placed on life support machinery, despite her wishes to the contrary. She died six days later.
Neumann's granddaughter, Linda Scheible, is suing Bensimon and the nursing home for unspecified monetary damages. Neumann and Scheible had created a living will and an advance directive that specifically stated the 92-year-old wanted no such life-prolonging measures.
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. "I don't believe he paid much attention to what she needed."
The plaintiff's case is expected to continue Tuesday.
The trial is being shown live on Court TV Extra.
CourtTVnews.com is a part of the Turner Entertainment New Media Network.
Terms & Privacy guidelines