1 THE STATE OF OHIO,
SS: GORMAN, J.
2 COUNTY OF CUYAHOGA.

3 IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS 6c 1 '7@

4 (CIVIL BRANCH)

5 SHEENA TERRY, et al.

6 Plaintiffs,

7 VS. Case No. 193206

8 KAISER FOUNDATION HEALTH
PLAN OF OHIO, et al.
9
Defendants.
10
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11 EXCERPT TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS
CROSS-EXAMINATION OF STUART EDELBERG, M.D.
12 --- 000---

13 Whereupon the following proceedings
were had in Courtroom 2-A, Lakeside Courthouse,
14 Cleveland, Ohio, on Friday, January 8, 1993,
before the Honorable Judge Frank J. Gorman,
15 and a Jury, upon the pleadings filed
heretofore.
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17
APPEARANCES:
1B
Mr. Richard Berris, Esq., and Mr.
19 Laurence Powers, Esq.,

20 On behalf of the Plaintiffs.

21 Mr. Donald H. Switzer, Esq.,

22 On behalf of the Defendants.

2 3

24 JuliAnn M. Adams, RPR
Official Court Reporter
25 Cuyahoga County, Ohio








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2

FRIDAY AFTERNOON SESSION, JANUARY 8, 1993
2 - - - - -
3 . . . .
4 CROSS-EXAMINATION OF STUART EDELBERG, M.D.
5 BY MR. SWITZER:
6 Q. Good afternoon, Doctor.
7 A. Good afternoon.
8 Q. I'll try and be quick.
9 A. Thank you.
10 Q. Doctor, a baby, a healthy baby can be born
11 and have low Apgars?
12 A. That is correct.
13 Q. We have a discrepancy, at least two different
14 Apgar scores for Sheena Terry,, we have a 2 and a 2
15 from pediatrician, Dr. Finegold, and we have a 4 and
16 a 6 from the nurse in the delivery room, correct?
17 A. That is correct.
is Q. There is nothing unusual about having two
19 different Apgars from two different observers?
20 A. No. But there is a marked difference between
21 a baby with a 6 Apgar and a baby with a 2 Apgar.
22 Q. In fact, the nurse's Apgars are generally
23 more reliable than the pediatrician's Apgars?
24 A. No. Pediatricians. Pediatricians tend to be
25 the most accurate. The nurse is more accurate than






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 3

1 the obstetrician, because the obstetrician would
2 like them to be good Apgars.  The pediatricians are
3 probably the most accurate. The pediatricians are
4 the ones doing the resuscitation, so they are adding
5 up their numbers very carefully.
6 Q. Pedestrians generally try to give lower
7 Apgars because as a practical matter they would
8 rather be able to say they helped a much more
9 distressed infant. On the other hand, the
10 obstetrician likes to give higher Apgars so he can
11 say, geez, I delivered a non-distressed infant.
12 Isn't that basically true?
13 A. That's basically true.
14 Q. So you have an independent observer, neither
15 obstetrician or pediatrician, a nurse in the
16 delivery that's?
17 A. It would be if the nurse were doing the Apgar
18 scoring, but apparently it doesn't seem she's at the
19 table because it's the pediatrician who is doing the
20 tubing, and the pediatrician said that there was no
21 breathing until ten minutes so that automatically
22 takes off two right there.
23 Q. Isn't a cord PH the gold standard for
24 determining asphyxia at birth?
25 A. Yes, it is.






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4

1 Q. A normal fetal PH, what range is that?  Is
2 that greater than 7.25?
3 A. The normal PH is greater than 7.25. It's
4 usually higher than that.
5 Q. It can be actually equal to 7.25, normal
6 fetal PH?
7 A. Yes, it can.
8 Q. And you could have, from an obstetrician's
9 point of view, a fetus that you did a scalp PH on
10 that had a scalp PH of 7.25, you wouldn't deliver
11 that infant?
12 A. That's correct.
13 Q. Labor in and of itself is a hypoxic event to
14 a fetus, isn't it?
15 A. That's correct.
16 Q. In fact, it's normal for many fetuses to be
17 born mildly acidotic at birth, isn't it?
18 A. Well, above the 7.20 range, but, yes, mildly
19 acidotic, correct.
20 Q. If you delivered a fetus that had a cord PH
21 of 7.15 at birth, you wouldn't necessarily give
22 sodium bicarbonate to that fetus, would you?
23 A. That would be up to the pediatrician and what
24 was going on with the baby.
25 I'm asking you.






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5

1 A. I don't give sodium bicarbonate, so I can't
2 comment on that. That's in the realm of pediatrics.
3 Q. No pediatrician, it's just you.
4 A. I'm not going to give sodium bicarbonate
5 because I can't carry the resuscitation that far,
6 that's going to be up to the pediatrician.
7 Q. Would you agree that 7.18 PH at one
8 and-a-half hours, or in first one-half hour of life
9 -- let me change the question -- first one-half hour
10 of life is still mild acidosis?
11 A. It's mild acidosis, but acidosis. Again,
12 you're out of my area of expertise, I don't care for
13 babies two hours out.
14 Q. That's out of your area of expertise. In
15 fact, your area of expertise ends at about five
16 minutes of fetal life or baby life?
17 A. In terms of