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Testimony began Tuesday morning in a medical-malpractice suit against a Monroeville surgeon.

Gloria Watkins and her husband Wayne, of Repton, are suing Dr. Grayson Simmons for alleged negligence and injury during laser surgery to remove her gall bladder in 1991. The trial began Monday, four years to the day after the surgery was performed at Monroe County Hospital.

Court Records show Mrs. Watkins claims that Simmons "unknowingly ligated the common bile duct and hepatic artery," This means altering the function of the duct that releases bile - an alkaline substance produced in the liver, stored in the gall bladder and released in the intestines to help with digestion - and of a blood vessel that carries blood from the heart to the liver.

A jury of nine women and five men (including two alternates) listened to opening statements Monday afternoon about 3:30 in Monroe County Circuit Court. Judge Sam Welch said the trial could take all week.

Mrs. Watkins is being represented by attorneys Gil Gilmore of Grove Hill and Kenneth V. Ward of New Orleans. Milton Coxwell of Monroeville and Danner Frazer and Eddie Green of Mobile are serving as counsel for Simmons.

During jury selection, Gilmore said the plaintiffs were seeking money compensation. But not punitive damages (damages designed to punish). He said they were not alleging Simmons is a bad doctor, but that he had been negligent. Defense attorneys countered the making a mistake is not necessarily the same tine as negligence.

In his opening statement, Ward told the jury the Simmons had not followed all four surgical rules necessary to treat a patient with a reasonable level of care. These rules, according to Ward, are to know the difference between normal and abnormal anatomy; technique; "Don't cut if you don't know what it is"; and if a mistake is made, identify and correct it.

"The last thing you want a surgeon to do...is make up his own rules along the way," Ward said.

Opposing Statements

Both Ward and Frazer gave statements over 30 minutes long in which charts of human anatomy were displayed. Ward told the jury, "I believe this is a very simple case." He said Simmons, in removing Mrs. Watkins' gall bladder, "cut the wrong things."

Frazer countered Ward's assessments, stating Simmons "was well trained, ... did the surgery the correct way, ...[and] he was very careful." Frazer said Mrs. Watkins' "unusual anatomy" contributed to an injury during the three-hour surgery, he told the jury, "as you will see, it is not so easy to know what you are dealing with" during laser surgery.

He asked the jury to "be patient and attentive" during the trial.

Gilmore countered briefly, saying that Mrs. Watkins has suffered. "Mentally, she went through a lot; she almost died," he said.

Simmons took the stand as the first witness Tuesday. Under questioning by Ward, which took up almost the entire morning before the lunch break, Simmons discussed his treatment of Mrs. Watkins for gallstones. He described and commented on what happened during a videotape of the surgery as it was played for the jury.

Simmons acknowledged that he had inadvertently misidentified the common bile duct and cut it, rather than the cystic duct, which should have been cut. Simmons also testifies about his medical training, including special courses in the use of lasers in surgery.

Abnormal appearance

Simmons explained that the appearance on certain structures (ducts and arteries) around the gall bladder was abnormal in comparison to the normal, anticipated appearance.

He went on to describe his contact with Mrs. Watkins after the surgery, including her discharge, return trips to the hospital and his office, and referrals to doctors in Mobile for further treatment. Simmons denied having abandoned care of Mrs. Watkins after post-operative problems were detected, saying he had consulted other doctors to determine what was wrong and how it should be corrected.

General surgeon Douglas Olsen of Nashville, who has been doing laser surgery since the late 1980s and was among the first America surgeons to do it, was called as a witness for Mrs. Watkins. Olsen testified that, in his opinion, Mrs. Watkins' injury could have been avoided if Dr. Simmons had identified certain anatomical "landmarks" prior to cutting.

In commenting on a segment of the videotape replayed for the jury during Olsen's testimony, Olsen said the appearance of bile during the surgery would have caused him concern. "A reasonable and prudent surgeon would have questioned where it was coming from," Olsen said.

Mrs. Watkins was the first witness to testify yesterday (Wednesday). Questioned by Gilmore, she said she doesn't consider Simmons a bad person and accepts that things can go wrong during surgery. Simmons "didn't tell me about any risks" prior to surgery, she said. She said Simmons performed a tubal ligation on her in the early 1980s, and she did not suffer and injury in that surgery.

Mrs. Watkins detailed how the surgery and subsequent complications have affected her physical and mental health and her relationship with her husband and family.

Stamina and pain

She said she lacks the physical stamina she had before the surgery, and occasionally suffers pain "when I stoop over, do something."

"I got very depressed," she said, "because I had suffered so much and been through so much." The remote possibility of having a liver transplant as a result of her injury "is always in the back of my mind," she said.

Green began cross-examining Mrs. Watkins about 10:10. More expert testimony was expected to follow, and the defense would have the opportunity to call it's own witnesses.

Judge Welch said he would tell jurors not the read press accounts of the trial while it is in progress. Jurors are not sequestered but have been instructed not to discuss the case.

By Marilyn Handley

The Monroe Journal

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