by peter e. bortner
A Pottsville woman received nothing Thursday from a Schuylkill County jury that ruled against her in a medical malpractice case against a city doctor.
The jury of seven women and five men deliberated about three hours before deciding that Theresa Michels did not prove that Dr. Myron D. Haas of Orthopedic Associates of Pottsville Inc. was negligent in treating her broken wrist and did not cause her reflex sympathetic dystrophy that has affected her left hand.
Although the jury told Judge Cyrus Palmer Dolbin, who presided over the four-day trial, that the verdict was not unanimous, the votes of only 10 jurors are needed for a verdict in a civil case in Pennsylvania.
As a result, Michels and her husband, Nick Michels, collected nothing from the lawsuit they filed on Aug. 18, 2005, against Haas, alleging that he ignored Terry Michels' complaints that the cast he had put on her broken left wrist was too tight.
In his closing argument on Thursday, Frederick J. Fanelli, Pottsville, the Michels' lawyer, said the case came down to Theresa Michels' credibility.
"You're going to tell Terry Michels whether you believe her," Fanelli said.
He said her testimony was consistent with what she had told every other doctor and therapist who had seen her, and that Orthopedic Associates personnel testified that their medical records were incomplete.
"What they're saying to you is, believe our records, don't believe Terry," Fanelli said.
However, jurors accepted the arguments of Jeffrey E. Havran, Scranton, Haas' lawyer, that Terry Michels' reflex sympathetic dystrophy was caused by her fall from a stool on Aug. 23, 2003, in which she broke her wrist.
"We can't ignore the injury of Aug. 23," Havran said. "The reflex sympathetic dystrophy was caused by the fall and fracture. The cast had nothing to do with it."
Furthermore, expert opinion supported Haas' position, said Havran, who did not dispute that Terry Michels suffers from reflex sympathetic dystrophy.
"What we dispute, obviously, is what caused it," he said.