STORY: "The prosecution rested its case against Lacey Spears Tuesday after doctors testified that there was no medical explanation for her 5-year-old son's spike in sodium levels other than salt poisoning," by reporter Lee Higgins, published by Lohud on February 24, 2015.
GIST: "The prosecution rested its case in the murder trial of Lacey Spears Tuesday after doctors testified that there was no medical explanation for her 5-year-old son's spike in sodium levels other than salt poisoning. Acting state Supreme Court Justice Robert Neary gave the defense until Wednesday morning to decide whether Spears will testify. If she does, she will take the stand at 2 p.m. If she does not, the trial will resume Thursday morning with closing arguments.........Earlier, Dr. Steven Kernie, a specialist in pediatric critical care testified that the the only way "you could really get salt into a 5-year-old kid" is "by forcing it into some kind of feeding tube." If you gave an average child a teaspoon of salt by mouth "they would immediately spit it out," he said......... In reply to questions from the defense, Kernie also said that had doctors diagnosed Garnett's brain swelling earlier, there were treatments they could have tried that might have reversed the condition within 15 minutes. By the time doctors discovered Garnett's pupils were abnormally dilated, it was too late. "When both pupils are blown, that's typically when we stop treating edema," Kernie said..........The final prosecution witness was Dr. Aleksandar Milovanovic, Westchester County's deputy medical examiner, who determined the cause of death was hypernatremia due to the injection of sodium and eventually brain swelling. Hypernatremia is the clinical term for high sodium levels in a person's blood.........Also on cross-examination, both doctors said they did not review Garnett's chart from Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern, where the boy had been admitted after reports of seizure-like activity Jan. 14, 2014, or other medical records including those from Nyack pediatrician Dr. Kenneth Zatz. Kernie also acknowledged having several pages of notes containing calculations, which prosecutors admitted had not been turned over to the defense. Riebling said in court while jurors were not present that "it's incredibly prejudicial we are receiving these notes at this time." He asked the doctor's testimony be stricken.
Neary allowed the testimony to remain but gave Riebling time to meet with Kernie prior to court resuming so Riebling could review the notes."
The story can be found at:
http://www.lohud.com/story/news/crime/2015/02/24/lacey-spears-trial-th-day/23926879/
PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following these issues.
I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.
The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2013/12/the-charles-smith-award-presented-to_28.html
I look forward to hearing from readers at:
hlevy15@gmail.com.
Harold Levy; Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog
