By Jeff Lehr

jlehr@joplinglobe.com

A Joplin family-practice doctor was not negligent in diagnosing and caring for a 28-year-old man who died of a pulmonary embolism more than four years ago, a Jasper County jury decided Thursday.

Eleven of 12 jurors signed a verdict in favor of Dr. Thomas Hamilton at the conclusion of a medical-malpractice trial in Jasper County Circuit Court. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Ilinka Lakhdar and Janie Bratton, the wife and mother, respectively, of Kenneth Lakhdar, who died Nov. 7, 2003, at St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Joplin.

The cause of Lakhdar’s death, a blood clot in his lungs, was not in dispute at the trial, which began in Circuit Judge David Dally’s courtroom with the selection of a jury on May 5.

The plaintiffs maintained that Hamilton failed to diagnose Lakhdar correctly in advance of his collapse at home in November 2003 and his death five days later at the hospital. He had been under Hamilton’s care for the previous two years.

Plaintiffs’ attorney Ed Hershewe argued at trial that Hamilton continued to treat Lakhdar for an upper-respiratory infection and allergies despite repeated presentations of his patient with such serious symptoms as shortness of breath and chest pains.

The plaintiffs maintained that Hamilton failed to order tests or consultations with specialists that could have led to a correct diagnosis and saved Lakhdar’s life. Instead, the cause of his death was never learned until his wife had an autopsy conducted by a St. Louis forensic pathologist, the plaintiffs contended.

Hamilton’s attorney, Brian Malkmus, called witnesses and presented evidence to dispute the plaintiffs’ characterization of the patient’s pulmonary embolism as a cause of death that progressively developed over a period of several months. The defense argued that the medical evidence suggested that he instead died of an acute onset of a pulmonary embolism.

Deliberation

Jurors deliberated two hours and 21 minutes before returning their verdict.