Couple Get $932,000 in Suit Against Obstetrician

In the first few months after she returned from the hospital, Carol S. Wallace thought of her newborn son, Douglas Bryan, as the perfect baby.

He rarely disturbed her and her husband, moving around little and seldom crying.

“He was a beautiful baby for the first couple of months,” said Carol, 32.

But the behavior, so different from that of her firstborn, gradually began to alarm the young mother.

“He was a good baby,” she said. “He was too good.”

Three months after the birth, Carol and her husband, James, discovered their son had suffered from a catastrophic lack of oxygen in his first five minutes of life on Aug. 18, 1980, and was mentally and physically handicapped, requiring constant attention, probably for his entire life.

Award Will Pay Therapy

The Wallaces said the $932,000 verdict returned by an Orange County jury Friday against the physician who handled the birth will pay for the therapy their son needs to have a chance in life.

“It means more than anything we’ve been able to provide,” said James Wallace after the verdict was read in the courtroom of Orange County Superior Court Judge Jerrold S. Oliver. “We’ll be able to provide the therapy Bryan needs to advance. This will help a lot.”

Jurors found Carol Wallace’s obstetrician, Anthony LeDonne, was negligent in failing to provide adequate care for the newborn after his birth.

The infant was not breathing at birth, according to the Wallaces’ attorney, William J. Gargaro Jr.

LeDonne should have immediately intubated the infant, forcing a channel for the passage of air, Gargaro contended. The newborn infant also should have been given a dose of the drug Narcon at birth to counteract the effects of the Demerol that had been given to Carol Wallace during labor, Gargaro contended.

LeDonne’s attorney, Joseph D. McNeil, said an appeal will be filed.

“We didn’t think the doctor was really all that bad,” said jury foreman Harold I. Scott of Santa Ana, an engineer. “We felt he could have done something in the first minutes--such as intubation--but he didn’t.”

Scott called the decision “very, very difficult.” Three of the 12 jurors voted to exonerate LeDonne.

James Wallace said his 6-year-old son now “requires constant attention, 24 hours a day.”

The youth has progressed “mentally and physically” to the equivalent of a normal 3-year-old, Wallace said. “He will continue to progress, but we don’t know at what rate,” he added.

Wallace called the birth “a real tragedy.” But he quickly added that the trial was “not intended to discredit the doctor.”

Wallace said he and his wife were “confident during the whole trial that the verdict would come out in our favor.”

Jurors voted to give the Wallaces $62,000 as compensation for their son’s future pain, $632,400 to cover his future medical and rehabilitative care and $237,000 for lost future earnings.

James Wallace is a supervisor for a supermarket chain, and Carol Wallace is a checkout clerk. The couple live in Anaheim Hills. Their first son, James, is 8 years old.