Midwife Gets Probation in 3 Infant Deaths : Valencia Obstetrician’s Aide Pleads Guilty to Involuntary Manslaughter

An unlicensed midwife accused of murder in the deaths of three infants she helped deliver pleaded guilty Tuesday to involuntary manslaughter and received probation, but not before she was ordered by a judge to “stay as far away from pregnant women as you possibly can.”

Delores Doyle, 36, of Montclair received a suspended eight-year prison sentence and was ordered released on five years probation. As a condition of probation, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Judith C. Chirlin told Doyle not to provide any type of health care or to work for anyone who does.

“I want you nowhere near anybody or anything that anybody could interpret as your practicing medicine,” Chirlin told Doyle.

First Month

Doyle entered the plea during the first month of her trial with co-defendant Dr. Milos Klvana, 48, a Valencia obstetrician. The trial of Klvana, who faces nine murder charges, is expected to continue for at least another year.

All of the murder charges stemmed from the prosecution’s contention that Klvana and Doyle did not recommend hospital treatment in cases where deliveries involved high-risk complications.

Doyle pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of infants Aaron Diederick and Tyrone Ennis in 1984 and Veronica Palacios in 1985. She also admitted to five counts of felony practice of medicine without a license, seven counts of insurance fraud and one count of conspiracy.

The Diederick and Palacios deaths occurred after the mothers’ prolonged labor was facilitated by a drug that Klvana and Doyle administered without controlling its dosage, prosecutors said. The Ennis baby died after Klvana and Doyle saw signs that he had ingested his own fecal material before birth--a serious complication--but did not recommend hospitalization, authorities said.

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office in late 1987 had offered Doyle the chance to admit to involuntary manslaughter instead of murder, but Doyle refused because there was no assurance of what sentence she would receive, said her attorney, Maxwell S. Keith.

On Tuesday, Doyle changed her mind after Chirlin said in court that she was inclined to hand down the suspended sentence and release Doyle on probation, Keith said.

Since her Oct. 31, 1986, arrest, Doyle has been in custody in the Sybil Brand Institute for Women, a county jail facility.

In arguing for probation, Keith said Doyle “has suffered mightily in Sybil Brand. . . . It has been a brutal experience for her.”

Being in jail caused Doyle’s mental state to deteriorate so much that she has been prescribed drugs “to keep her sane,” Keith said. Recently, the trial had to be halted temporarily after Doyle began sobbing uncontrollably.

No Warning

But the prosecutor, Deputy Dist. Atty. Brian R. Kelberg, asked Chirlin to impose the eight-year term without probation. Doyle knew Klvana was incompetent but stuck with him and did not warn his patients to stay away from him, Kelberg said.

“She cries for these dead babies, but she cries after the fact,” Kelberg said.

Chirlin, in granting probation, noted that Doyle’s time in custody is roughly equivalent to what she would have served under a four-year prison sentence. The judge added that the conditions of probation provide for more control over Doyle’s activities than would be possible if Doyle were to go to prison and later be paroled.