Verdicts Reached in Obstetrician’s Murder Trial

Jurors reached verdicts Wednesday in the trial of a Valencia obstetrician accused of second-degree murder in the deaths of eight infants and a fetus delivered outside of hospitals, but the verdicts will not be opened until Monday because one of the attorneys is out of town.

Dr. Milos Klvana, 49, is accused of nine counts of murder along with 45 other felonies, including insurance fraud, perjury, grand theft and conspiracy to unlawfully practice medicine.

The prosecution said the doctor, who operated out-of-hospital birthing clinics in Valencia and Temple City, mishandled common but high-risk complications of pregnancy that resulted in the nine deaths between 1982 and 1986.

The jury began deliberating in early November, but on Nov. 20 the panel began anew after the dismissal of one juror who had brought a dictionary into the jury room.

Klvana’s attorneys, Richard A. Leonard and Rita-Jane Baird, admitted that Klvana was negligent in some of the deaths but maintained he was at worst guilty of manslaughter, not murder.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Brian R. Kelberg contended that Klvana continued to practice high-risk medicine even though he knew of his inadequacies as a doctor. When complications arose before or during deliveries, Kelberg said, Klvana failed to recommend hospital treatment that he knew was necessary.

Klvana’s trial began in March before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Judith C. Chirlin.