Defendants Favored by Gathers Jurors : Trial: The feeling was that the medical effort made had been sufficient.

For some jurors, the trial involving the death of Hank Gathers, a former Loyola Marymount basketball star, was unfolding favorably for the defendants when it ended prematurely Wednesday.

After listening to three weeks of testimony, eight of the 12 jurors interviewed Wednesday said they could not find fault in Dr. Benjamin Shaffer, then of the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Group, and Dr. Dan Hyslop of the Loyola student health center.

Shaffer, the doctor on duty at the game, and Hyslop were the only defendants of the original 14 left from a $32.5-million wrongful death and negligence suit filed in April, 1990, a month after Gathers collapsed in a game at Loyola’s Gersten Pavilion, and died of a heart disorder.

The trial in Superior Court in Torrance came to an abrupt end Wednesday, when Judge J. Gary Hastings dismissed the case after members of the Gathers family, who filed the suit, decided against testifying.

But that decision might have been moot. It appeared, if the case had gone to the jury at this point in the trial, the verdict would have favored the the doctors, according to juror interviews.

After seeing a video of efforts to revive Gathers, juror Allen Haney of Torrance said it was difficult to believe the doctors deliberately were negligent, one of the suit’s allegations.

“How could (they) be blamed?” Haney said.

Haney said the dramatic film was persuasive because the jurors witnessed two men trying to save a life.

Juror Bethann Harrington of Torrance said: “You could see for yourself. It wasn’t what somebody else saw, or said they saw.”

The jury, 11 women and one man, was asked to follow an often complex trial that was further complicated by unfamiliar medical terms. But those interviewed said they had no problems understanding the issues.

“It would have been better if (Loyola) had a doctor in emergency care,” Haney said. “But most of these schools don’t. (The doctors at the game) might not have been trained in emergency care, but they tried.”

Other jurors said that, as the trial continued, they began to understand its potential ramifications on the medical community. Harrington said she hopes the outcome will stop others from filing similar suits.

“It had to play out,” she said. “This story had to be told.”

Some jurors were caught in the emotions of a death that has been much discussed in the Los Angeles sports community for 30 months. Joelle Roux-Gunn of Lawndale said she felt for Hyslop, who was accused by the Gathers’ family lawyers in opening statements of being responsible for Gathers’ death. Bruce Fagel, a Beverly Hills attorney representing Gathers’ family, said at one point during his opening statement that the trial was about “who killed Hank Gathers?”

“When they first brought Dr. Hyslop up on the stand, I wanted to rush up and hug him,” Roux-Gunn said.

Such feelings were not lost on Hyslop, who has lived with the tragedy for more than two years. When the legal ordeal finally ended Wednesday, he showed the strain.

He quoted Martin Luther King, shaking as he read his handwritten notes. Hyslop said he read King’s writings throughout the trial to try to keep a positive perspective. He copied a few quotations Wednesday morning.

When recalling Gathers, a personable Loyola center, who was expected to be one of the top pro draft picks in 1990, Hyslop lost his composure.

“I would say that among many people, I miss Hank,” a teary-eyed Hyslop said. “There are no winners here. Let’s get beyond this--winning, losing, hating, accusing.

“Basketball fans need to ask themselves, ‘Are they content to live in a world where the only way a black man can help his mother is by playing in the NBA?’ ”

Although his memories of Gathers were strong, Hyslop said he would not settle out of court with the family because he wanted to make a point for the medical community.

“For a doctor to render care, it was important to go the distance,” he said.

Hyslop said the trial has altered his thoughts on practicing medicine, but he added: “I have a job to do. I have the responsibility of 4,000 (LMU students and faculty). Everyone could be the next Hank Gathers. But I have to go on.

“This won’t stop me from trying to render care the next time.”