Patient Loses Suit Against Doctor Who Saved His Life

After a three-week trial, a jury deliberated just 45 minutes Monday before deciding in favor of a doctor who was sued for saving a paraplegic’s life.

The plaintiff, Virgil Ray Noonkester, 67, who has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, had filed the civil suit alleging his physician violated an agreement that no extraordinary measures be taken to save his life.

Noonkester, who uses a wheelchair and can communicate only by writing on a computer screen with a straw held in his mouth, was seeking the costs of round-the-clock care related to keeping him alive. He said his insurance company would not pay for the care.

Dr. Lawrence Kline of Scripps Clinic, however, said Noonkester changed his mind after suffering respiratory failure Dec. 22, 1993. Kline used a tube to place his patient on a ventilator and the next day ordered a tracheotomy so he could be hooked up to the ventilator permanently.

Noonkester’s attorney, Robert Coffin, argued that Kline gave their client no choice other than receive the tracheotomy or suffocate to death. However, testimony during the trial from an attendant caring for Noonkester said the patient gave a “thumbs up” sign when asked if he wanted the tracheotomy.

Jurors agreed unanimously that although Noonkester may have preferred to be eased into death, he changed his mind at the last minute. “I feel Dr. Kline had been fair enough,” said juror Liz Dowd.