Blood Refusal Didn’t Kill Crash Victim, Doctor Says

It would be “ridiculous” to suggest that a devout Jehovah’s Witness died solely because she declined a blood transfusion and not because of injuries sustained when she was run over by an alleged drunk driver, a medical expert testified Friday in the vehicular murder trial of Keith Cook.

The testimony of Dr. Jordan Goodstein undercuts an attempt by lawyers for Cook to persuade a jury of their unusual defense--that 55-year-old mother Jadine Russell effectively killed herself by repeatedly rejecting transfusions.

“Certainly, I wish she would have taken a transfusion,” said Goodstein, who was called by a prosecutor attempting to convict Cook of second-degree murder. “But that wasn’t what killed her. What killed her was the injury and the consequences of the injury.”

The trial in Pomona Superior Court has provoked considerable public attention because of the unusual confluence of religious and legal questions.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Larry Larson said he believes that Goodstein’s testimony bolsters his contention that Cook, an auto mechanic already on probation for drunk driving, should be held responsible for Russell’s death.

Cook’s lawyers, in contrast, hope to prove that Russell’s refusal of transfusions on religious grounds was what killed her. They believe Cook should be convicted only on lesser counts of driving under the influence and causing an accident with injuries.

“The doctor agreed that the lack of a transfusion was a contributing factor; that is fine, but it does not relieve Mr. Cook of the responsibility,” said Larson, after Goodstein’s 90 minutes on the stand.

Defense attorney Laura E. Johnson said she expects emergency room doctors from County-USC Medical Center to testify that the lack of transfusion was critical in Russell’s death.

The trial stems from an accident last March. Russell had been in a collision with another vehicle when Cook crashed into the accident scene, knocking Russell’s car into not only the woman, but also her daughter, Jennifer, and two law enforcement officers.

Russell suffered a compound fracture of one leg and a ruptured spleen that leaked blood into her abdomen.

Doctors at County-USC, where Russell was taken by helicopter, immediately hung two bags of blood over her gurney. But the woman declined the transfusions repeatedly.

Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that the “consumption” of blood is prohibited by the Bible, although they will accept other medical treatments, including organ transplants.

Although Goodstein’s testimony seemed to bolster the prosecution’s case, the doctor did not endorse Russell’s requests. The 21-year trauma surgery veteran said that he would have tried to give the woman a transfusion and that he understood why doctors were upset that she would not take blood.

He said surgery to remove Russell’s ruptured spleen was successful and that she would have stood a “70% to 80% chance” of surviving if she had taken the blood, rather than merely a saline solution and a plasma-enhancing agent.

But Goodstein testified that, nonetheless, he believed the cause of the woman’s death to be “blunt force trauma to her abdomen, which ruptured her spleen, and the shock caused as a result of a massive loss of blood to her abdomen.” He called the lack of transfusion only a contributing factor.

Goodstein also testified that doctors at County-USC “could have and would have” helped Russell if they had tried an alternative treatment called auto transfusion.

The procedure involves removing blood from a patient, then filtering it with a device called a cell saver, before pumping it back into the patient.

“Rather then get petulant about the lack of transfusion, you could have moved to the next possibility. I think that would have raised her chance of survival considerably, to perhaps 50%,” Goodstein said.

Russell’s husband said he and his wife were not consulted about the use of the technique. “If they would have asked, I would have approved it,” said James Russell.

Hospital officials could not be reached for comment. The doctor in charge that night is expected to testify later in the trial.