Jurors to decide whether parents or doctors caused baby boy’s death
Doctors at Alberta Children’s Hospital aren’t to blame for the death of little John Clark but the negligence of his parents is, a prosecutor said Tuesday.
In his final submissions to a Calgary Court of Queen’s Bench jury, Crown lawyer Shane Parker said suggestions poor medical care played a role in the child’s death should be easily dismissed.
Parker, highly critical of the evidence of former chief medical examiner Dr. Anny Sauvageau — the only witness for the defence — said Jennifer and Jeromie Clark must bear the blame for the boy’s death on Nov. 29, 2013.
“The hospital did not break John, John was dead on arrival,” Parker said of the fact the 14-month-old boy was doomed when he arrived at the hospital the previous day.
The Clarks are charged with criminal negligence causing death and failing to provide the necessaries of life.
Parker said jurors should rely on “first-hand experience” of the doctors who treated the boy, and “not a Monday morning quarterback.”
Parker noted Sauvageau “did not have her contract renewed” as chief medical examiner and “is not licensed to currently practise medicine.”
He also said she never looked at the entire file before expressing the opinion medical error was behind the child’s death.
“It’s like she never really saw the whole case, nor did (she) want to,” Parker said.
Jennifer’s lawyer, John Phillips, said jurors should not employ a mob mentality when judging the case against the couple.
Phillips said jurors should not only look at the Crown’s evidence before reaching a decision in the case.
“In our society we try not to just act like an angry mob grabbing at pitchforks and torches and heading off to the windmill to kill the monster all fired up by a story alleged by one side,” he said.
Instead, Phillips said, jurors should consider the defence theory, that little John died as a result of medical mistakes made during his care.
“This treatment was administered to John with good intentions,” the lawyer said.
“But nevertheless, tragic medical mistakes were made that caused the death of John.”
Jeromie’s lawyer, David Chow, said Sauvageau’s opinion the parents weren’t to blame for the child’s death should not be dismissed.
He suggested emergency doctors prescribed excessive amounts of fluid and sodium, which hastened the child’s death.
“Dr. Anny Sauvageau told you (Monday) what you have plainly seen in all of the medical evidence, that is the doctors at the Alberta Children’s Hospital gave that baby too much sodium and too much fluid,” he said.
“You need to return a verdict of not guilty.”
Jurors will hear final legal instructions from Justice Paul Jeffrey on Thursday before beginning deliberations.
Tragic medical mistakes were made that caused the death of John.