Karen McGhee and Jeffrey McGhee v. Peter E. Rork, M.D.

On September 7, 1995, Karen McGhee, a recovery room nurse at St.
John's Hospital in Jackson, suffered an injury to her right knee
while she was pushing a gurney with a patient on it. A few weeks
later, she noticed that her right knee would not extend
completely, and she consulted with Dr. Rork, a board certified
orthopedic surgeon. He took a history from Karen and examined her
knee. He told her that she had a "bucket handle" tear of the
meniscus. According to Dr. Rork, when the meniscus is torn, "it
can develop a frayed edge and then go on to a free flap of an
edge" which prevents the knee from extending completely. Over the
course of time, the joint surface can become rough to the point
"where you actually erode all the articular cartilage off the
joint."

Dr. Rork ordered an MRI, and the MRI confirmed that Karen had a
tear in the meniscus but showed that the tear was in the anterior
horn of the lateral meniscus. Dr. Rork performed arthroscopic
surgery on September 29, 1995, to repair the tear. After the
surgery, Karen developed what appeared to be a femoral nerve
palsy or weakness in the quadriceps muscle of her leg. Dr. Rork
referred her to a specialist, who confirmed that she had a femoral
nerve palsy.

The McGhees filed suit against St. John's Hospital and Zimmer,
Inc., the manufacturer of the machine used during Karen's surgery.
Nine months before the trial, the McGhees named Dr. Rork as a
defendant as well. They settled with the hospital and Zimmer but
proceeded to trial against Dr. Rork.

Six business days before the trial, the McGhees filed a motion to
transfer venue, claiming that the pool in Teton County had
been poisoned by publicity about Dr. Rork's plans to build an
outpatient surgery center and about a newly approved procedure he
had been chosen to perform on arthritic knees. They also argued
that twenty-one people who were in the prospective juror pool
were potentially biased because they or their family members of
the first degree had been Dr. Rork's patients.

Defendant's verdict.

Unknown

Kenneth Lambert, M. D., Jackson, Wyoming, Orthopedic Surgeon

Affirmed by the Supreme Court of Wyoming. The date above is the date of the Supreme Court decision and not the trial date.