LOS ANGELES — Robert L. McKenna III, a medical malpractice attorney, was telling an Orange County jury how utterly meritless, insulting and outrageous was the case against his client, a gastroenterologist. The plaintiffs' demand for $10 million for the death of their father, a 49-year-old forklift operator, amounted to nothing less than "extortion," he said.
"I take pride in what I do, and I've got to tell you, in the 30 years I have been doing this, I have never seen a more insulting, factually devoid presentation in my entire career," the Huntington Beach attorney insisted at the trial in April.
McKenna told jurors to disregard the death certificate, which blamed the death on sepsis and peritonitis due to a colon perforated by a feeding tube, which his client had inserted. He pointed to failures by other hospital staff, and argued that the patient died from other causes. This, he argued, was a cash grab.
