Attorney in farmer's case against former Duluth doctor asks for new trial - Duluth News Tribune

The attorney for the 79-year-old former Proctor-area dairy farmer who unsuccessfully sued former St. Luke?s neurosurgeon Stefan Konasiewicz was back in court Thursday seeking a new trial for his client.

Alan Meinershagen went to St. Luke?s hospital in Duluth on Feb. 19, 2006, with weakness and numbness in his left arm and concerns that he had suffered a stroke. He was examined by Konasiewicz, who recommended a brain biopsy that he performed two days later.

The patient sued the neurosurgeon and St. Luke?s, with his attorney arguing that the biopsy turned a minor stroke into a major hemorrhage and left him brain-injured with impairments in thinking, speaking and walking.

A Washington County jury needed less than 3� hours to reject Meinershagen?s claim that Konasiewicz was negligent in his care and treatment. No negligence was found.

Attorney Richard Bosse of Henning, Minn., who represented Meinershagen at trial, argued that his client should get a new trial because the trial court didn?t allow him to call a medical expert to rebut the expert testimony of a defense witness and that the defense witness testified about matters beyond the scope of what he had disclosed before the trial.

Bosse called the trial ?a battle of experts? and told 6th Judicial District Judge Heather Sweetland that the trial court rulings, in essence, tied his hands behind his back.

Shawn Raiter, one of Konasiewicz?s two St. Paul attorneys, argued that his expert witness didn?t testify outside the scope of pretrial disclosure and that Bosse didn?t object at the time. He said Bosse could have asked for a more detailed disclosure from the defense expert.

The district court has broad discretion over whether to grant a new trial. Sweetland, who presided at the trial, took the motion for a new trial under advisement.

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Source: http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/210681/group/homepage/

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