Jury selected for Weinberger medical malpractice trial

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

Justice can be slow, tedious and boring.

But democracy demands sacrifice, as more than 40 prospective jurors learned Monday in the jury selection process for the medical malpractice and wrongful death trial of former Merrillville ear, nose and throat specialist Dr. Mark Weinberger and physician assistant Joe Clinkenbeard of Valparaiso.

Selecting a civil trial jury of eight, which Lake Superior Judge Diane Kavadias Schneider said normally takes only a few hours, stretched beyond 5 p.m. More than 25 jurors were rejected by the judge or struck by plaintiff attorney Kenneth Allen or defense attorneys James Hough and Georgianne Walker.

Many of the rejected jurors were struck because they worked in healthcare, had physicians in their families or relatives who filed medical malpractice cases.

Chicago TV-news stations and “Dateline NBC” were among media outlets represented at jury selection. Some came, undoubtedly hoping that the infamous Weinberger would appear. The disgraced doctor, who still faces more than 350 civil medical malpractice cases, did not. He pleaded guilty to 22 counts of healthcare fraud and awaits an April sentencing.

Weinberger was represented by Hough, his attorney in the first medical malpractice lawsuit against him to go to trial last year. In that case, a Hammond jury rendered a $300,000 verdict for a man who claimed permanent damage from an unnecessary surgery by Weinberger.

In this trial, the alleged damages are much higher. Plaintiff Shawn Barnes, daughter of the late Phyllis Barnes, alleges that both healthcare providers failed to diagnose her mother’s lung cancer, contributing to the premature death of the 50-year-old Valparaiso woman in 2004. Weinberger also allegedly performed unnecessary surgery on Phyllis Barnes. Shawn Barnes alleges her mother incurred more than $500,000 of medical bills, lost $1 million in projected lifetime earnings and seeks millions more in punitive damages for pain, suffering and the loss of her mother.

“This trial is about whether that cancer should have been detected,” Allen said. “This case is not about sympathy.”

Opening arguments are slated to begin at 9 a.m. today. Hough conceded that jurors may hear defamatory information against Weinberger, but cautioned them to listen to the evidence and not be swayed by emotional appeals.

All three attorneys queried jurors, probing for possible biases while establishing rapport with them.