Not Guilty for Defendant Physician on Child’s Loss of Testicle
Mary Kay Scott completed at trial recently before Judge Ward in the Circuit Court of Cook County. The defendant general practitioner began treating a minor as of the age of five months. The child at birth had a non-descended testicle, which by the age of two weeks had descended on its own. Other practitioners saw the child at the age of three months and one year and also found the testicles to be within normal limits. The defendant physician continued to see the child over the next nine years and at each office visit the genital exam was within normal limits. The child was last seen by the defendant on January 16, 2003. Subsequently the child was seen by a physician on October 7, 2003, and diagnosed with an undescended testicle. A surgeon surgically removed the testicle on January 9, 2004. The defense argued the known condition of acquired ascending testicle, which occurs between 8-12 years of age and accounts for this child’s condition. In support of the defense was that the testicles were of the same size and the child had documented scrotal development, which would not occur unless the right testicle was present in the scrotum prior to discovery of the ascended testicle. Plaintiff’s post-trial motion was denied.