Doctor: Shoemaker Moved Slightly Once

Dr. Celedonio Fernando, a neurosurgeon from Glendora Community Hospital, testified Wednesday that one of Bill Shoemaker’s fingers moved slightly about five hours after his accident.

Fernando, one of seven doctors who are defendants in Shoemaker’s $50-million malpractice lawsuit, also said in Los Angeles County Superior Court that he thought the first diagnostic X-rays of Shoemaker were inadequate.

After looking at the X-rays, Fernando said that he requested more X-rays at 1 a.m. on April 9, 1991. Five hours before, Shoemaker’s Ford Bronco II, in a multiple-rollover, single-car accident, went down a steep embankment off Route 30 in San Dimas. The Hall of Fame jockey now has no movement in most of his body and is considered a quadriplegic. Shoemaker’s attorneys say that he may have been a paraplegic after the accident, but negligence at the hospital led to greater paralysis.

The Glendora hospital is also a defendant in the jury trial, which began on Feb. 24 and is expected to last several more weeks.

Fernando, 73, said that he was called at his nearby home and arrived at the hospital at 12:30 p.m. He said that he pinched Shoemaker and pricked him with a pin, but got no response. After Shoemaker was asked to squeeze the doctor’s hand, Fernando said that the patient’s right index finger twitched or wiggled. Fernando said that the movement, which wasn’t repeated, may have been a reflex reaction.

Shoemaker had undergone stomach surgery before Fernando arrived. Fernando testified that the first spinal X-rays he saw didn’t include the bottom two of the seven vertebrae on the spinal column. Fernando said that the next-to-last vertebra would have controlled the movement of Shoemaker’s right index finger.

Fernando, called as a witness by Shoemaker and questioned by the plaintiff’s attorney, Neil Papiano, said that the early X-rays were unclear. He testified that there were no injuries to the first five cervical vertebrae and that later X-rays, which he saw at 4:10 a.m., showed a severe dislocation between the sixth and seventh vertebrae.

Under cross-examination by defense attorneys, Fernando said that he was satisfied with the spinal precautions the hospital took.