One physician's malpractice battle: Dr. Diakos on trial

The Illinois ob-gyn says the whole courtroom experience has prompted her to take even more detailed accounts of patient exams and surgeries.

By Tanya Albert, AMNews staff. March 22/29, 2004.

Not more than 10 feet away from the defense table where obstetrician-gynecologist Rose Diakos, MD, sits, a potential juror clad in red jogging pants walks by, steps up into the jury box and sits facing her.

A tall, thin man in khakis and a plaid button-down shirt follows, a serious look on his face. Next, a smiling woman in her mid-20s strides by in high heels. Another eight potential jurors, a cross-section of people from Chicago and its Cook County suburbs, fill the box. Two dozen more potential jurors line the three rows of plain wood benches along the back of the room, many look bored.

Dr. Diakos, though, watches them with interest.

She knows 12 citizens will decide whether she is guilty of the malpractice she's stood accused of for nearly four years. A former patient who became pregnant after a tubal ligation has claimed Dr. Diakos was negligent.

It's 1:30 p.m. on a Thursday in courtroom 2006 in Chicago's Richard J. Daley Center. It's a drab room with a wall of 1970s-style wood paneling behind the judge's bench, three beige walls with no more than a clock and the words "In God We Trust" gracing them. The carpet is gray.

"Is there anything to prevent you from awarding damages for pain and suffering if the plaintiffs prove their case?" Cook County Circuit Judge Thomas Chiola asks potential jurors. "If the plaintiffs don't prove their case, would it be difficult to not send them home with any money?"

The plaintiff and defense attorneys follow up with their questions.