A Ruffsdale couple has included another doctor in a lawsuit that alleges their daughter was stillborn after a string of medical misjudgments.

Dr. Thomas L. Whitten, of Mt. Pleasant, was added to the list of defendants on Monday in the third complaint filed by Rose and James Thompson in the death of Jody Ann Thompson, who was determined to have died within 48 hours before her Dec. 30, 2003, delivery. There were no signs of medical defects or infections, the lawsuit states.

According to the lawsuit, Whitten saw Rose Thompson in the emergency department of Frick Hospital on Dec. 27, 2003, with complaints of abdominal cramping. After examining her and consulting with her physician, Dr. Robert K. Greene, Whitten instructed Thompson to go home but follow up with Greene, the court papers say.
 
Greene, who was named as a defendant in a previously filed complaint, was an employee of Westmoreland Regional Hospital, Greensburg, at the time addressed in the lawsuit. Four days before the emergency room visit, Thompson went to Greene with concerns that fetal movement had decreased. The lawsuit states Greene instructed her to go home but follow up with him.

"Patient discharge instructions given to Mrs. Thompson on Dec. 23, 2003, state that she was to call her physician if decreased fetal movement occurred, which is precisely the reason she came to Westmoreland Regional Hospital in the first place," the lawsuit states.

The baby was born with no signs of life during a follow-up visit with Greene on Dec. 30, 2003.

Dorothy Hufford, a spokeswoman for Excela Health, the hospital system that has since taken over both Westmoreland Regional and Frick hospitals, declined to comment on the lawsuit, citing a policy not to speak to the media about litigation.

David Hunt can be reached at dhunt@tribweb.com or 724-837-0240.