HOLLIDAYSBURG — A Blair County jury found negligence in the care of a Bedford woman by two local medical providers, but limited their award of compensatory damages to $25,000 for prior pain and suffering.

The jury’s verdict, rendered Monday at the end of a medical malpractice trial with five days of testimony, concluded that the care provided by Dr. John D. Littlejohn and Nason Medical Center, through certified nurse midwife Karen Watt, fell below minimum standards.

The plaintiff, Emily Rhodes, faulted both for failing to take the necessary steps to detect developing complications after she gave birth on April 10, 2018, by Cesarean section.

While the 25-year-old woman was discharged three days later from Nason Hospital and deemed to be improving, Rhodes returned to the hospital on April 16, 2018, with shortness of breath and a stomach so swollen that she was asked about her pending delivery.

Trial testimony and court documents indicate that the civil case did not assign blame for the source of her symptoms, which was a tear to Rhodes’ bowel that led to emergency surgery and required use of a colostomy bag for about seven months.

Instead, attorney Nijole Olson of Harrisburg asked the jury to focus on what happened to Rhodes and how it continues to cause digestive issues that can interfere with her client’s life and activities.

“Everything that happened to Emily could have been avoided if the standard of care had been met,” Olson said.

Olson did not return a phone call or message left Tuesday seeking comment on her client’s behalf.

Harrisburg attorney Michael Pipa, who represented Littlejohn, and Hollidaysburg attorney John McIntyre, who represented Conemaugh Nason Medical Center and Watt, argued in their closing arguments that their clients had provided the proper care before Rhodes was discharged.

“You should not look at this case in hindsight,” McIntrye said. “You have to look at the care that was going on.”

To emphasize his point, McIntyre repeated testimony offered by a nurse who told the jury: “If I thought there was anything problematic, I wouldn’t have let (Rhodes) go home.”

Pipa also took a similar position in defense of the care that Littlejohn provided before Rhodes’ discharge.

Pipa and McIntrye also failed to return phone calls for comment on the outcome of the case filed in 2020.

Judge Jackie Bernard presided over the jury trial that began July 12 with testimony, which continued through Monday morning. The jury took about 7.5 hours to deliberate. In addition to $25,000 in compensatory damages for pain and suffering, it awarded $3,127 to Rhodes for lost earnings.