ER doctor convicted in death

[Guest guest]

FORT WORTH - A jury Tuesday morning convicted Dr. Lydia Grotti of

criminally negligent homicide in the death of a patient at

Hospital.

The verdict came on the third day of deliberations and was the least

of three possible convictions the jury considered, the other two

being murder and manslaughter.

The punishment phase of the trial was expected to begin in the

afternoon.

Prosecutors contended that Grotti suffocated 64-year-old Lettie

McGhee in the JPS emergency room the night of Dec. 26, 2000, by using

a finger to block the patient's endotracheal tube when it appeard

that McGhee was still alive.

Grotti's attorneys argued that McGhee was dead and that Grotti only

stopped agonal respiration -- or reflex breaths that occur as the

brain stem deteriorates.