1.Eitan Negri — Direct/Cross/Redirect
259 linesBAILIFF: This court is now in session. You may be seated.
COURT CLERK: Good morning, Your Honor. May I proceed?
THE COURT: Yes, please.
COURT CLERK: Your Honor, before the court today we have the matter of Commonwealth versus Lindsay Clancy. Ms. Clancy is present. She is represented by Attorney Kevin Reddington. The Commonwealth is represented by Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Sprague and Assistant District Attorney Shanan Buckingham.
THE COURT: All right. Well, good morning, counsel.
MR. REDDINGTON: Good morning.
THE COURT: Good morning, Ms. Clancy.
MS. CLANCY: Good morning, Your Honor.
THE COURT: All right. Before we bring the jury in, could I speak to counsel just for a couple of minutes?
BAILIFF: Order. All rise. Jury is entering.
BAILIFF: Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye. All persons having anything to do before the Honorable William Sullivan, Justice of the Plymouth Superior Court, now sitting at Plymouth within for the Commonwealth. God in the attendance and you shall be heard. God save the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. This court is now in session. Please be seated.
COURT CLERK: Good morning, Your Honor. May I proceed?
THE COURT: Yes, please.
COURT CLERK: Your Honor, before the court today we have the continuation of the jury trial in the matter of Commonwealth versus Lindsay Clancy. Ms. Clancy is present. She is represented by Attorney Kevin Reddington. The Commonwealth is represented by Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Sprague and Assistant District Attorney Shanan Buckingham.
THE COURT: All right. Well, good morning again.
JURORS: Good morning.
THE COURT: Nice to see everyone. Thank you for being here. What I'm gonna do is I'm gonna ask you those questions again, and then go over the schedule. If we get—we are not, or you are not, sitting this afternoon, okay? And that's not gonna change, so you can count on that. So let me ask you the—at this point, has any member of the jury read, seen, or heard or overheard anything from any source about any aspect of this case that would affect your ability to be fair and impartial as a juror?
JURORS: No.
THE COURT: All right. Next. Is there any other serious matter or concern bearing on your service as a juror in this case that anybody needs to bring to my attention? Great. Thank you again for following those instructions. And what we're gonna do is we're gonna return to the Commonwealth's case. And like I said, we are not gonna be—you're not gonna be sitting this afternoon. The plan, and I'll double-check when we get to that point, would be to return tomorrow at nine o'clock. And pretty much, relatively full day tomorrow, and probably Friday as well, but I'll double-check as we go through that. All right? And I'll let you know as soon as I can if there's any changes to that schedule. So with that, I'm gonna ask the Commonwealth to call their next witness. Commonwealth?
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Thank you. The Commonwealth calls Eitan Negri.
BAILIFF: Good morning, sir. You can stop right here. Raise your right hand for the clerk.
COURT CLERK: Good morning. Do you solemnly swear that the testimony and the evidence you shall give to the court and the jury in the matter now pending between the Commonwealth and the defendant at the bar shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
EITAN NEGRI: I do.
COURT CLERK: Thank you. You may have a seat.
BAILIFF: This way. Watch your step, please.
THE COURT: All right. Good morning, sir.
EITAN NEGRI: Good morning, sir.
THE COURT: All right. I just ask you to speak into that microphone.
EITAN NEGRI: Sure.
THE COURT: All right. All right. Attorney Buckingham, please.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Thank you. Good morning, sir.
EITAN NEGRI: Good morning.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Could you please tell the jurors your first and last name?
EITAN NEGRI: My first name is Eitan, last name is Negri.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Can you spell your first name for the record?
EITAN NEGRI: E-I-T-A-N.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And your last name?
EITAN NEGRI: N-E-G-R-I.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And what do you do for work?
EITAN NEGRI: I'm a physician associate, physician assistant.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And did you go to school for that?
EITAN NEGRI: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Can you tell us about your educational background?
EITAN NEGRI: I did my undergraduate at City College in New York, and I did a post-bac at Brooklyn College, followed by a PA program at Touro University in Manhattan.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And do you currently work as a physician's assistant?
EITAN NEGRI: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And do you currently work in the state of Massachusetts?
EITAN NEGRI: No, ma'am.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Are you licensed in the state of Massachusetts?
EITAN NEGRI: Yes, ma'am.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Are you licensed in any other states?
EITAN NEGRI: New York State.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: I'm gonna go back to January of 2023. Were you working in Massachusetts then?
EITAN NEGRI: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And where were you working?
EITAN NEGRI: Brigham and Women's Hospital.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And were you in that same role as a physician's assistant?
EITAN NEGRI: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And what were you doing? What were your general duties in that role working at Brigham and Women's?
EITAN NEGRI: Generally, you assess a patient, you diagnose, you formulate a plan with an attending physician, and you execute that plan throughout the day. It encompasses various things.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Were you working in any particular department at Brigham and Women's back in January of 2023?
EITAN NEGRI: The trauma burn surgical ICU.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Now I'm gonna draw your attention to a particular patient that came into the Brigham and Women's Hospital on January 24th of 2023. That patient was Lindsay Clancy. Do you recall encountering this patient on January 25th of 2023?
EITAN NEGRI: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And what did you do as it pertained to the care and treatment of this patient?
EITAN NEGRI: I received the information from the shift before me, formulated a plan, examined her, assessed her, staffed that plan with the attending physician, and executed that plan throughout the day.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And fair to say this particular patient had injuries that you were directed to observe, review, form that plan on?
EITAN NEGRI: Correct.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: What were the injuries?
EITAN NEGRI: She had multiple injuries. The most acute were injuries that were requiring consultation with other services. And the ones that I directly managed were the lacerations to her wrists and her—just her wrists, actually.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And as far as when you say she had other acute injuries, you were not involved in the care of her for those, correct?
EITAN NEGRI: I was involved in the care. That involved consulting other services to manage those things, yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Okay. And as far as any sort of repair work that you were doing as a physician's assistant working with the trauma surgeons, what repair work were you assigned to do?
EITAN NEGRI: Laceration repair.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And on this particular patient, where were the injuries or lacerations that you were going to repair?
EITAN NEGRI: She had multiple lacerations on both of her wrists. She had superficial on her neck, which I did not repair.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Okay. And as it pertained to the wrists, did you go through that process of observing, reviewing, coming up with a plan, and then repairing those injuries?
EITAN NEGRI: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And were you directed to do that by any particular doctor?
EITAN NEGRI: Not necessarily directed. A lot of those things fall within my scope. And since they were less acute, they kind of fell down the chain to me.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Okay. And you're aware that she was being seen and treated by a host of other doctors—nurses, an entire team?
EITAN NEGRI: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: As it pertains to the wrist injuries, what did you do to examine those areas?
EITAN NEGRI: The first thing I do is assess the location. Then I assess the severity, whether it requires intervention by someone other than myself. In this instance, it did not. So then I proceed with just kind of protocol, laceration repair.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Where—when would it be a situation where you'd need somebody else to intervene?
EITAN NEGRI: If it required surgical intervention or suture and repair beyond my skill set. In this instance, it did not.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Okay. And so, referring to these particular injuries, when you observed them, did you observe any areas of active bleeding?
EITAN NEGRI: No.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And fair to say they had been treated by nurses and other staff prior to you encountering these injuries, correct?
EITAN NEGRI: Yes. They were dressed and covered before I got there.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Now when you assessed them, you noted that they were bilateral, correct?
EITAN NEGRI: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: What does that mean?
EITAN NEGRI: It means on both sides of the body, so both wrists.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Okay. And so referring to the right wrist, what were your observations of the injuries to the right wrist?
EITAN NEGRI: The right wrist, as far as my reference to the note, is that she had a few lacerations, one of which was severe and deep enough to require repair.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And fair to say that that right wrist injury was the one that you repaired was three centimeters deep?
EITAN NEGRI: Approximately. If that's what my note says, then that's what it was.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Okay. And on a wrist or this area of the wrist where you observed the injuries, that depth of three centimeters, did that require further surgical intervention, or were you able to suture that area?
EITAN NEGRI: I was able to suture that area. As far as what happened subsequent to that, I wasn't there, so I'm not sure.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Okay. And how many sutures did you use to repair that injury?
EITAN NEGRI: I believe three.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And in relation to any other cuts or lacerations that were on that right wrist, did any other of those lacerations require suturing?
EITAN NEGRI: No.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: How did you treat those other injuries?
EITAN NEGRI: Just irrigation, meaning cleaning them out and then using a type of tape to close them shut.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And that's generally referred to as a Steri-Strip, correct?
EITAN NEGRI: Correct.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Okay. May I approach the witness?
THE COURT: You may.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: I'm showing you two photographs.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Do those photographs depict the repairs or the sutures that you did on the right wrist of Lindsay Clancy?
EITAN NEGRI: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: I move to admit these as the next two exhibits.
THE COURT: All right. Those may be admitted.
COURT REPORTER: Exhibit 201 and 202.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: I'm just gonna show on the screen what's now been marked as exhibit 201, and you should be able to see it, sir, on the screen in front of you. Can you see that?
EITAN NEGRI: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Okay. And so this is the right wrist, correct?
EITAN NEGRI: Correct.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And those black lines in the middle of the photograph, are those the sutures that you did?
EITAN NEGRI: Correct.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And just showing you 202, exhibit 202. These white strips that are all around the injury, are those the Steri-Strips?
EITAN NEGRI: Correct.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Now, on the left wrist, do you recall what you observed to be the injuries on that wrist?
EITAN NEGRI: I believe there was a similar laceration, just shorter in length, that required fewer sutures.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Okay. And fair to say, if your notes reflect that the left wrist had a one... had one, meaning just a singular two centimeter deep linear cut, that that would have been what your observations were of the injury that you repaired?
EITAN NEGRI: Correct.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And how many sutures did that injury require?
EITAN NEGRI: One suture.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And were there other areas that you observed that had some sort of laceration?
EITAN NEGRI: I believe similarly just superficial ones that needed Steri-Strips.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And again, in treating this particular injury, when you came upon it, was there active bleeding or any concern that you needed more intervention other than a suture?
EITAN NEGRI: At that time, no.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: I'm gonna show you two more photos.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Are those familiar to you?
EITAN NEGRI: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And are those the suture that you did on the left wrist of Lindsay Clancy?
EITAN NEGRI: Yes, ma'am.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: I move to admit these as the next two exhibits.
THE COURT: All right. That may be admitted, or they may be admitted.
COURT REPORTER: Exhibit 203 and 204.
THE COURT: Thank you.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And now again, just showing what's been now marked as exhibit 203. And you see the injury there in—on the wrist near the ruler in the photograph?
EITAN NEGRI: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And exhibit 204, which is just a closer up shot of that. Is that correct?
EITAN NEGRI: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And again, you see the white strips. Those are also Steri-Strips that were applied?
EITAN NEGRI: Correct.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Now, in relation to any of these wounds on the right or the left wrist, did you observe the lacerations to go any deeper than the subcutaneous tissue?
EITAN NEGRI: On my observation, no.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Okay. And when we talk subcutaneous tissue, we're talking about that fatty tissue on your—underneath your skin, correct?
EITAN NEGRI: Correct.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And did you have to return at any point, to your knowledge, to readdress these issues or do any further laceration repair as it pertained to this patient?
EITAN NEGRI: On that shift, no.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Do you recall if you did on any other shift?
EITAN NEGRI: No.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: I have no further questions. Thank you.
THE COURT: All right. Mr. Reddington.
MR. REDDINGTON: Is it Mr. Negri?
EITAN NEGRI: Negri. Yes, sir.
MR. REDDINGTON: And you're not a doctor. You're a physician assistant, is that what it is?
EITAN NEGRI: That's correct. Yes.
MR. REDDINGTON: Okay. And how long had you worked for Brigham and Women's prior to seeing Lindsay Clancy that... on January 24, '23?
EITAN NEGRI: I believe I was in my second year of employment with Brigham and Women's.
MR. REDDINGTON: Okay. And you gotta keep your voice up 'cause the people back here have to be able to hear you, too. Okay?
EITAN NEGRI: I believe I was in my second year of employment at Brigham and Women's.
MR. REDDINGTON: Thank you. You're not suggesting for one minute that after you did your butterfly stitches, Lindsay could have got up and walked out the door of the hospital, right?
EITAN NEGRI: No, sir.
MR. REDDINGTON: And would you agree with me that, in fact, she was critically ill when you saw her, right?
EITAN NEGRI: Yes, sir.
MR. REDDINGTON: And she certainly wasn't critically ill from COVID or a flu or something like that, right?
EITAN NEGRI: No, not to my knowledge.
MR. REDDINGTON: You know that there are notes that are prepared for the records from the hospital. For example, on January 24, 2023, hospital admission form is filled out. Do you know a Dr. Jeffrey Andrew Anderson?
EITAN NEGRI: Yes.
MR. REDDINGTON: And he was... What was his position that night?
EITAN NEGRI: He was one of the trauma surgeons and also one of the intensivists, the attending physicians in the ICU.
MR. REDDINGTON: All right. And you've had a chance to review a number of records and photographs with the DAs, I imagine, right?
EITAN NEGRI: I've reviewed my own procedure note.
MR. REDDINGTON: Okay. So what does that mean?
EITAN NEGRI: It means I reviewed the note that I wrote myself regarding the laceration repairs.
MR. REDDINGTON: Okay. Is that the note that indicates that it appears as though that, for example, on the right upper extremity, there's a three and a half centimeter deep laceration on the volar aspect of the wrist?
EITAN NEGRI: I don't believe that I commented saying volar specifically. So I don't know if that's in regards to my note, but I believe my note did say about three centimeters deep, yes.
MR. REDDINGTON: Okay. So do you recall indicating in your note that it was superficial laceration, or did you indicate that it was a deep laceration?
EITAN NEGRI: I indicated that some of them were superficial, and the one that I repaired in particular was three centimeters deep.
MR. REDDINGTON: And you've had occasion to speak to the prosecutors on this case, and they've asked you about the superficial, superficial, superficial injury to her wrist, right?
EITAN NEGRI: Correct.
MR. REDDINGTON: In addition to the—as indicated on page 75 of the Brigham and Women's Hospital record that I have, and we can fix that with other records if it doesn't coincide. There's a note from Dr. Anderson that the right upper extremity, 3.5 centimeter deep laceration, volar aspect of the wrist. Left upper extremity, two centimeter deep laceration on the volar aspect of the wrist. Do you agree with that assessment?
EITAN NEGRI: Yes, sir.
MR. REDDINGTON: All right. And then you were able to, as you say, clean it up with saline or whatever, and then you stitched up what you had to stitch up, right?
EITAN NEGRI: Yes, sir.
MR. REDDINGTON: Did you have anything to do with the massive transfusion that she had?
EITAN NEGRI: No, sir.
MR. REDDINGTON: Do you have anything to do with the treatment of the transected spine that she had, the shattered spine?
EITAN NEGRI: No, sir.
MR. REDDINGTON: Do you have anything whatsoever to do with the insertion of tubes on both sides of her body and the draining of the blood that had pooled in her middle cavity?
EITAN NEGRI: Just the management of those tubes after, but not the placement.
MR. REDDINGTON: Okay. So you were there while that was done?
EITAN NEGRI: I was there managing once they had been placed, but I was not there for the placement, no.
MR. REDDINGTON: Okay. But you knew that they were in there—
EITAN NEGRI: Correct.
MR. REDDINGTON: …and that they were draining the blood.
EITAN NEGRI: Yes.
MR. REDDINGTON: Okay. And do you know where the blood came from that was in her middle extremity?
EITAN NEGRI: I don't know specifically. I'd have to refer back to the imaging reports.
MR. REDDINGTON: In any event, you know that shortly thereafter she coded, right?
EITAN NEGRI: Yes.
MR. REDDINGTON: Were you there for that?
EITAN NEGRI: No, sir.
MR. REDDINGTON: And basically, that means that the patient has, in effect, died from cardiac arrest, right?
EITAN NEGRI: Not necessarily died, but their heart has stopped beating for that portion of time, yes.
MR. REDDINGTON: And then there's the crash teams, and everybody hopefully revives the person, right?
EITAN NEGRI: Correct.
MR. REDDINGTON: And you guys did that, or they did, and it was successful reviving her, correct?
EITAN NEGRI: Right.
MR. REDDINGTON: So without going through everything, you'd agree with me, sir, that your observations would be of the wrist, the repair, and the in, taking care of the tubes after they were inserted into both sides of her chest?
EITAN NEGRI: That's correct.
MR. REDDINGTON: And that was your involvement extended, correct? You're all done after that.
EITAN NEGRI: I was involved in the ongoing management of her care throughout the day, but just as you stated, not the things that you asked me about.
MR. REDDINGTON: Okay. Thank you, sir.
EITAN NEGRI: Sure.
MR. REDDINGTON: I'd offer these.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: They're part of the record, and they were admitted.
MR. REDDINGTON: Yeah, I'd like a better look at this, though.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: I would object, if we could approach.
MR. REDDINGTON: I don't wanna have a jury having to go through 10-
THE COURT: Well, I know that. Let's... Why don't—mark them for identification, and then we can address that.
MR. REDDINGTON: Thank you, sir.
THE COURT: Okay.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: I may just have a few questions.
THE COURT: Sure.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Thank you. Mr. Negri, I'm just gonna approach and show you—
THE COURT: Hold on one second. Is that my-
COURT REPORTER: Exhibit L for identification.
THE COURT: Yeah. Thank you. All right, thank you.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Gonna show you a page from the records that's labeled Brigham and Women's, page 76. Can you just... You can hold it if that helps.
MR. REDDINGTON: Specifically this highlighted area?
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Yeah. I would direct your attention to the bottom paragraph where it says exam.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: That's not your notes from the record, correct?
EITAN NEGRI: Correct.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And when it's noted that the right upper extremity, left upper extremity has three and a half centimeter deep laceration, two centimeter deep laceration, deep in the medical notes is not a adjective of it, correct? It's more of a directionality of the injury.
EITAN NEGRI: It's a description of, yeah, basically an objective unit of measure.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Okay. But when we say deep, it means that it goes down into the skin as opposed to across the skin.
MR. REDDINGTON: It doesn't matter what we say. It's what the records say.
THE COURT: All right. I understand. Go ahead. Just if you could ask that question again.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: As far as your assessment of injuries, deep goes down in the skin as opposed to across the skin?
EITAN NEGRI: Correct.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Okay. And...
MS. BUCKINGHAM: As far as Dr. Anderson goes, you knew that him to be one of the attendings and a trauma surgeon in this case. Were you aware that on January 24th he had examined these injuries and indicated they did not require repair at that time?
EITAN NEGRI: I don't recall specifically. I'm sorry.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: But you came in to repair these at, on January 25th?
EITAN NEGRI: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Okay. Thank you.
EITAN NEGRI: Sure.
THE COURT: Is there anything, anything on that?
MR. REDDINGTON: No, thank you, Judge.
THE COURT: All right. Thank you, sir.
EITAN NEGRI: You're welcome.
THE COURT: Thank you. You're all set. Attorney Buckingham, please.