Kelsey's dad plans appeal

SHAWNEE — A judge Friday threw out a malpractice lawsuit against two doctors who treated Kelsey Smith-Briggs months before the girl's death, saying the legal action appeared to be based on garnering sympathy and not on the law.

Pottawatomie County District Judge Douglas Combs ruled the civil lawsuit filed by Kelsey's father, Lance Briggs of Shawnee, had no legal standing.

At a hearing Friday, he ruled in favor of the defendants' request for a summery judgment, dismissing the case against Dr. Kelli Koons, Dr. Andrea Barrett and the Shawnee Medical Center Clinic.

Combs was critical of Briggs' attorneys for beginning a 15-page response to the action with "Kelsey is dead.” That statement and other arguments in the court document appear to be an attempt to play on sympathies, Combs said.

Derek Burch, attorney for Briggs, said he will appeal the decision.

The lawsuit was filed June 2006, claiming Koons and Barrett contributed to his Kelsey's death Oct. 11, 2005, by failing to recognize and report she was being abused.

Kelsey's stepfather, Michael Lee Porter, and her mother, Raye Dawn Smith, are serving lengthy prison sentences for failing to protect her from abuse.

Each claims the other is responsible for the injuries that caused the 2-year-old girl's death.

Koons was Kelsey's pediatrician. Barrett began treating Kelsey in April 2005 for leg fractures.

Both practiced medicine at the Shawnee Medical Center Clinic when Kelsey was under their care.

Combs said allegations that the physicians failed to report the abuse is unsubstantiated because child welfare workers already were monitoring her for abuse.

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