Benjamin Pimentel, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, November 21, 2003
URL: sfgate.com/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/11/21/BUGVV378AG1.DTL
Capping a week of bruising testimony against IBM, an attorney for Big Blue tried Thursday to discredit the claim of a former company nurse that the corporation ordered its medical staff never to link workers' ailments to chemicals used in manufacturing.
Audrey Crouch, a former IBM occupational nurse, had said that the company had an unwritten policy to blame symptoms reported by employees on non-work- related factors such as allergies or drinking alcohol.
As she began her cross-examination, IBM attorney Mary Ellen Powers immediately tried to suggest that Crouch had made up the story.
"Did you go over your story with plaintiffs' counsel?" she asked.
That prompted an objection from lawyer Richard Alexander, who represents ex-IBM workers Alida Hernandez and Jim Moore, who accuse the company of negligently exposing them to dangerous chemicals.
Santa Clara Superior Court Judge Robert Baines sustained the objection.
In a line of questioning that sometimes became tense, Powers pressed Crouch on how much she actually knew about the way IBM handled worker health complaints.
Powers apparently wanted to show the jury that despite Crouch's claim that IBM ignored the possible effects chemicals had on workers, the ex-nurse's knowledge of what IBM doctors did in reaction to worker health complaints was limited.
For example, Crouch admitted that if an IBM doctor had referred a worker's medical record to an outside specialist, she would not necessarily have known about it.
But she reaffirmed her earlier testimony that the IBM medical staff was told essentially to ignore any possible link between workers' health problems and their work at the company.
Powers appeared at times to become exasperated, saying repeatedly, "I'm a little confused here."
Earlier, Crouch had explained why she left IBM's medical department.
"I went into nursing to help people, to take care of them,'' she said. "I was pretty frustrated."
The trial continues Monday.
E-mail Benjamin Pimentel at bpimentel@sfchronicle.com.
©2003 San Francisco Chronicle
