The Karen Read murder trial will resume Tuesday after the long holiday weekend, and it will be the only day this week that court is scheduled to be in session in the case.
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ER doctor who treated John O'Keefe testifies
After O'Keefe's niece and nephew concluded their testimony, Dr. Justin Rice, an emergency medicine physician at South Shore Health took the stand. He previously worked at Good Samaritan Hospital in Brockton for over a decade.
Rice treated O'Keefe when he was brought to Good Samaritan Hospital on Jan. 29, 2022, after he was found in the snow outside of the Albert home on Fairview Road.
"He was unresponsive and intubated, as in, with a breathing tube into his airway via his mouth," Rice said, describing O'Keefe's condition when he arrived at the hospital's emergency room. "He would have had CPR in progress, and also someone would have been ventilating his lungs..."
Rice said O'Keefe arrived in cardiac arrest, meaning his heart was not pumping blood and had no electrical activity of its own. He said his initial body temperature was low, about 80 degrees, which is consistent with hypothermia.
He said O'Keefe's time of death was 7:50 a.m.
Rice also said O'Keefe had abrasions or scratches on his right forearm.
The emergency room doctor said he also treated Read later that same morning.
She arrived at the hospital around 7:51 a.m. for a Section 12, an involuntary hospitalization for a mental health concern.
On cross-examination from defense attorney Elizabeth Little, Rice said he didn't recall treating Read or ordering her bloodwork.
He was asked if a firefighter ever approached him on Jan. 29, 2022, with information indicating that O'Keefe had been struck by a motor vehicle. Rice said he did not recall anyone telling him directly that the victim had been involved in a car accident.
"I think that on my note it says per EMS report, so one of the medics, as in one of the folks on the ambulance that brought Mr. O'Keefe in, as I recall it said something to the effect of 'Per EMS report, the patient may have been struck by a vehicle.'"
Little then showed Rice the report, which did not include any reference to the fact that O'Keefe might have been struck by a motor vehicle.
"In fact, there is no mention of a vehicle whatsoever, correct?" Little asked.
"That's correct," Rice replied.
Asked if he observed O'Keefe's injuries when he arrived at the hospital, Rice said he did observe scratches and abrasions on his right arm and a laceration above his eyelid. He had no injuries to his shoulders, chest, torso, back, ribs, hips, knees, shins, ankles or feet.
"From the neck down he did not have a single broken bone, right? You certainly didn't notate in your report that he had any broken bones, correct?" Little asked
"No, I did not," Rice replied.
But Rice said his focus at the time was in trying to revive O'Keefe, and not on every single detail of his injuries.
Court adjourned for lunch around 12:50 p.m. and is scheduled to resume at 1:30 p.m. Testimony is expected to continue until 4:30 p.m.
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