CANTON — A six-person St. Lawrence County Court jury took 45 minutes Friday to decide an Ogdensburg doctor did not cause a stillbirth in 2005.

In a 2008 lawsuit, Jennifer and Ernest Demers accused Dr. Gordon Heiss of not properly monitoring Jennifer’s condition during her pregnancy in 2005. Ms. Demers’s child died at birth Oct. 24, 2005.

“Don’t compound the tragedy by blaming Dr. Heiss,” Catherine A. Hale, the doctor’s attorney, said in closing arguments.

The couple’s attorney, Stephen A. Vanier, argued it wasn’t whether Dr. Heiss is a good doctor but whether he made a mistake.

Thousands of readers like you have made Northern New York Newspapers the number one ranked website* for local news and sports coverage in the north country.

You can continue on to this article in a few seconds, or you can visit one of our websites:

• Watertown Daily Times
• The Ogdensburg Journal
• Daily Courier-Observer