Economist Estimates Damages In Glicklich Trial at $370,000

An economist testifying for Gena Glicklich, the terminally ill cancer patient who has taken two University Health Services (UHS) physicians to court for negligence, said yesterday that Glicklich could have been able to earn between $355,600 and $372,600 with normal life expectancy.

Richard Weckstein was one of several witnesses called at the Middlesex Superior Court trial to determine the monetary value of the damage to the plaintiff. Her attorney says the doctors' improper treatment of a cancerous lump reduced her expected lifetime earnings.

Doctors say the tumor is now inoperable and they expect Glicklich to survive only nine months.

Weckstein based his estimates on the expected earnings of a public school teacher, the occupation Glicklich planned to follow.

Arthur S. Bolster, professor of Education and Glicklich's academic adviser, testified yesterday on her competence as a teacher. "I would have, and I did when grading, judged her skill and ability somewhat above the average of master's candidates at Harvard," he said.

"I judged her to be professionally competent," Virginia Seavey, one of two teachers called who have worked with Glicklich, said yesterday.

The first witness called yesterday was Dr. Guy Robbins, former head of the Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Under cross-examination by defense attorneys, he maintained that Glicklich's doctors did not follow "standard medical practice" when they failed to recommend a biopsy.

Glicklich's attorney, Clyde Bergstresser, is expected to present his last witness today, Judge Morse told the jurors. The defense will then begin calling its witnesses.