|
Adoption of twins denied for partner
A judge ruled Wednesday that a Hamilton woman will not be allowed to adopt the twin daughters she is raising with her partner. Because to fertility problems, the lesbian couple, who asked that their real names not be used, resorted to in vitro fertilization, having a doctor place Jo Brown's fertilized eggs into Robin Brown's uterus. Instead, Superior Court Judge Gerald Council will issue an order to the Department of Vital Statistics requiring that Jo Brown's name be placed on the children's birth certificates. "It will have the same effect but (the judge) says it was not an adoption," said their lawyer, Kimberly Gandy Jinks. Jinks said she asked the court to allow an adoption because there "was no other statute for me to cite other than the adoption statute." Although this was the first case of its kind in Mercer County, Council held a hearing immediately afterward for a second couple, also from Hamilton, with the same request.
Campaign 2007/North: Seven seek seat in Butler County Court
They all hold law degrees and promise to be fair. They all believe in creative alternative sentencing of first-time, nonviolent offenders and incarceration of career criminals. They all will apply the law as written, whether they like the law or not. The distinguishing characteristics among the seven judicial candidates for Butler County Common Pleas Court, a position that's being vacated by retiring Judge George Hancher, rest largely in their backgrounds. Mark Lope
Mark Lope, 49, of Penn, a county prosecutor, says his broad experience as a prosecutor, criminal defender and civil lawyer has prepared him to handle any kind of case that would come before him as a Common Pleas judge. He grew up in Johnstown and moved to the North Hills in the eighth grade, graduating in 1975 from Shaler High School.
Man tells of botched op ordeal
A factory worker awarded a six-figure payout for a bungled operation has told how he went from being a keen sportsman to being barely able to lift a shopping bag. Grandfather Stuart Duncan has received the compensation from the NHS after the surgeon at the Princess of Wales Hospital, Bridgend, admitted his mistake just one day later when the grandfather was rushed back to hospital after feeling unwell. The 60-year-old was immediately transferred to the hospital's intensive care unit and then taken for specialist surgery at the Bristol Royal Infirmary when it was revealed just how serious the original operation blunder had been. But as reported in yesterday's edition of the Echo, in Bristol his condition worsened and he suffered multi-organ failure caused by severe blood poisoning which needed 42 pints of blood to save his life.
| 