An out-of-court settlement has been reached during a lawsuit against an emergency room doctor who decapitated a baby during a breech delivery in Joplin in 1997. The trial of the lawsuit had already started when the settlement was worked out. Testimony showed Doctor John Torontow was pulling on the infant while the mother pushed and when the fetus came out and fell to the floor, the head of the fetus was still inside the mother. Lawyers refuse to divulge the terms of the settlement.
