A medical secretary who watched a doctor saw a woman's toe bone without anesthesia testified Friday at the woman's psychic injury trial that the patient showed no sign of pain and even gave "the thumbs up sign."
Mindy Schlosser told a three-man, three-woman jury that she watched Dr. Sheldon Willens perform the office operation on the little toe of Penny Pellito's left foot July 18, 1985."I could hear the instrument cutting the bone and at the same time she was giving me the thumbs up sign," Schlosser said.
Schlosser said the 52-year-old Miramar woman was not given an anesthetic.
Pellito filed a personal injury suit seeking unspecified damages from Hollywood Home Depot. The 5-foot, 80-pound woman claims she lost her pain-blocking ability when she was struck on the head by three 8-foot planks at the hardware store in April 1987.
If Pellito is awarded damages, it will be the first time anyone has won damages for a psychic injury. The trial, which started Monday, is expected to last as long as two weeks.
Willens said the woman's ability to shut off pain had been "something out of this world."