A forensic economist set the worth of Paula Parker's life at between $586,000 and $729,000 as testimony in a medical malpractice case continued for a second day Wednesday in Mercer County Court of Common Pleas.

In 1994, 35-year-old Mrs. Parker died in the hospital of Sharon Regional Health System of a blood clot in her lung, caused by complications from the Caesarean-section birth of her son three weeks earlier at Washington Hospital in Washington County.

Jurors in Judge Michael Wherry's courtroom are hearing testimony this week in the case against four Washington County doctors who treated Mrs. Parker. The case is being heard in Mercer County because Mrs. Parker, a 1976 graduate of Hickory High School in Hermitage, died here, and Sharon Regional's Home Health Agency was originally named as a defendant in the suit.

Dr. James Kenkel, an economics professor at the University of Pittsburgh who has been a consultant for the federal government and major national companies, took the stand Wednesday as an expert witness.

Kenkel said several factors are taken into account when determining the worth of someone's life.

"We take into consideration the person's education history, employment history and income history," which he said effectively turns a person into an economic machine.

Other factors that are added into the estimate, he said, are retirement and medical benefits and household services a person would perform, such as home maintenance and child care.

"If a person dies suddenly, the family, in this case the newborn child, suffers," he said. "After the parent is gone, someone else must perform those duties."

Kenkel said he figured Mrs. Parker would work until she was at least 62 or at most until she was 66. Mrs. Parker worked at a grocery store, earning $6.05 per hour at the time of her death and was expected to get a raise two months later, he said. About 45 percent of Mrs. Parker's earnings are subtracted from her personal income, accounting for expenses that she would have incurred if she had lived -- food, shelter, clothing, medical expenses and reasonable entertainment expenses.

It is generally accepted that women perform four to six hours of household services each day, and Kenkel pegged the value of that work at $5.15 per hour at the low end and $8 per hour as a "reasonable" average.

The suit was filed by the administrators of Mrs. Parker's estate, Margaret and Ronald Tonnessen. The Tonnessens -- who filed the suit on behalf of Mrs. Parker's children -- are seeking compensation for medical and funeral expenses plus unspecified damages.

Visiting nurses from Sharon Regional were also named in the lawsuit but settled the case Monday, according to court documents filed Wednesday.

Testimony is expected to continue today. The trial is expected to go into next week.

You can e-mail Herald Staff Writer Amanda Smith-Teutsch at: ateutsch@sharonherald.com