A jury took only 20 minutes Monday to determine that Casper obstetrician Hugh DePaolo, M.D., was not liable for damages in a medical malpractice lawsuit.

The family of Julie Barnish sued DePaolo for his alleged failure to diagnose a tumor that eventually killed her April 12, according to court documents.

The case before 7th District Court Judge David Park began Sept. 29, and attorneys gave their closing arguments Monday.

DePaolo's attorney Hank Combs declined to comment on the case.

The Barnish family attorney, Robert Tiedeken, also declined to comment.

The complaint filed by Patrick Barnish, Julie's husband, stated that she had been a patient of DePaolo's since 1983.

In August 1999, Barnish saw DePaolo and told him she had been feeling ill, had irregular periods and developed hair on her body.

DePaolo ordered hormone testing and diagnosed a hormonal imbalance, according to the complaint.

Later that month, he diagnosed her with polycystic ovary disease but did so without proper evidence and did not examine her properly or order the right tests to determine what was really wrong with her, according to the complaint.

In December 2001, Barnish went to a urologist and had an abdominal ultrasound, which detected masses in her right adrenal gland and liver. She was diagnosed with adrenal carcinoma, which had metastasized to her lungs. By this point the standard surgery for this tumor was not an option, according to the complaint.

However, Combs responded earlier this year in court documents that DePaolo's care met all applicable standards of care and that he performed appropriate testing.

In his opening statement last week, Combs told the court that Julie Barnish received a second opinion from a specialist in Fort Collins, Colo., who diagnosed and treated her the same way, according to the transcript of Comb's testimony.

"And, you know, it's unfortunate. And we feel sorry for the family that it happened. And we wish Dr. DePaolo had the fortuitous opportunity to make a diagnosis of this, but what Dr. DePaolo did was not medical malpractice," according to the transcript of Combs' opening statement.