Commonwealth v. Read — Trial ArchiveGary Faller
Testimony Impact
Dr. Gary Faller, a board-certified pathologist and chief pathologist at Good Samaritan Medical Center, testified in both trials about the hospital's blood alcohol testing procedures and Karen Read's serum blood alcohol result of 93 mg/dL drawn on January 29, 2022. His testimony established the clinical result as a reliable product of accredited laboratory protocols while also acknowledging the fundamental distinction between hospital serum testing and the forensic whole-blood analysis used in legal proceedings. He testified across four proceedings in Trial 1 and three in Trial 2, covering the same core evidence each time.
Challenges & Responses
What attorneys challenged during examination and how the witness responded.
Defense attorney Elizabeth Little challenged Faller in both trials on the methodological gap between clinical and forensic testing — specifically that CAP accreditation is clinical rather than forensic, that the hospital has never been evaluated for forensic standards such as ANAB, and that the test measures NADH as a proxy rather than ethanol directly. Faller acknowledged these distinctions but maintained that the laboratory's protocols and quality controls produced a reliable result.
Trial 1 vs Trial 2
Trial 2 featured a more developed redirect examination in which ADA Lally elicited additional technical detail not covered in Trial 1 — including serum-to-whole-blood conversion factors, a European study of MS patients showing lactic acid levels too low to produce false positives, and direct comparison of Good Samaritan's CAP proficiency testing results against forensic laboratory benchmarks. The cross-examination in Trial 2 also placed greater emphasis on the hospital's lack of forensic accreditation (ANAB) as distinct from its clinical CAP accreditation, sharpening the defense's argument that the result cannot be treated as equivalent to a forensic blood alcohol measurement.
Notable Quotes From The Record
“We have specifically in our policy never to use an alcohol swab when an alcohol test is ordered.”
Establishes protocol safeguards against contamination, bolstering the reliability of the test result.
“It is reported at 93 mg per deciliter.”
The central factual finding — Karen Read's blood alcohol level at Good Samaritan on the morning of January 29, 2022.
“Since alcohol tends to go to the watery components, if you measure alcohol — like we do in hospitals — on the serum or plasma, the value that we get will always be a little bit higher than measuring on whole blood.”
Establishes that the hospital result overstates BAC relative to the whole-blood standard used in legal contexts.
“We don't make any conversions in a hospital; we're not in that business to do that. We just report on the serum percentage and/or the plasma level.”
Limits the witness's testimony — he cannot provide a legal-standard BAC, only the clinical result.
“there are some factors that can lead to falsely elevated or falsely lowered serum alcohol. One is lactic acid or LDH, and one is Waldenström's macroglobulinemia”
Faller identifies policy-listed factors that can produce false serum-alcohol readings, while explaining that the machines flag several possible interferences; he does not link any interference to this test result.
“No, we don't. We don't.”
Faller concedes hospitals do not calculate BAC, reinforcing that the 93 mg/dL result from direct examination is not a legal blood alcohol concentration.
“But there are forensic lab people that can provide that formula.”
Faller defers BAC conversion to forensic experts, implicitly acknowledging the hospital result alone cannot establish a legally meaningful blood alcohol level.
“I didn't see anything. No.”
Unequivocal confirmation that no interferences were present in Read's blood alcohol test.
“If there were the three major things that could interfere with the result — like high lipids, hemolysis, or high bilirubin — our machine would flag that and we would have some information that our result may not be valid. And sometimes we will report a result with a disclaimer, or sometimes if those levels are so high we won't report it at all. But in this case there were no flags.”
Directly addresses cross-examination concerns about interference by explaining the machine's built-in safeguards and confirming none were triggered for Read's sample.
“One of the major things we need to do when taking somebody's blood for alcohol is to obviously not use an alcohol swab.”
Preemptively addresses potential defense challenge about contamination of the blood sample
“Also, in the emergency room, my supervisor pretty much removed probably 95% of all the alcohol swabs.”
Shows the hospital took systemic precautions against false positives in alcohol testing
“So when it was ordered, it was 9:03 in the morning.”
States the recorded time the blood test was ordered: 9:03 a.m.
“93 milligrams per deciliter.”
The reported hospital blood alcohol result.
“We've never had the forensic accreditation, but we have very good quality lab results, which I could go into further.”
Concedes the lab lacks forensic accreditation while attempting to defend the quality of results.
“Correct. And that's because lactic acid or LDH actually forms NADH.”
Faller explained that, in theory, high LDH or lactic acid can form NADH in a serum or plasma test system; in his preceding qualification, he said false positives could result when LDH or lactic acid was markedly elevated.
“No, no, we don't. No.”
Admits the lab did not consider Read's anemia or multiple sclerosis when running the alcohol test.
“The conversion factor is anywhere from 1.1 to 1.18 — it could be 18% or 11% higher in serum versus whole blood — but we don't do it.”
Faller described a serum-to-whole-blood conversion range under which a whole-blood equivalent would generally be lower than the serum result; he said his lab does not perform the conversion and deferred to experts.
“But the results, based on this study of 600 multiple sclerosis patients — two big centers in Italy and one in the Netherlands — show that the highest level of lactic acid in the MS patients did not achieve — didn't get close.”
Faller testified that the cited MS study's highest lactic acid level was not high enough to interfere with the result.
“And also interestingly, we can see the labs that are using headspace gas chromatography. And out of interest, we can see how we compare, and we have exactly the same results on these proficiency testings.”
Faller testified that, in the proficiency testing he described, his lab had the same results as labs using headspace gas chromatography.
Key Moments
- Faller confirmed that Karen Read's blood drawn at Good Samaritan on the morning of January 29, 2022 tested at 93 mg/dL — the central factual finding of his direct examination in both trials.
- On cross-examination, Faller agreed hospital serum testing measures NADH rather than alcohol directly and said policy recognizes factors including lactic acid or LDH and Waldenström's macroglobulinemia that can alter a serum alcohol result; he said the Roche analyzer flags certain interferences, had not read studies offered on trauma or muscle effects, and defended the methodology.
- Faller confirmed that hospital labs do not convert serum results to the whole-blood standard used in legal BAC determinations, and that doing so would require a forensic expert — establishing that his testimony alone could not yield a legally cognizable blood alcohol concentration.
- On redirect in both trials, Faller explained that the hospital's Roche Cobas analyzer automatically flags samples for high lipids, hemolysis, and high bilirubin, and that none of those flags were triggered for Read's sample, directly addressing the interference concerns raised on cross.
- In Trial 2 redirect, Faller went further than in Trial 1, addressing serum-to-whole-blood conversion factors, the finding that MS patients' lactic acid levels are typically too low to cause false positives, and Good Samaritan's CAP proficiency testing results matching those of forensic laboratories.