Steinberg Trial Hears Doctor Tell of Bruises

Steinberg Trial Hears Doctor Tell of Bruises

By RONALD SULLIVAN

LEAD: A doctor told a grim jury yesterday that Lisa Steinberg was so covered with bruises when she arrived at St. Vincent's Medical Center that she immediately suspected child abuse and ordered photographs taken of the comatose body.

A doctor told a grim jury yesterday that Lisa Steinberg was so covered with bruises when she arrived at St. Vincent's Medical Center that she immediately suspected child abuse and ordered photographs taken of the comatose body.

She said she had expected to be called as a prosecution witness in the case someday.

''I strongly suspected child abuse,'' said the doctor, Mary Marron, who was the chief pediatric resident at St. Vincent's and was in charge of Lisa's intensive care after she was admitted a year ago today.

''I was afraid I'd miss something if I was ever called to testify,'' said Dr. Marron, who is now a pediatric fellow at Presbyterian Hospital. ''That's when I decided to accurately depict her condition, and that's when I called the hospital photographer.'' 'Legal and Ethical Responsibility'

Dr. Marron, who described herself as an expert in child abuse and a physician who has handled 200 to 300 such cases, said that after examining Lisa, she ''felt a legal and ethical responsibility that her case be called in to the Bureau of Child Welfare,'' which she did.

The 6-year-old child died Nov. 5, 1987, from what the prosecutors contend was a blow to the head inflicted by Joel B. Steinberg, who is on trial in State Supreme Court in Manhattan on charges of murder in her death. The defense asserts that Lisa died after becoming sick on Nov. 1, 1987, from eating vegetables and that she stopped breathing after choking on vomit.

Dr. Marron said Lisa had at least 21 different bruises over her entire body, ranging in size from a fifth of an inch to an inch and a half and varying in color. Under questioning by Peter Casolaro, an assistant district attorney, she said a number of the bruises were on parts of her lower back, ''where it would be impossible for a child to injure herself.''

However, under cross-examination, Dr. Marron testified that when a child was admitted to a hospital in a comatose condition, ''the two biggies'' that doctors also consider are meningitis and encephalitis, and even Reye's syndrome, a rare and often fatal disorder that causes the brain to swell. Mr. Steinberg's defense lawyers contended for the second time yesterday that the effects of the syndrome were consistent with many of Lisa's symptoms. Directly Addresses Jury

Throughout her testimony, Dr. Marron addressed the jury directly. Encountering defense attempts to implicate Reye's syndrome in Lisa's death, she said Lisa's condition and the tests performed on her were ''inconsistent with a diagnosis of Reye's,'' adding that ''I'm quite sure she never had it.''

Later, outside the courtroom, Mr. Steinberg's lawyer, Ira D. London, said that ''none of Lisa's bruises were life-threatening and there was no connection between them and her death.'' He said they were the kind of bruises ''a normally active child would get.''

Nevertheless, 17 color photographs that were taken of Lisa at the hospital were entered as evidence by the prosecution and shown, one by one, to the jurors, several of whom turned their heads and recoiled slightly at the sight of the child's bruised body. Set of Identical Photos

At the defense table, Mr. Steinberg gazed intently at a set of identical photographs as he scratched his chin. At one point, the 47-year-old defendant held up a photograph of Lisa's face, causing Michelle Launders, Lisa's mother, who was seated directly behind him, to moan quietly at the sight and to brush tears from her eyes.

During yesterday's testimony and since the trial began a week ago, Mr. Steinberg, a former criminal lawyer whose license has been revoked, has taken an active role in his defense. Repeatedly, his defense lawyers consult with him before ending a line of questioning or beginning a new one.

The prosecution's main witness is scheduled to be Hedda Nussbaum, against whom murder charges were dismissed last week by the Manhattan District Attorney, Robert M. Morgenthau, on the ground that she was so severely beaten by Mr. Steinberg, her longtime companion, that she was not responsible for Lisa's death nor capable of preventing it.

Mr. London told reporters yesterday that Ms. Nussbaum would explain Lisa's bruises as resulting from a normal, active childhood.