Lafayette Man Ordered To Submit To Exam In BP Case

A federal appeals court in New Orleans has refused to overturn a ruling that compels a BP rig supervisor to submit to a medical exam.

Donald Vidrine, of Lafayette, La. has been ordered to undergo the exam to determine if he is fit to be questioned under oath for civil litigation resulting from the Deepwater Horizon Disaster.

A three-judge panel ruled Thursday that it doesn't have jurisdiction to review a judge's order for Vidrine to be examined by a court-appointed psychiatrist.

Representatives for Transocean Ltd. want to question Vidrine about his actions on the Doomed rig that exploded April 20th, 2010, killing 11 workers and triggering the worst oil spill in US history.

Vidrine and fellow rig supervisor Robert Kaluza were each indicted in November on manslaughter charges in connection with the deaths of 11 workers aboard the Transocean owned Deepwater Horizon drilling rig. The trial had originally been scheduled to commence later this month, but was pushed back to 2014 when prosecutors announced they plan to introduce over a million pages of documents into evidence.