John A. King, the controversial osteopathic physician who was on the staff of Putnam General Hospital between November 2002 and June 2003, will face two major legal hearings in the next month.
John A. King, the controversial osteopathic physician who was on the staff of Putnam General Hospital between November 2002 and June 2003, will face two major legal hearings in the next month.
The Alabama State Board of Medical Examiners has scheduled an Aug. 27-28 hearing about whether King should have his Alabama license revoked.
On Wednesday afternoon, King faces a legal challenge filed by an Alabama law firm seeking to have his bankruptcy petition rescinded.
King generated 124 medical malpractice lawsuits during six months at Putnam General and has lost or surrendered his medical licenses in several states, including West Virginia.
King generated two new medical malpractice lawsuits in Alabama in November 2006, while he worked briefly at American Family Care clinics in the Birmingham area.
He filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Birmingham on Dec. 4, listing a 14-year-old Volvo worth $500 as his only financial asset.
Beth Ellis, a paralegal at Cory Watson Crowder & DeGaris - the Birmingham firm - said Friday, "We filed a petition in bankruptcy court about a week before the first West Virginia cases were set for trial [in December].
"We asked the bankruptcy court not to grant his petition and not to give him a discharge of his debts. The purpose of bankruptcy court is give honest people the ability to start over," Ellis said.
"But King was coming to bankruptcy court with unclean hands. Based on that evidence, we want him to be accountable and not use bankruptcy to duck litigation. Our purpose is to make him accountable.
"If we are successful, it will remove the stay [for lawsuits filed against King] not only for our cases, but for the West Virginia cases as well," Ellis said.
Putnam General already has agreed to pay tens of millions of dollars to settle most of the 124 lawsuits involving King. But so far, King has not been held financially accountable because of his pending bankruptcy.
Richard Lindsay, a Charleston lawyer who represents 24 of King's former patients, said on Saturday, "Our clients have always wanted to make certain that King has to face a jury for what he has done.
"We were concerned we would never get that chance. But if his bankruptcy petition is voided, we intend to proceed against him to make certain he is brought to justice and that this doesn't happen again to any other patients," Lindsay said.
John A. King, the controversial osteopathic physician who was on the staff of Putnam General Hospital between November 2002 and June 2003, will face two major legal hearings in the next month.
The Alabama State Board of Medical Examiners has scheduled an Aug. 27-28 hearing about whether King should have his Alabama license revoked.
On Wednesday afternoon, King faces a legal challenge filed by an Alabama law firm seeking to have his bankruptcy petition rescinded.
King generated 124 medical malpractice lawsuits during six months at Putnam General and has lost or surrendered his medical licenses in several states, including West Virginia.
King generated two new medical malpractice lawsuits in Alabama in November 2006, while he worked briefly at American Family Care clinics in the Birmingham area.
He filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Birmingham on Dec. 4, listing a 14-year-old Volvo worth $500 as his only financial asset.
Beth Ellis, a paralegal at Cory Watson Crowder & DeGaris - the Birmingham firm - said Friday, "We filed a petition in bankruptcy court about a week before the first West Virginia cases were set for trial [in December].
"We asked the bankruptcy court not to grant his petition and not to give him a discharge of his debts. The purpose of bankruptcy court is give honest people the ability to start over," Ellis said.
"But King was coming to bankruptcy court with unclean hands. Based on that evidence, we want him to be accountable and not use bankruptcy to duck litigation. Our purpose is to make him accountable.
"If we are successful, it will remove the stay [for lawsuits filed against King] not only for our cases, but for the West Virginia cases as well," Ellis said.
Putnam General already has agreed to pay tens of millions of dollars to settle most of the 124 lawsuits involving King. But so far, King has not been held financially accountable because of his pending bankruptcy.
Richard Lindsay, a Charleston lawyer who represents 24 of King's former patients, said on Saturday, "Our clients have always wanted to make certain that King has to face a jury for what he has done.
"We were concerned we would never get that chance. But if his bankruptcy petition is voided, we intend to proceed against him to make certain he is brought to justice and that this doesn't happen again to any other patients," Lindsay said.
In May, Putnam Circuit Judge O.C. Spaulding approved settlements of 13 lawsuits involving minors, totaling nearly $12.3 million.
Most of the other suits, which also have been settled, involved adults. Settlement amounts in those suits have been kept confidential.
The Alabama Medical Board postponed previously scheduled hearings for King it planned for May 28 and July 23.
The administrative complaint alleges King engaged in "unprofessional conduct," practiced "medicine or osteopathy in such a manner as to endanger the health of the patients" and committed "gross malpractice or repeated malpractice" in caring for patients.
The board cited lawsuits resulting from King's treatment of two patients at clinics operated by American Family Care, a company that quickly fired King.
On Nov. 1, 2006, King allegedly overdosed Renee Blackman with injections of five different drugs, leaving her unconscious for 26 hours.
"R.B. immediately experienced burning pains in her arms and head, became hallucinatory and in a manner of minutes was unresponsive. Dr. King initially ignored his comatose patient," states the Alabama board complaint.
King also allegedly overdosed patient Misty D. Shephard with Phenergan and Valium as he was cutting and draining an abscess.
"The doses of sedation administered by Dr. King are inappropriate," the board's complaint states. "Sedation of M.S. in this setting was not for a legitimate medical purpose in that it was unsafe and not proven necessary."
King is still a defendant in the 124 malpractice lawsuits filed in West Virginia.
But 30 of those cases are still pending against two medical supply companies that made spinal implants and monitoring devices used by King - Wright Medical Technology and EBI LP. Those cases will not go to trial until mid-2009.
Reach Paul J. Nyden at pjny...@wvgazette.com or 348-5164.
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