August 01, 2007
Hospital found negligent
Jury rules Putnam General failed to properly check King's credentials
By Paul J. Nyden Staff writer WINFIELD — Putnam General Hospital failed to carefully examine the credentials of Dr. John A. King when it granted King staff privileges, and should be liable for punitive damages in the dozens of malpractice cases faced by King, a jury said Tuesday. King was hired Nov. 5, 2002, and worked there for seven months. Since then, 122 of his former patients have filed lawsuits alleging King injured them during surgeries he performed. The first of those trials is scheduled to begin this November. The suits are filed against King, Putnam General and Hospital Corporation of America Inc., the nation’s largest for-profit hospital chain, which owned Putnam General while King worked there. After just one hour of deliberations Tuesday, the six Putnam Circuit Court jurors ruled that Putnam General was guilty of “wantonness, recklessness and gross negligence” in the way it reviewed King’s qualifications before offering him a position on its staff. That ruling will allow juries in future individual trials to impose punitive damages, as well as compensatory damages. The individual trials will be divided between Putnam Circuit Judges O.C. Spaulding and Ed Eagloski. King, who changed his name to Christopher Wallace Martin last year after claiming people were trying to steal his identity, did not appear at the Putnam County Courthouse during the trial, which began July 16. Late Tuesday morning, before lawyers for each side made their final arguments in a packed courtroom, Spaulding gave the jury detailed instructions about how they should examine evidence in the case. A critical factor, the judge said, was Putnam General’s loss of all the original files about privileging and credentialing King. “Putnam General had a definite duty to preserve it. But Putnam General failed to preserve the files,” Spaulding told the jurors. “Because the hospital lost the credentialing files, you may infer that if the hospital had saved the original privileging files, it would have contained information that was adverse to them ... and favorable to the plaintiffs.” Stephen Rodolf, an Oklahoma lawyer representing Putnam General, told jurors the hospital had done a thorough job examining all of King’s credentials. That included his medical education and training, medical licenses from 12 states, malpractice insurance coverage, recommendations from previous employers and his federal Drug Enforcement Administration certificate. Rodolf said Putnam General was eager to hire an osteopathic surgeon who could care for patients, particularly those who arrived in the emergency room suffering from broken limbs or spines. The hospital demonstrated no “conscious disregard” for the truth, Rodolf stressed. “You cannot say that the hospital did not care. And there is nothing to suggest that Dr. King was a bad surgeon,” he said. Arden Curry, a Charleston lawyer representing about 70 plaintiffs against King, focused his closing
remarks on HCA and Putnam General. “This corporation has come before this jury and told you if they had John King again, they would turn him loose again,” Curry said. “It is frightening that they can tell you what they did was good for this county. “It is good they do not have anything to do with the hospital today,” he said. Charleston Area Medical Center bought Putnam General from HCA last November; the hospital is now known as CAMC-Teays Valley Hospital. “You have the duty to tell this company not to do this again to any hospital,” Curry told jurors. Curry pointed out King never completed any orthopedic residency, was never certified by a recognized medical specialty board, failed to reveal past medical malpractice lawsuits and failed to report disputes at previous hospitals where he worked. Before offering King a post, Curry added, Putnam General administrators promised to pay him $35,000 a month, as well as a $45,000 signing bonus, $15,000 in moving fees and $5,000 in advertising costs. Curry also mentioned the hospital’s loss of King’s files. “Putnam General had a duty to retain the original recruiting files,” he said. King worked at Putnam General until the hospital suspended part of his privileges on June 5, 2003, after Dr. Edward G. Dawson completed a peer-review report. Dawson, a physician at the University of California at Los Angeles, called King “a snake-oil salesman” and a “criminal.” Far more medical malpractice suits have been filed against King than any other physician or osteopath in the history of West Virginia, according to records at the state Board of Medicine and Board of Osteopathy. To contact staff writer Paul J. Nyden, use e-mail or call 348-5164.