The hospital that employed John Anderson King and the company that owned the hospital have agreed to settle 70 medical malpractice lawsuits against the controversial doctor stemming from his short time at the hospital.

The Hospital Corporation of America Inc., the nation's largest for-profit hospital chain, and Putnam General Hospital, its former subsidiary, settled the lawsuits with the plaintiffs represented by the Charleston law firm of Curry and Tolliver, according to a filing in U.S. District Court in Charleston on Wednesday.

David McNair, a physician's assistant who worked with King at Putnam General, also agreed to settle lawsuits with those clients.

Lawyers with Curry and Tolliver would not say how much the settlements amounted to, and Wednesday's filing did not include that information.

Final negotiations about settlements with HCA and Putnam General will continue in the near future, especially in suits involving patients who died, patients under 18 years old and cases that "involve loss of parental consortium claims by minors under ... 18 years of age."

King has not agreed to settle any of the lawsuits against him. Nor has Wright Medical Technology or EBI LP, companies that make spinal implant devices. Those lawsuits will continue.

King used spinal implant devices in some of his surgeries at Putnam General, where he was a staff physician for six months between November 2002 and June 2003.

The claims in more than 50 other lawsuits against HCA and Putnam General could be settled soon, sources close to the case said.

In November 2006, Charleston Area Medical Center bought Putnam General from HCA. Now called CAMC Teays Valley Hospital, it has no connection with its previous owners.

Wednesday's motion, filed by lawyer Arden J. Curry, also asks U.S. District Judge John T. Copenhaver Jr. to send the King cases back to Putnam Circuit Court, where they were originally filed.

The 122 medical malpractice lawsuits were transferred to Copenhaver in December, after lawyers for HCA and Putnam General filed legal papers seeking the move.

The Hospital Corporation of America Inc., the nation's largest for-profit hospital chain, and Putnam General Hospital, its former subsidiary, settled the lawsuits with the plaintiffs represented by the Charleston law firm of Curry and Tolliver, according to a filing in U.S. District Court in Charleston on Wednesday.

David McNair, a physician's assistant who worked with King at Putnam General, also agreed to settle lawsuits with those clients.

Lawyers with Curry and Tolliver would not say how much the settlements amounted to, and Wednesday's filing did not include that information.

Final negotiations about settlements with HCA and Putnam General will continue in the near future, especially in suits involving patients who died, patients under 18 years old and cases that "involve loss of parental consortium claims by minors under ... 18 years of age."

King has not agreed to settle any of the lawsuits against him. Nor has Wright Medical Technology or EBI LP, companies that make spinal implant devices. Those lawsuits will continue.

King used spinal implant devices in some of his surgeries at Putnam General, where he was a staff physician for six months between November 2002 and June 2003.

The claims in more than 50 other lawsuits against HCA and Putnam General could be settled soon, sources close to the case said.

In November 2006, Charleston Area Medical Center bought Putnam General from HCA. Now called CAMC Teays Valley Hospital, it has no connection with its previous owners.

Wednesday's motion, filed by lawyer Arden J. Curry, also asks U.S. District Judge John T. Copenhaver Jr. to send the King cases back to Putnam Circuit Court, where they were originally filed.

The 122 medical malpractice lawsuits were transferred to Copenhaver in December, after lawyers for HCA and Putnam General filed legal papers seeking the move.

Hospital lawyers said they wanted the change after King said he would file for personal bankruptcy protection.

Because bankruptcy cases are filed and heard by federal bankruptcy judges, hospital lawyers argued, the malpractice suits should also be tried in federal court.

When King filed a detailed Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition in Birmingham, Ala., in December, he reported only $500 in assets - the value of his 1993 Volvo.

Before the cases were moved to U.S. District Court, Putnam Circuit Judges O.C. Spaulding and Ed Eagloski had already held more than 30 hearings related to the King suits, which were first filed in early 2005.

Spaulding and Eagloski had also scheduled the first jury trials in these cases to begin last December.

The individuals who sued King and Putnam General Hospital all asserted their "cases were improperly removed to federal court," according to Wednesday's motion.

King has surrendered his medical license, or had it suspended or revoked, in 10 states, including West Virginia, in August 2003. Those actions result from a range of problems he faces, including medical malpractice lawsuits and stealing medical records from a Florida hospital.

In December, King said he still had licenses to practice medicine in Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida and New York. Alabama officials are considering whether to suspend his license, after he allegedly overdosed a patient and put her in a coma for more than a day.

King recently applied for a real estate appraiser's license in Tennessee. On that application, he said he left West Virginia because "he was a whistleblower against a group of physicians who were participating in health-care fraud." The application makes no mention of the dozens of malpractice lawsuits filed against him.

To contact staff writer Paul J. Nyden, use e-mail or call 348-5164.