WINFIELD - Three lawsuits involving Dr. John A. King and his tumultuous tenure at Putnam General Hospital were approved Tuesday for about $2.4 million.
WINFIELD - Three lawsuits involving Dr. John A. King and his tumultuous tenure at Putnam General Hospital were approved Tuesday for about $2.4 million.
The settlements were reached by lawyers for Putnam General; the hospital's former owner, Hospital Corporation of America Inc.; and lawyers for three of King's patients who died after he performed surgery on them.
Putnam Circuit Judge O.C. Spaulding approved the settlements Tuesday. The lawsuits are still pending against King.
Tuesday's official settlements are the first among 124 malpractice lawsuits filed against King, Putnam General and HCA. Lawyers have said many of the other cases have been settled by the now-defunct Putnam General and HCA, the nation's largest for-profit hospital chain.
Lawyers for all sides asked Spaulding to keep the size of Tuesday's settlements secret, but the judge declined. He stressed the importance of allowing the public to know what happened.
"I have never experienced anything like these 124 cases in my 15 years on the bench," Spaulding said. "These cases have generated a tremendous amount of publicity, both in West Virginia and nationally.
"These are not run-of-the-mill lawsuits, like little car accidents. They have taken on national interest and [aroused] national curiosity," he said. "The public has a right to know, were these legitimate cases?"
The judge said any settlements approved by the court would be public.
The settlements approved on Tuesday were:
$1,083,384 for the estate of Cora Linville, who died three years after her back surgery resulted in multiple infections.$923,585 for the estate of John Higgenbotham, who was 91 when he died. Higgenbotham never woke up after King performed a massive spinal operation on his back.$423,585 for the estate of Leatha Johnson, who died less than three months after King performed the first of four surgeries to repair fractures and counter infections.
Lawyers John Curry and Jack Tolliver, who represented the plaintiffs in Tuesday's settlements, will continue pursuing legal action on behalf of Johnson and Linville against Wright Medical Technology and EBI LP, companies that manufactured spinal implant devices used by King.
Tuesday's settlements included $70,755 in payments on behalf of David McNair, a physician's assistant who worked with King.
WINFIELD - Three lawsuits involving Dr. John A. King and his tumultuous tenure at Putnam General Hospital were approved Tuesday for about $2.4 million.
The settlements were reached by lawyers for Putnam General; the hospital's former owner, Hospital Corporation of America Inc.; and lawyers for three of King's patients who died after he performed surgery on them.
Putnam Circuit Judge O.C. Spaulding approved the settlements Tuesday. The lawsuits are still pending against King.
Tuesday's official settlements are the first among 124 malpractice lawsuits filed against King, Putnam General and HCA. Lawyers have said many of the other cases have been settled by the now-defunct Putnam General and HCA, the nation's largest for-profit hospital chain.
Lawyers for all sides asked Spaulding to keep the size of Tuesday's settlements secret, but the judge declined. He stressed the importance of allowing the public to know what happened.
"I have never experienced anything like these 124 cases in my 15 years on the bench," Spaulding said. "These cases have generated a tremendous amount of publicity, both in West Virginia and nationally.
"These are not run-of-the-mill lawsuits, like little car accidents. They have taken on national interest and [aroused] national curiosity," he said. "The public has a right to know, were these legitimate cases?"
The judge said any settlements approved by the court would be public.
The settlements approved on Tuesday were:
$1,083,384 for the estate of Cora Linville, who died three years after her back surgery resulted in multiple infections.$923,585 for the estate of John Higgenbotham, who was 91 when he died. Higgenbotham never woke up after King performed a massive spinal operation on his back.$423,585 for the estate of Leatha Johnson, who died less than three months after King performed the first of four surgeries to repair fractures and counter infections.Lawyers John Curry and Jack Tolliver, who represented the plaintiffs in Tuesday's settlements, will continue pursuing legal action on behalf of Johnson and Linville against Wright Medical Technology and EBI LP, companies that manufactured spinal implant devices used by King.
Tuesday's settlements included $70,755 in payments on behalf of David McNair, a physician's assistant who worked with King.
The estates of the three King patients will get a total of $1.23 million. Curry and Tolliver's firm will get $1.2 million in legal fees (40 percent of each settlement) and litigation costs.
Nearly $64,000 will be withheld from the settlements to make possible payments to insurance plans and federal programs that paid for health care provided to King's victims.
Spaulding will hold another hearing on May 22 to approve settlements in nine other cases involving patients who were under the age of 18 when King operated on them.
King generated 124 lawsuits in less than seven months between November 2002, when Putnam General gave him staff privileges, and June 2003, when they took some of them away.
Lawyers who represent HCA and Putnam General have now reached settlement agreements in at least 105 of the 124 lawsuits, but the court has not yet approved any of the others.
Those suits include 70 patients represented by Curry and Tolliver, 11 patients represented by Charleston lawyer Bill Druckman and 24 patients represented by Charleston lawyer Richard Lindsay, who confirmed those settlements on Tuesday.
Lindsay said he does not intend to drop King himself from all his lawsuits, even if King is unable to pay any restitution.
"A couple of years down the road, we don't want King to say he had 124 [malpractice] cases filed against him, but received no verdict against him," Lindsay said. "We are not inclined to give him a free pass. We want a verdict on record."
Lindsay said King, who apparently now lives with his mother in Birmingham, Ala., recently registered five new corporations with authorities in the state of Nevada.
King, who graduated in 1984 from the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine in Biddeford, Maine, has already lost medical licenses in several states.
To contact staff writer Paul J. Nyden, use e-mail or call 348-5164.
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