Dr. John A. King, the osteopathic physician who generated 124 medical malpractice lawsuits while treating patients at Putnam General Hospital between Nov. 2002 and June 2003, has lost yet another lawyer who was representing him - this one in federal bankruptcy proceedings in Birmingham, Ala.

In another development, the Alabama State Board of Medical Examiners has scheduled a July 23-24 hearing to determine whether to revoke King's medical license in Alabama.

King generated two additional malpractice lawsuits in the Birmingham area after leaving West Virginia.

During a bankruptcy hearing on Tuesday, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Thomas Bennett allowed James G. Stevens, a Bessemer lawyer, to withdraw from King's case, according to an article in the "Birmingham News."

Stevens told Bennett he spent more than 200 hours on the bankruptcy case, filed in November, and received more than 400 telephone calls from lawyers across the country.

King reported only $500 in assets when be filed for bankruptcy.

During Tuesday's bankruptcy hearing, another lawyer representing King declined to identify himself, but asked Bennett to order Stevens to return $8,000 in fees King's sister had paid. Bennett ruled Stevens could keep those fees, the "Birmingham News" reported.

In an administrative complaint dated Jan. 2, the Alabama Medical Board stated there "exists probable cause to believe" King committed several violations, including:

The Alabama board cited two suits filed by patients King treated at American Family Care clinics in the Birmingham area.

On Nov. 1, 2006, King overdosed Renee Blackman with injections of five different drugs, leaving her unconscious for 26 hours.

Dr. John A. King, the osteopathic physician who generated 124 medical malpractice lawsuits while treating patients at Putnam General Hospital between Nov. 2002 and June 2003, has lost yet another lawyer who was representing him - this one in federal bankruptcy proceedings in Birmingham, Ala.

In another development, the Alabama State Board of Medical Examiners has scheduled a July 23-24 hearing to determine whether to revoke King's medical license in Alabama.

King generated two additional malpractice lawsuits in the Birmingham area after leaving West Virginia.

During a bankruptcy hearing on Tuesday, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Thomas Bennett allowed James G. Stevens, a Bessemer lawyer, to withdraw from King's case, according to an article in the "Birmingham News."

Stevens told Bennett he spent more than 200 hours on the bankruptcy case, filed in November, and received more than 400 telephone calls from lawyers across the country.

King reported only $500 in assets when be filed for bankruptcy.

During Tuesday's bankruptcy hearing, another lawyer representing King declined to identify himself, but asked Bennett to order Stevens to return $8,000 in fees King's sister had paid. Bennett ruled Stevens could keep those fees, the "Birmingham News" reported.

In an administrative complaint dated Jan. 2, the Alabama Medical Board stated there "exists probable cause to believe" King committed several violations, including:

The Alabama board cited two suits filed by patients King treated at American Family Care clinics in the Birmingham area.

On Nov. 1, 2006, King overdosed Renee Blackman with injections of five different drugs, leaving her unconscious for 26 hours.

"King initially ignored his comatose patient," the Alabama board complaint states, after he had "administered an extremely large, unconventional and unnecessary dose of promethazine."

At about the same time, King also overdosed patient Misty D. Shephard, with Phenergan and Valium, as he was cutting and draining an abscess.

King's "sedation of M.S. in this setting was not for a legitimate medical purpose in that it was unsafe and not proven necessary," the medical board stated.

The board's complaint asks the Alabama Medical Licensure Commission "to revoke the license to practice medicine or osteopathy in Alabama of Dr. King and/or take other action the commission deems appropriate."

Back on Feb. 4, 2006, the Alabama Board of Medical Examiners issued an earlier order reprimanding King, fining him $2,500 and requiring him to complete a course in medical ethics by the end of that year.

In that order, the Alabama board referred to King's problems with state medical or osteopathic boards in West Virginia, Texas, New York and Michigan.

In West Virginia, Putnam General and the Hospital Corporation of America, its parent company at the time, recently agreed to settle at least 105 of the 124 suits involving King. The sizes of those settlements have been kept confidential except for 13 cases involving individuals under 18. Those cases were settled for a total of $12.3 million.

Most of those 124 original lawsuits are still pending against King himself.

Thirty of them also are still pending against two medical supply companies that manufactured spinal implants and monitoring devices used by King, Wright Medical Technology and EBI LP. They will not go to trial until mid-2009.

King has a long history of suing lawyers who have represented him. King is also suing the West Virginia Board of Osteopathy for $10 million, claiming it played a major role in causing him to lose medical licenses in several states.

Last December, King filed an application to become a real estate appraiser in Tennessee, on which he reported facing medical licensure problems because he was a "whistleblower" against health-care fraud.

The Tennessee Real Estate Appraiser Commission also reported King "stated he is disabled with a left hand injury, but still wishes to retain his [medical] license in Tennessee so that he can work part-time with other physicians.

That application is still pending.

Reach Paul J. Nyden at pjny...@wvgazette.com or 348-5164.