Dr. John A. King, the controversial osteopathic physician who generated 124 medical malpractice suits while on Putnam General Hospital's staff between November 2002 and June 2003, has filed a lawsuit against a Roswell, Ga., law firm that once represented him.

In a June 19 complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, King alleges the Bothwel & Simpson firm failed to represent him properly. He wants $25 million in damages.

In his complaint, King argues that when he worked at Jackson County Memorial Hospital in Florida during the 1990s, he "became award of fraudulent billing practices in connection with governmental payors such as Medicare."

King hired Bothwel & Simpson to represent him in a suit detailing those charges against Jackson County Memorial Hospital.

In his new complaint, King notes individuals who file such complaints "are entitled to receive as much as 30 percent of the gross amount of any recovery against an entity found liable for fraudulent billing practices in dealing with governmental entities."

In his new complaint, King makes no mention of why he left that hospital.

On Jan. 12, 1999, King was arrested on a charge of document theft for allegedly removing medical records from the Jackson County Memorial Hospital's operating room, where he worked as a surgeon and anesthesiologist.

King signed a "pre-trial order" that dismissed his arrest charge. But that order required him to pay a fine and enroll in a six-month "supervision and rehabilitation" program.

Two months later, on March 17, 1999, King sued Jackson County Hospital Corp. and was represented by Bothwel & Simpson.

On Aug. 26, 2002, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida dismissed King's complaint against the hospital.

The court's dismissal order criticized King for "falsely stating" various charges he said the hospital filed with federal medical programs.

In his new suit, King alleges Bothwel & Simpson failed to file additional appeals on time and "failed to practice with the established standards of care, skill and diligence required by the State Bar of Georgia."

Dr. John A. King, the controversial osteopathic physician who generated 124 medical malpractice suits while on Putnam General Hospital's staff between November 2002 and June 2003, has filed a lawsuit against a Roswell, Ga., law firm that once represented him.

In a June 19 complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, King alleges the Bothwel & Simpson firm failed to represent him properly. He wants $25 million in damages.

In his complaint, King argues that when he worked at Jackson County Memorial Hospital in Florida during the 1990s, he "became award of fraudulent billing practices in connection with governmental payors such as Medicare."

King hired Bothwel & Simpson to represent him in a suit detailing those charges against Jackson County Memorial Hospital.

In his new complaint, King notes individuals who file such complaints "are entitled to receive as much as 30 percent of the gross amount of any recovery against an entity found liable for fraudulent billing practices in dealing with governmental entities."

In his new complaint, King makes no mention of why he left that hospital.

On Jan. 12, 1999, King was arrested on a charge of document theft for allegedly removing medical records from the Jackson County Memorial Hospital's operating room, where he worked as a surgeon and anesthesiologist.

King signed a "pre-trial order" that dismissed his arrest charge. But that order required him to pay a fine and enroll in a six-month "supervision and rehabilitation" program.

Two months later, on March 17, 1999, King sued Jackson County Hospital Corp. and was represented by Bothwel & Simpson.

On Aug. 26, 2002, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida dismissed King's complaint against the hospital.

The court's dismissal order criticized King for "falsely stating" various charges he said the hospital filed with federal medical programs.

In his new suit, King alleges Bothwel & Simpson failed to file additional appeals on time and "failed to practice with the established standards of care, skill and diligence required by the State Bar of Georgia."

In his latest suit, King is representing himself, "pro se."

King has a long history of suing lawyers who have represented him.

In late February, King sued the West Virginia Board of Osteopathy for $10 million in U.S. District Court for Northern West Virginia in Wheeling, claiming the board played a major role in causing him to lose medical licenses in several states.

Since 1998, King has filed federal suits against four hospitals that dismissed him from their staffs: Putnam General; Hillcrest Health Center in Oklahoma City, Okla.; Jackson County Hospital Corp. in Marianna, Fla.; and Donalsonville Hospital in Donalsonville, Ga.

Federal judges dismissed all four suits.

Putnam General partially suspended King's privileges in June 2003, after Dr. Edward G. Dawson, a University of California at Los Angeles physician, completed an independent peer review report calling King "a snake-oil salesman" and a "criminal."

King left West Virginia shortly after that suspension.

Most of the 124 medical malpractice lawsuits involving King were recently settled with Hospital Corp. of America Inc., the nation's largest for-profit hospital chain that owned Putnam General when King was on its staff.

The sizes of most of those settlements are confidential, but settlements in 13 cases involving individuals under 18 totaled $12.3 million.

Most of the 124 original lawsuits are still pending against King himself. And 30 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. They will not go to trial until mid-2009.

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