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First attempt to offer bariatric surgery here ran into trouble
Mary Washington Hospital closed its first bariatric-sugery program after nine months
Date published: 5/3/2007
BY JIM HALL With the settlement of one lawsuit this week and the dropping of another last week, the final chapter may have been written for Mary Washington Hospital's first weight-loss surgery program. The hospital's first attempt at bariatric surgery lasted only nine months, from August 2002 to June 2003. Dr. Bradford L. King, a Fredericksburg surgeon, did 57 gastric-bypass operations during that time. Four of those surgeries resulted in malpractice claims by the patients or their families. Three of the lawsuits involved patients who died soon after their surgeries. One of the claims ended Monday in Fredericksburg Circuit Court. Judge John W. Scott Jr. approved a settlement between the two sides and sealed the amount paid to the patient's estate. The patient was Bonnie Chambers, a 52-year-old resident of Spotsylvania County, who died in March 2003, four days after King performed gastric-bypass surgery on her. An autopsy revealed that she died when gastric fluid leaked from her bypass site. Maureen Chambers, her mother, had filed the suit against King and Mary Washington Hospital. She had settled earlier with the hospital. Another of the cases, heard last summer, resulted in a $3.5 million jury award to a Spotsylvania County woman who suffered a brain injury after gastric-bypass surgery. King has appealed that award to the Virginia Supreme Court. A third case was filed by the estate of Wayne Shelton who died in 2002, three days after King performed gastric-bypass surgery on him. Shelton's estate filed the suit in 2004 and dropped it the next year. The fourth case was brought by the estate of Dorothy Hughes, who died in 2003, 10 days after King did gastric-bypass surgery on her. The estate filed the suit in 2005 and dropped it last week. King declined to comment this week about the cases or earlier gastric-bypass program. Hospital officials defend the earlier effort as a reflection of what was known then about bariatric surgery. "In the past, bariatric surgery was a procedure," said Dr. J. Thomas Ryan, vice president for medical affairs. "It is now a comprehensive program." The hospital's new program will feature two full-time surgeons, pre-surgery evaluation, nutritional counseling and long-term record keeping and follow-up, Ryan said. "This is not about Brad King as a surgeon, who's a fine surgeon," Ryan added. "This is about the science of bariatric surgery, which was embryonic early on and is now matured." Jim Hall: 540/374-5433Email: jhall@freelancestar.com
Date published: 5/3/2007
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