Doctor in Putnam County malpractice cases to file for bankruptcy

John King, the former West Virginia doctor facing 122 medical malpractice cases, is apparently planning to file for bankruptcy, which could mean lengthy delays for the lawsuits against him.

King filed a petition Wednesday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for Northern Alabama, according to court records.

He has 15 days from the filing of the petition to file a formal bankruptcy request, which would list all his personal assets and liabilities.

That could delay the lawsuits against King — the first of which was scheduled to begin its trial phase on Dec. 3.

Putnam County Judge O.C. Spaulding, who set the trial date, said last week that federal law would require him to immediately stop all legal proceedings if King files for bankruptcy.

James Gordon Stevens, a lawyer in Bessemer, Ala. who is representing King, could not be immediately reached for comment Thursday.

Putnam General Hospital hired King as an orthopedic surgeon in November 2002. It suspended his privileges the following May after a review of his work. He later surrendered his West Virginia license and left the state.

In July, a civil jury found Putnam General negligent in granting King credentials, exposing its then-owners to damages in the 122 pending malpractice cases.

Hospital giant HCA Inc. owned Putnam General during King’s tenure. After threatening to close the hospital in the wake of the lawsuits, HCA sold it to Charleston Area Medical Center last year. Not a defendant in the lawsuits, CAMC operates the 65-bed hospital as CAMC Teays Valley.

Last year, King changed his name to Christopher Wallace Martin in his native Alabama, where he now reportedly lives. Though licensed in a dozen states when he came to West Virginia, his licenses have also since been suspended, surrendered or otherwise lost in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Texas and Virginia.

Tennessee, meanwhile, has excluded him from participating in Medicare, Medicaid and other federal health care programs.