Baltimore Accident Lawyers Transcript Part 3

Surgery scandal, several hundred heart patients at a local hospital may have had unnecessary operations.

Tonight the new law suit the doctor at the center of the investigation and what one of his patients is saying.

Hello everybody I am Denise Coke and I am Vic Carter here is what people are talking about.

Denise: St Joseph’s in Tausan sent letters to hundreds of patients who may have unnecessarily received stents. A tip to federal investigators sparked the investigation, WJZ is live in Pikesville where lawyers outlined the first civil lawsuit filed in this scandal, Mike Helgrin has some reaction tonight, Mike.

Mike: Denise those lawyers for one of the patients say the doctor and hospital breached their clients trust now the hospital says it has thoroughly looked into all of this and has notified any patients who may have been affected.

A stent can be a lifesaver, opening up clogged arteries but the operation carries risks a patient complaint to the federal government led officials at St Joseph’s Hospital to review thousands of stent patient’s records, they found more than three hundred who may have unnecessarily had the procedure.

Interviewee: In the months that ensue after a stent is placed there’s …

Mike: The only doctor implicated was one of their stars Mark McKay, he no longer works at St Joseph’s. Briggs Bedigian is suing him and the hospital.

Briggs Bedigian: Of all the places in your body to be putting unnecessary medical devices in a patient’s heart with a high degree of complications that come with stents is the ultimate violation of patient trust.

Mike: He expects more lawsuits St Josephs tells W.J.Z. questions about potential liability remain to be resolved as J. M. C. Takes its responsibility to patients very seriously which is why we conducted a review and notified our patients and physicians our focus has been and will continue to put patients first.

Peggy: If I needed another stent I would want Dr McKay to do it.

Mike: You believe he saved your life?

Peggy: Yes I do.

Mike: Dr. Maday put Stens in on Peggy Landon got this letter from the hospital and was informed some may not have been necessary.

Peggy: Doctor Maday said I had a ninety percent blockage and whoever did the subsequent rating said that I was less than fifty percent blocked. So you know I just said to him well how do you know who’s right?

Mike: Doctor Maday told W J Z’s media partner the Baltimore Sun he’s confident he acted in the best interests of his patients.

Peggy: He put two stents and almost immediately I felt relief.

Briggs: By no means contending in this case that Saint Joseph all of the stenting procedures that were placed at St Joseph’s Hospital were done so unnecessarily.

Mike: The Hospital encourages any patients with questions to contact them right away.

Mike: But they don’t believe there’s any immediate risk now St Joseph has done about one hundred thousand of these operations since 1980 and some of the prominent people around the country you’ve had stents placed to include former Vice President Dick Cheney and comedian Drew Carey reporting live in Pikesville Mike Helgrin, W J Z Eyewitness News.