ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, March 28, 1996 TAG: 9603280069
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
A $2 million malpractice lawsuit against a Salem spine surgeon went on trial Wednesday in Roanoke Circuit Court with both sides raising greed as an issue. The lawyers promised to prove their points with expert medical witnesses and a secretly made video of the plaintiff working on his farm.
Patrick Brunson of Floyd County is suing Dr. Eric Korsh and Lewis-Gale Clinic Inc., charging that the surgery Korsh performed on his lower back in April 1993 was unnecessary and left him worse off than before the operation.
Korsh was employed by Lewis-Gale Clinic in Salem at the time. Brunson's lawsuit is one of 40 against Korsh and the clinic. Some also name Lewis-Gale Hospital, where the surgeries were done.
Brunson's attorney, Daniel T. Frith, said in opening remarks that Brunson agreed to have three vertebrae fused together after Korsh told him his back problem was so severe that he'd be paralyzed if he didn't have the operation but would be back to normal if he did. He said Brunson will testify that Korsh said he had a 99 percent success rate for his surgeries.
The operation left Brunson in pain and unable to work, Frith said. He suggested to the jurors that if they wanted to know why Korsh was eager to do the operation, they should look at how many he did and how much he was paid for each.
Brunson's surgical bill was $23,000, with about $15,000 going to Korsh, Frith said.
John Jessee, an attorney representing Korsh, said greed and revenge on the part of the plaintiff are factors in the case. Jessee said Brunson filed suit to get back at Korsh because the doctor tried to recover money he lost in a horse venture with Brunson.
Doctor and patient became friends after the surgery, Jessee said, and Brunson, who deals in horses, promised to find the doctor one.
Brunson got Korsh to invest in a venture to bring horses from Oklahoma to the Roanoke Valley to sell, Jessee said. The venture failed, and Korsh lost as much money as Brunson's surgery cost, the lawyer said.
Jessee said videos a Richmond detective shot of Brunson from a neighbor's farm will disprove Brunson's claims that he "can't lift" and "can't push."
The detective posed as a birdwatcher to get onto adjacent property to film Brunson in such activities as running a tractor and showing off a horse to visitors.
Lawyers had time only for opening comments Wednesday.
The winnowing of prospective jurors took until late afternoon. Because so many were dismissed from the 24 called Wednesday morning, a second jury pool had to be summoned in the afternoon before the court could get the required seven, plus one alternate, needed for the trial.
All of the lawsuits against Korsh have been assigned to retired Judge Kenneth Trabue because of the volume and expected length. Cases filed in several courts have been combined in Roanoke under a multiple litigation act passed last year in Virginia.
Pretrial actions, such as interviews with opposing witnesses and depositions of the parties involved, have been done jointly for the cases. Each suit will be heard separately, however. In addition to the suits now active, seven other suits have been withdrawn, and Korsh has settled at least one suit, for $587,500.
Korsh is no longer with the Lewis-Gale Clinic; he has a private practice in the Roanoke Valley. The Spine Center at Lewis-Gale, which he opened after he was recruited by the clinic in 1991, has been closed.
The trial, which was to resume at 8 a.m. today, is expected to continue through Monday.
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS/Staff. Patrick Brunson leaves theby CNBRoanoke Courthouse after his lawsuit against Dr. Eric Korsh began
Wednesday. color.