KDMC facing lawsuits from hundreds of former patients

By Ben Nandy, Reporter – email

ASHLAND, Ky. –
King’s Daughters Medical Center is again a defendant, this time in two identical lawsuits filed on Tuesday.

Each lawsuit lists about 300 plaintiffs, alleging civil conspiracy, gross negligence, lack of informed consent and negligent misrepresentation.

They are claiming that doctors at KDMC did unnecessary cardiac procedures on them, namely heart stenting, that left them in physical and emotional pain, and wary of doctors.

“There are a number of complications that arise from operating on people that don’t need to be operating on,” says Hans Poppe™, the Louisville attorney who filed the suits. “The first and foremost is a loss of trust in medical providers.”

Poppe tells 13 News’ Ben Nandy that several of the plaintiffs were examined by a “neutral local doctor” who examined records and concluded that the procedures were not needed.

“That doctor came to the opinion that those procedures were unnecessary, unjustified, and medically inappropriate,” says Poppe. “They are illegally using medicare, medicaid and insurance funds to line their own pockets by doing procedures on people who don’t need them.”

KDMC officials issued a statement saying they were expecting the lawsuits and that they did not contain a lot of information, so they cannot give any specific comment.

The statement went on to read:

“As a hospital, we handle medical malpractice cases as needed and will process these claims using normal, established procedures. Unfortunately, this is an enormous burden on our local judicial system and ultimately diverts resources away from our community… …King’s Daughters intends to defend the care provided by our cardiac program, of which we are very proud, and which has been recognized for its patient care and quality outcomes.”