Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 15, 1995 TAG: 9504170071
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Dr. Eric Korsh will not practice at the clinic after April 30, according to a statement released late Friday by Dr. Bruce Hagadorn, the clinic's medical director.
"Since there is pending litigation, the clinic is not in a position to provide additional information," the statement said. Hagadorn did not return telephone calls, and hospital officials declined to comment.
In interviews in January, Hagadorn said Korsh's future at the clinic was linked to "insurability."
Korsh, co-director of Lewis-Gale Clinic's Virginia Spine Center, has settled at least one malpractice suit for more than $500,000. He has been advised by attorneys not to discuss the suits.
Most of lawsuits pending against Korsh in Roanoke Valley and Richmond courts claim he failed to recommend nonsurgical, conservative treatment for patients. Four suits filed in the past week make similar claims, but they also contend that the clinic and hospital did not follow proper procedures for reporting information to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on the pedicle screws that Korsh used in surgery.
Most of the suits name Korsh and Lewis-Gale Clinic as defendants, but several also list Lewis-Gale Hospital, which is where Korsh has done 456 spinal fusion surgeries since 1991. The hospital, owned by Columbia/HCA Corp., and the clinic, which is physician-owned, share a site.
The disputed surgeries generally have been spinal fusions; most have included the use of pedicle screws and other hardware to hold the spine stable during healing. Some patients had more than one surgery, including front and back fusions of the spine.
A fusion, which takes up to six months to heal, is like welding the spine. Two or more adjacent vertebrae are joined to prevent movement. A small piece of bone taken from the pelvis is grafted to the bad vertebrae to promote new bone growth. Metal rods and screws are inserted in the spine pedicles - the side wings or bridges of the vertebrae - to bolt the vertebrae together.
National controversy surrounding the use of the screws helped fuel complaints against Korsh, clinic and hospital officials said in a January newspaper story that reported the problems with the surgeries.
The suits say Korsh promised patients full recoveries and claimed he had never had a failure.
A support group for patients who have had surgery involving pedicle screws was formed in the Roanoke Valley three months ago. It has a mailing list of 139 people. About 75 percent of them were Korsh's patients, said Carole Fielder, a co-founder and plaintiff in a suit against the doctor.
The FDA has allowed pedicle screws to be used with patient consent for several years. But it just this year approved one brand - the Sofamor Danek screws used at Lewis-Gale - and only for use for the most severe back condition. It also required that the screws be removed within a year.
In the past, surgeons generally have told patients the screws did not ever have to be removed.
One problem with the screws is that they sometimes break inside the body. The FDA says there is not enough information to document their safety or effectiveness.
Korsh, 36, came to Lewis-Gale Clinic in 1991 after a fellowship at the Hospital for Special Surgery at Cornell University Medical College in New York.
Dr. James Leipzig, who completed the same spine fellowship as Korsh, joined the clinic in 1992. The two received certification from the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery that year and in September 1993 became co-directors of the new Virginia Spine Center.
From 1991 through the end of 1994, Leipzig and Korsh did 689 spinal fusion operations.
by CNB