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Doctor facing more than 100 suits testifies LAWRENCE MESSINA Associated Press WINFIELD, W.Va. - The former Putnam General Hospital doctor at the center of more than 100 medical malpractice lawsuits testified Friday that he has no fixed address, has not worked since early November and lost his tax records when his accountant's office burned down. Christopher Wallace Martin, the osteopath previously known as John A. King, also told Putnam County Circuit Judge Ed Eagloski that he has set up more than a dozen corporations, trusts and other legal entities since 1999. He then assigned them such assets as his Volvo autos and the $400,000 house he bought while at Putnam General. These various entities include a trust and a limited liability company in Costa Rica, a tax-exempt charity, and trusts named Bonemaker, Bonelover and Bonecrusher. He testified that most now have assets worth less than $10,000. King changed his name in April, and his former name was used during Friday's hourlong hearing. Eagloski ordered him to appear in court after he failed to comply with a May order requiring him to provide financial, tax and residential records in the lawsuits. "We can't let this information linger," the judge said before calling the 48-year-old Alabama native to the witness stand. Martin practiced at Putnam General for six months in 2003. At least 110 former patients or their survivors have since sued him, the hospital and HCA Inc., its former parent company, alleging such malpractice as botched and unnecessary surgery. HCA unsuccessfully tried to sell the hospital to a former subsidiary before announcing plans in August to shut it down, blaming the lawsuits. Charleston Area Medical Center stepped in and bought the facility last month, renaming it CAMC Teays Valley. The hospital suspended Martin's privileges in May 2003. He later surrendered his license with the state Board of Osteopathy and left West Virginia. Martin testified Friday that he has lived and worked in Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee and Florida since his Mountain State stint. He most recently provided medical services for Urgent Care Corp. in Alabama. Holding driver's licenses in both that state and Florida, Martin said he alternates among several residences. He stays with friends in Dothan, Ala., and his sister in Florida. He also sometimes sleeps in condos owned by an Alabama law firm. Martin said he has occasionally evaluated disability and Social Security claims for the firm, which also compensates him with meals. Martin said he has had the same accounting firm since the early 1990s, and can only assume it filed the necessary annual tax returns. "I'm not sure what the accountant did with all those," he told Eagloski. "I just signed the forms that he provided." A previous Putnam County hearing revealed that the U.S. Internal Revenue Service has subpoenaed Putnam General Hospital for Martin's billing records. Martin said he does not recall the accounting firm sending him any copies of his tax records before the fire destroyed its office. "The sprinkler system failed," he said. "The thing burned to the ground." Eagloski ordered Martin to sign the necessary forms by Monday to release his federal and West Virginia tax filings to the lawyers in the cases. The judge similarly requested copies of his driver's licenses, and asked him to help resolve the schedule for filing evidence in the cases. "We need to get this thing going," the judge said. "We have 110 cases, plus or minus, pending."
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