Local News - June 2003

Jury finds surgeon not negligent

Published June 9, 2003

By JEREMY ASHTON, LTN Staff Writer

GASTONIA — Exactly six years after an accident nearly cost him his right leg, Gregory Sutphin was dealt another serious blow.

A jury needed just two hours Friday to find a Gaston orthopedic surgeon was not negligent in providing health care to Sutphin in the days after a 1997 accident.

The decision concluded a medical malpractice trial that lasted three weeks in Gaston County Superior Court.

“I’m just glad it’s over,” said Dr. Gregory Hardigree of Orthopaedic Specialists of Gastonia, who would offer no further comment.

Sutphin, the owner of Sutphin Construction in Iron Station, alleged Hardigree negligently misdiagnosed his condition following his accident and incorrectly performed a procedure known as a fasciotomy.

Sutphin was seeking unspecified damages for past and future medical bills and lost income resulting from his injury. He has had a total of 14 surgeries since the original accident and has a permanent partial disability of the leg.

“I’m in shock that a doctor does not have to be held accountable for his actions,” said Sutphin’s wife, Wendy, during a Monday morning phone interview.

Sutphin injured his right leg on June 6, 1997, during an accident involving a bulldozer scoop. He was rushed to Lincoln Medical Center where an emergency room physician diagnosed him with a laceration, stitched up the wound and released him.

During a follow-up visit the next day, the treating physician suspected Sutphin had developed a blood clot. He was transferred to Gaston Memorial Hospital and fell under Hardigree’s care.

Hardigree performed a fasciotomy, a procedure to relieve pressure in the muscle compartments of the leg.

During the trial, several physicians, including one of Hardigree’s former partners, testified Hardigree didn’t make the incisions for the procedure long enough or wide enough.

According to instructions Superior Court Judge David Cayer gave to the jury regarding a malpractice suit, however, Hardigree did not have to be completely accurate to meet “the standards and practices” of other orthopedic surgeons.

Sutphin and his attorneys, Ron Deaton and David Black, also argued that Hardigree failed to properly check on his condition.

In the days after the surgery, the pain in Sutphin’s leg increased significantly. After trying to get her husband transferred to another doctor’s care, Wendy Sutphin testified that Hardigree told her and two other people, “I don’t know what the hell else to do for him.”

Hardigree denied making the statement in court, according to Sutphin.

“I’m just disgusted with the court system; I’m disgusted with doctors,” she said.

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Staff Writer Jeremy Ashton can be reached at 704-735-3031 or jashton@ltnews.com.

© 2001 Lincoln Times-News  

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