Physician faces 100 malpractice suits

More than 100 malpractice suits have been filed against John Anderson King, a former surgeon at Putnam General Hospital in West Virginia. King's privileges were suspended in May 2005 while patient claims of unnecessary surgeries were investigated.

Despite discrepancies in his resume, an incomplete education, and past allegations of theft and malpractice, Putnam's standard background check on King found nothing problematic, according to Mark Foust, a spokesman for the hospital, in a September 21^st Wall Street Journal article.

King has surrendered his license in West Virginia, but sued Putnam in federal court in June 2005, alleging that his suspension was improper. King still has medical licenses in Tennessee, Florida, and eight other states, according to the Wall Street Journal article.