Time
December 10, 1973
Section: Medicine
Page: 107

"The drama played out here was not a fantasy contrived to satisfy a casual fancy for morbid amusement; it was real, permanent and tragic."

This was the presiding judge's description of the five-month trial that concluded last week in his Sacramento, Calif., courtroom. The plaintiff was Albert Gonzales, 32, a former grocery clerk, who charged that his doctor, Orthopedic Surgeon John Nork, 45, had performed a back operation that was not only unnecessary but has prevented successful treatment for a cancer that is slowly killing him. As a result of Nork's admission of guilt, Judge B. Abbott Goldberg awarded Gonzales a huge malpractice judgement. He ordered Mercy Hospital, where the operation was performed, and Nork to share in payments of compensatory damages of $1.7 million and directed Nork alone to pay punitive damages of $2,000,000.

Gonzales testified that he had gone to Nork in 1967 with spondylolisthesis, or forward slippage , of the fifth spinal vertebra. Often, this condition requires no treatment at all. Surgery is considered only if there are persistent troublesome symptoms. Nork recommended a lumbar laminectomy, an extremely delicate surgical procedure that involves removing a portion of a vertebra and fusing the adjacent vertebrae.

Upon returning home from the hospital after a four-hour, unsuccessful operation, Gonzales spent most of his time in bed and complaining of pain in his back. He kept his children away from him for fear they would bump him and increase his pain; he became a heavy drinker and made three attempts at suicide. Because of his emotional anguish, Gonzales was unable to accept drug treatment for a testicular cancer discovered three years after the operation. As a result, doctors say, he now has only a 10% chance of surviving three years.

Nork, who has already lost previous malpractice suits for $495,000 and $595,000, acknowledged that he had performed the operation badly. He also testified that the reason for his incompetence was his dependence from 1963 through 1970 on "uppers and downers." He popped stimulants to relieve the depression that followed an illness, then took tranquilizers to calm himself down. Somehow he kept his habit hidden from both is wife and the hospital personnel. He also confessed that he had lied in his two previous malpractice cases. He did so, he claimed, at the urging of attorneys for his insurance company.

He apparently covered up his incompetence as well. Because his operations involved skeletal repair rather than removal of diseased organs, hospital pathologist had no indication that he was performing unnecessary surgery. In fact, in an inadvertent comment on the medical profession's ability --or willingness-- to police itself, several colleagues testified at the trial that Nork had a fine reputation.

Judge Goldberg made no attempt to conceal his dismay. In a 196-page decision (which will probably become final on Jan. 30), he branded the doctor "an ogre, a monster feeding on human flesh," who performed unnecessary surgery and did it badly "simply to line his pockets." He characterized the trial as "a Grand Guignol of medical horrors." He also criticized the hospital, which, he said, "has a duty to protect its patients from malpractice by members of its medical staff." Nork is under investigation by the state board of medical examiners, and action is being taken to revoke his license to practice. He also faces many more months in the courtroom. Some 30 suits, asking $20 million are still pending against him.