A Houston, Texas, orthopedic surgeon has filed a lawsuit claiming that he fears an ex-patient will carry out a revenge-style killing similar to one that took a local cardiologist’s life just one month (July 2018) before.
Orthopedic Surgeon Seeks Restraining Order on Former Patient
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Anthony Melillo, M.D. of Bay Oaks Orthopaedics & Sports filed a petition for a temporary restraining order and injunctive relief against David Stone, one of his former patients. Melillo claims that Stone has threatened him over the phone, distributed flyers with false statements, and picketed outside his office. Melillo has photos of Stone holding a sign that said, “Dr. Antonio Melillo has ruined my quality of life with botched and unnecessary surgery!” which was performed in 2015
Dr. Melillo signed an affidavit stating, “I am concerned for the safety of myself, my personnel, and my family based on the unpredictable and irrational nature of Mr. Stone’s behavior both now and in the past. Mr. Stone’s behavior is especially concerning in light of his apparent compliance with my attorney’s cease and desist letter until shortly after the murder of a prominent cardiologist by the family member of one of the cardiologist’s patients. I am concerned that Mr. Stone may be in the preliminary stages of a copy-cat revenge killing.”
Dr. Melillo’s mention of a “copy-cat revenge killing” refers to the death of Dr. Mark Hausknecht, a Houston cardiologist who was fatally shot on July 20. Hausknecht’s alleged killer was the son of one of his former patients who died during a surgery.
Stone’s attorney, Mark Bennett of Bennett & Bennett in Houston, Texas, filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that Stone is protected by his right of free speech, right to petition, or right of association.
Bennett told OTW, “Mr. Stone is no danger to anyone, and protesting outside Doctor Melillo’s office is as far as you could possibly get from ‘copy-cat.’ I think Dr. Melillo’s claim is at best a reflection of irrational fear, and at worst a specious excuse for trying to shut down Mr. Stone’s criticism of Dr. Melillo. Fortunately, due to Dr. Melillo’s ill-advised lawsuit, Mr. Stone’s story is getting more attention than it would have if he had not tried to silence Mr. Stone.”
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This is a fascinating development. In my practice we've seen similar outcomes with the revised protocol. The key differentiator seems to be patient selection criteria. Has anyone else noticed the correlation with BMI thresholds?
Great point. I'd push back slightly on the conclusion, the sample size in the cited study is too small to draw population-level inferences. That said, the directional signal is compelling and worth a larger RCT.
We implemented a similar approach last year. Early results are promising but we're still gathering 12-month follow-up data. Happy to share our protocol if anyone is interested.
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