Hundreds of lawsuits have been filed in Florida against a former orthopedic surgeon, R. David Heekin, M.D. as well as St. Vincent’s Medical Center, Inc. doing business as Ascension St. Vincent’s Riverside Hospital.
Lawsuits Pile Up Against Former Florida Orthopedic Surgeon
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The lawsuits allege Dr. Heekin caused countless injuries because he performed operations while suffering from a neurological condition. In 2021, after a State Board of Medicine investigation, Dr. Heekin relinquished his medical license.
Starting in 2000, Dr. Heekin performed all of his patients’ orthopedic surgeries at Ascension. Since that time, according to court documents, Dr. Heekin performed thousands of orthopedic surgeries.
Per the court documents, it is unclear when the issues began, but in his last few years of practice Dr. Heekin purportedly was “diagnosed with a progressive neurological condition that can cause problems with ambulation, balance, coordination, eye movements and overall cognition.”
Former patients allege that Ascension had knowledge of Dr. Heekin’s alleged condition and impairment. They also claim that patients of Dr. Heekin had a “significantly high and concerning re-admission and revision rate.”
One pending lawsuit was brought by a former patient who purportedly underwent a total left knee replacement performed by Dr. Heekin. The former patient alleges that during surgery Dr. Heekin caused their patella tendon to rupture. The former patient also alleges that Dr. Heekin “failed to properly reattach the patella tendon” of the former patient’s left knee. The former patient alleges that she had to undergo a revision surgery of her left knee with a different orthopedic surgeon due to the condition of her patella tendon.
The husband of the former patient supposedly spoke to Dr. Heekin immediately following the surgery. The husband claims that he observed Dr. Heekin “demonstrating obvious gait problems, appearing unsteady on his feet and the need to hold on to the furniture and the walls in order to balance himself and remain standing.” He also claims that Dr. Heekin was slurring his speech.
In addition to claims against Dr. Heekin, the former patient is also claiming that Ascension knew or should have known that Dr. Heekin “was unfit for the position of head of the orthopedic surgery department and unfit to perform any surgery on patients.”
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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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