HCA and LifePoint rethink W. Virginia Hospital deal

LifePoint will no longer be buying a troubled West Virginia Hospital as part of a five-facility deal with HCA. The chain had hoped to unload Putnam General Hospital in Hurricane, West Virgina, which faces epic legal problems as a result of a series of unnecessary and botched operations preformed by Dr. John Anderson King in 2002 and 2003. The hospital's potential liability in hundreds of malpractice cases filed in the wake of the scandal had been considered a serious obstacle to the deal. The Associated Press reported in April that King has legally changed his name and has moved to Alabama, where he continues to practice medicine.

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