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PACE 10A THE BANKS COUNTY NEWS WEDNESDAY, JULY 23, 2008 BJC officials respond to lawsuit State's statistical register goes online Attorneys for BJC Medical Center, answering a malpractice suit filed against it and former sur geon Dr. Keith Ash, say the medi cal center did not contribute to or cause any of the alleged damages to the four plaintiffs. The medical center seeks a jury trial and an assessment of costs against the plaintiffs. The document was filed last week in response to a suit filed by Stephanie Floyd, Karen Hunter, Billy Ray Hawkes and Debra Kraft seeking actual and punitive dam ages for alleged malpractice by Ash. The suit was filed June 10 in the Superior Court of Jackson County. Ash resigned as BJC’s surgeon June 9. The primary allegations of the suit were against Ash; BJC was involved it its capacity as the insti tution that allowed Ash to per form surgery. The plaintiffs allege that the medical center failed to do its due diligence in check ing Ash’s background and provid ing him staff privileges. They also allege that the facility engaged in “racketeering” by supporting Ash and Ash’s Commerce Surgical Associates. The hospital’s attorneys denied all of those charges in a 35-page paragraph-by-paragraph response to the lawsuit. As for the allega tions pertaining to Ash, his work on the plaintiffs and their diagno ses, the response was, in effect, that the hospital was not in a posi tion to know whether the allega tions are true or false. Specifically though, the medical center denied that it began recruit ing Ash in early 2003, that Dr. Ash was the only general surgeon on staff, that he continues to do surgery at BJC, that the medical center was in a financial deficit for several years prior to Dr. Ash’s arrival, that he was the reason the medical center’s financial condi tion turned around, that the medi cal center promotes him and his practice, that he “at times will perform five or more general anes thesia cases per surgical day,” and that the medical center and Dr. Ash were in a “joint venture.” The suit suggests that Ash removed Floyd’s gallbladder unnecessarily and performed a Nissen fundoplication surgery for reflux during which she suf fered a perforated stomach and after which complications arose for which she was transferred to Emory University Hospital where she was a patient for two weeks. She seeks recovery of $282,804 in costs. In a fundoplication, the upper part of the stomach is wrapped around the esophagus, preventing Maysville officials to hold out-of-town meeting, retreat The Maysville City Council will have a retreat at Unicoi State Park and Lodge on Saturday, July 26, to discuss the 2008-2009 budget and future SPLOST projects. The meeting will be held in the board room at the Lodge from 10 a.m. to noon and from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. The Banks County News — your weekly source for news and sports Come See.... Arts and Antiques Festival at Commerce Crossing August 2 & 3 Exit 149 South - next to Outback Steakhouse Featuring Potter Holly Williams and “Raku-The Kung Fu of Pottery!!” Raku demonstrations only on Saturday. at DonByramArt Handcrafted Framing & Gifts 249 Pottery Factory Drive - Commerce 706-336-8080 donbyramart.com (across from the The Pottery on the way to Outback) Sarah's On the Jackson/Banks County Line In Maysville • Old Maysville Fish House 706-652-0070 Hours: Mon. through Fri. 6:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. • Sat. 6:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Sun. 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. • Fri., & Sat. Nights 5:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. FRIDAY NIGHT Italian / All-You-Can-Eat Catfish SATURDAY BBQ / All-You-Can-Eat Catfish Serving Daily Specials with a full Breakfast and Lunch Menu including a Children’s Menu! the reflux of acid from the stom ach and the sliding of the upper part of the stomach through the gap in the diaphragm. The suit also alleges that Ash recommended and performed the Nissen fundoplication on Hunter, after which she had difficulty swal lowing and required further surgery to relieve the problem. Her medi cal bills were put at $133,195. Hawkes claimed his stomach was perforated during the Nissen fundoplication surgery, and he ended up at the Medical College of Georgia Hospital where he had “multiple surgeries to repair the damage to his GI tract and attempt to rid him of infection.” His bills, including almost two months in the hospital, were put at $436,443. Kraft’s complaint is that she con sented for an operation to repair a ventral hernia, but after sur gery had the same hernia. The suit alleges that Ash “did not operate at the site” of her hernia, rather that he performed surgery “immedi ately superior to Ms. Kraft’s umbi licus,” which amounted to surgery “at a site to which she had not consented.” The complaint did not list damages, saying they “are not known at this time.” It considers the operation to constitute “bat tery.” Curious about how many votes George Busbee received when he ran for governor in 1974? Wondering how many times Mickey Mouse has been written in as a candidate for office? Answers to those questions and a plethora of others are available via computer now that the Georgia Official and Statistical Register is available online. It contains information not easily accessible elsewhere for today’s historians. The register is the main source of election statistics for the state. Its content and length have var ied over the years of its publi cation (1923 -1990), though in general the register has provided information on categories such as: state executive offices, boards and commissions; the state legislature and legislators, including short biographies with photos; elections; the state judiciary; Georgia’s fed eral representation; the University System of Georgia; county officers and data; and miscellaneous (e.g. flag, song, state symbols, poets laureate). The electronic version was digi tized by the Digital Library of Georgia from the print volumes, which are available in the UGA main library Georgia government documents collection. Users are able to search across the text of all the volumes (about 28,000 pages). The register can be accessed at http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/statreg- ister. “The register has become an his torical resource of particular inter est to genealogists, but it also lists, for example, all the banks, public libraries and newspapers in each county and the poets laureates for the state,” said Susan Tuggle, a ref erence librarian who coordinates the Georgia government publica tions site in the Digital Library of Georgia. “It cumulates elected officials so you can see who was in office at a given time.” Compiled every two years by the Georgia Archives (formerly the Department of Archives and History), it was not a handbook that explained the workings of the state government for the uniniti ated, but rather a kind of direc tory or state of the state with a concentration on the officials who guided it. Legislator and other official biog raphies included photos beginning in 1951. The amount of information was reducing starting with the 1979-1980 volume and the pro jected ended with the 1989-1990 volume. Post-1990 information is best obtained from state govern ment web sites and the Georgia Government Publications database at http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/ggp. €all 706-367-5233 to subscribe to The Banks County News today! www.banksnewsTODAY.com • NO BEER OR WINE SOLD • CLOSED ON SUNDAYS •NO LIMITS • NO GIMMICKS • NO SALES TO DEALERS Fresh (never frozen), Boneless, Chicken COMMERCE VILLAGE ■depress 0 COMMERCE, GA. 1 99 Lb. ATM/DEBIT CARDS ACCEPTED / I I \ PRICES GOOD JULY 21.2008 - JULY 26.2008 • WE HONOR WIC COUPONS AND ACCEPT FOOD STAMPS I l \ Black Canyon Angus, Boneless, Beef Bottom Round Roast \ x Black Canyon Angus, Boneless Top sirloin Steak 99 Fresh (never frozen), Bag Leg Quarters < Lb. Family Pack, Fresh 1 Ground m Boston Butt Pork Roast $-|29 \ 79 Lb. Boston Butt Pork Roast All Flavors *1 Lb. 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