Northwest Medical Center in Springdale, Ark., has asked a county court for a gag order to prevent a malpractice attorney from running ads in local newspapers looking for patients of spine surgeon Cyril Anthony Raben, MD.

The law firm running the ads represents Theresa Paulino, a woman who says she lost partial use of her legs and hasn???t been able to walk since 2006, when Dr. Raben performed a decompressive anterior cervical discectomy, spinal fusion surgery, and a pair of follow-up procedures as a result of complications, according to a report in the Northwest Arkansas Times. Ms. Paulino sued Dr. Raben, Oklahoma-based neuro-monitoring firm American Intraoperative Monitoring and Northwest Medical Center.

The lawsuits against Dr. Raben and American Intraoperative Monitoring were settled for an undisclosed amount in May and June. But since the lawsuit against the hospital still stands, the plaintiff???s attorneys from the Bailey & Oliver Law Firm are looking for patients who suffered complications after Dr. Raben???s surgeries.

During the week of July 7 to July 12, Bailey & Oliver ran ads in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and the Northwest Arkansas Times looking for former patients of Dr. Raben and accusing the hospital of "negligent credentialing" of Dr. Raben, according to the Times. The hospital???s attorney, Shannon Fant of the Bassett Law Firm in Fayetteville, called the ads "misleading, highly prejudicial and poisonous to the jury pool." She said that advertising during pending litigation is unusual, "especially where it appears in a county where the case will be tried by a jury."

—Kent Steinriede