A jury has ruled in favor of an anesthesiologist who allegedly misrepresented his qualifications to perform minimally invasive spine procedures in the surgery center he owns in Bothell, Wash.

Steve Gibson, Lynne Blotch and Jason Pettis sued Solomon Kamson, MD, PhD, MHA, FIPP, FRCS, in the Superior Court of Washington, Thurston County, in 2008 for false advertising and allegedly failing to tell his patients that he didn't have adequate qualifications to perform endoscopic discectomy and intradiscal electrothermal therapy (IDET) procedures. The plaintiffs claimed that Dr. Kamson "misrepresented his qualifications and made deceptive promises," according to the West's Jury Verdicts court reporting service.

Dr. Kamson is a board-certified anesthesiologist with subspecialty certification in interventional pain medicine. However, he does not have the same experience and training as an orthopedic spine surgeon or neurosurgeon, according to the State of Washington Department of Health.

A jury in Olympia, Wash., sided with Dr. Kamson in April. Attorneys for Dr. Kamson and the plaintiffs did not respond to requests for comment for this article.

In November 2006, Dr. Kamson's license was suspended for 2 1/2 months, and he had to pay a $5,000 fine after he allegedly performed unnecessary endoscopic discectomy procedures on 3 patients, according to the health department.

State health records show that Dr. Kamson operated on the patients without the proper pathology studies beforehand, that he didn't tell the patients of all the risks of endoscopic spine surgery and that, as an anesthesiologist, he didn't have the same surgical training as a spine surgeon or neurosurgeon.

In January 2007 the anesthesiologist's license was reinstated under the conditions, which are still in place, that before he performs any endoscopic discectomies, the patient must receive a second opinion from a neurosurgeon and prepare an outcomes study. The conditions of this license probation will be in effect until 2012, according to health department documents.

Calls to Dr. Kamson and his attorney for comment were not returned.

Kent Steinriede

More breaking news