Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

courts:

Anesthesiologist who feds said was fall guy sues surgeons

A Las Vegas anesthesiologist filed a slander and conspiracy lawsuit in District Court late Tuesday against key figures in a federal investigation into corruption within the legal and medical professions.

The defendants in the suit include two Las Vegas spine surgeons, John Thalgott, a government witness in the investigation, and Mark Kabins, a defendant who was indicted last month.

The anesthesiologist, Dr. Daniel Burkhead, alleges in the suit that the two surgeons conspired with medical consultant Howard Awand and personal injury lawyer Noel Gage to falsely blame him for problems with August 2000 spine operations performed by the surgeons that left Melodie Simon paralyzed.

The false allegations, Burkhead says, have ruined his reputation in the medical profession.

Burkhead's suit mirrors allegations leveled by the government last month in Kabins' indictment.

Awand was named as a defendant in Burkhead's suit, but Gage was not named.

Criminal charges against both men were dismissed by a federal judge last year after the government refused to grant Kabins immunity to testify in the case. The government has appealed the dismissals.

In his suit, Burkhead alleges that Thalgott and Kabins participated in the scheme to avoid being sued by Gage on Simon's behalf.

Thalgott and Kabins secretly cooperated with Gage and Awand to provide "false and misleading" testimony in depositions blaming Burkhead for Simon's injuries, according to the suit.

Burkhead and his malpractice insurer ultimately settled a lawsuit over Simon's injuries.

Kabins has denied wrongdoing, but Thalgott has received immunity from the government to testify in the criminal case about the alleged scheme. He has not been charged.

Burkhead is suing the defendants for damages and wants an injunction to prevent them from continuing to disparage his reputation.

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