Source: The Record
POINT PLEASANT - Following the lead of a Mason County physician, an Ohio man has brought a malpractice suit against a former Point Pleasant doctor, now living and working in Illinois, without filing a certificate of merit.

On Dec. 12, Ralph A. Barcus, of Gallipolis, Ohio, filed suit against Dr. Jack Levine. In his suit, Barcus, who is represented by Michael A. Eachus, of the Gallipolis law office of Eachus and Finley, named Pleasant Valley Hospital as a co-defendant. In his suit, Barcus, 65, alleges both committed malpractice when Levine in 2001 failed to remove the entire catheter he inserted into Barcus’ chest two years earlier.

Though he provided both defendants the requisite 30-day notice of a pending lawsuit, Eachus maintains that the malpractice was so obvious that a certificate of merit from a qualified physician in Levine’s field is not necessary. Eachus position is similar to one taken by Dr. Danny R. Westmoreland in his appeal to the state Supreme Court claiming that a 2003 law designed to curb malpractice cases actually hamstrings legitimate ones. [more]