Dentist’s former patients will take the stand

A Spokane judge has ruled that three former patients of Dr. Patrick Collins will be allowed to testify this week about their negative experiences with the Spokane dentist.

They are expected to say during the rebuttal phase of Kimberly Kallestad’s malpractice trial that the oral surgeon told them he’d be their “hero” and fix their jaws, but then called them “babies” or “drug-seekers” when they reported ongoing pain – and were told they were the only patients with bad results.

Kallestad, 29, has testified – and Collins has denied – that he made similar reassurances to her and then told her the disabling pain she experienced after surgery was “all in her head.”

The ruling by Spokane County Superior Court Judge Michael P. Price came late Tuesday after a dramatic day in court where Collins’ lawyer, John Versnel III, demanded a mistrial over a reference to a previous lawsuit against Collins and dueled with plaintiff’s lawyer Mary Schultz over the additional testimony.

The potential rebuttal witnesses waited in the hallway for hours as the legal motions were debated. One, Ella Mae Porter, who will be allowed to testify, held an ice pack to her left jaw and said she was “having a bad day.”

In arguments with the jury excused, Versnel told Price the rebuttal testimony was an improper effort to “make Collins look like a jerk.”

“This is Kimberly Kallestad’s case against Dr. Collins – and that’s what should be tried here,” Versnel said.

Most of the new patients have come forward since the trial began and she wasn’t aware of them when the case was filed in 2004, Schultz said.

“Dr. Collins’ credibility is the issue here” and she is entitled to bring in the other patients to rebut Collins’ denials that he belittled patients’ pain and referred to himself as a “hero,” Schultz said.

“Here are the people who will say, ‘That’s the word he used,’ ” Schultz said.

Price apologized to the lawyers for waiting until the end of the trial to rule on the inclusion of the additional patients, but said he now has a complete understanding of the case after weeks of testimony.

“Trial by ambush” is no longer condoned and it’s the court’s role to “level the playing field” to assure a fair trial and one in which the jury gets to hear all the relevant evidence, he said.

The patients who have “come out of the woodwork” during the trial represent a surprising twist, Price noted.

He said he’ll allow limited testimony from three former patients, but won’t permit any discussion of the types of procedures they underwent in Collins’ office.

The jury also will hear from Tracy Finley, a former Collins employee who also underwent a surgical procedure.

Finley’s jaw fused shut – a condition called ankylosis – after the operation, about the same time Kallestad’s jaw began to fuse shut, Schultz said in court.

Finley was supposed to testify Tuesday as a defense witness but didn’t show up, apparently telling Versnel she no longer wished to appear.

Price said that’s common in criminal trials and he’d “deal with it” to get her to testify in the civil trial.

“I don’t think counsel (Versnel) has attempted to prevent the witness from testifying,” Price said.

Schultz wants to question Finley on informed consent practices in Collins’ office.

Kallestad has testified she wasn’t fully informed of the risks of her surgeries and was given some consent forms with blank lines that were filled in later.

Collins has told the jury the risks of Kallestad’s four surgeries were discussed fully, but has admitted under cross-examination that he didn’t inform Kallestad of some of the steroid injections he gave her during the major surgeries.

Also Tuesday, Versnel called for a mistrial after Schultz, in cross-examination, referred to an August 2000 lawsuit filed against Collins by former patient Kathrene A. Arrington for a fused jaw following surgery in 1997.

Versnel objected, saying the jury shouldn’t have heard about the lawsuit and a mistrial should be declared.

Arrington withdrew her lawsuit in 2001 with no settlement.

Schultz said she referred to the lawsuit to rebut a statement by Collins that he had had “no idea” what was going on when Kallestad’s jaw began to fuse shut in 2001.

“Had Collins testified more truthfully, none of this would have happened,” Schultz added.

Price denied Versnel’s mistrial motion.

Price said he’d already allowed “limited probing” of Collins’ negative outcomes through testimony from two other Spokane dentists, but mention of a lawsuit is unfair because it “plants a word in jurors’ minds that there’s something wrong.”

However, the jury reference doesn’t amount to reversible error, Price said.

He allowed Collins, under questioning from Versnel, to tell the jury the lawsuit had been dismissed.