Settlement Ends Malpractice Case

A Wallace woman who claims to have suffered brain damage as a result of poor hospital care has reached an out-of-court settlement.

Linda Walks and her husband, David, sued the Silver Valley Medical Center and Dr. Chris Christensen over the alleged malpractice that occurred in April 1996.

A trial had been set for March 1 in 1st District Court. However, the case was dismissed Jan. 27. David Walks confirmed Friday that there was a settlement, but said he wasn’t free to say how much the defendants’ insurance companies will pay the couple.

He said that the money, plus investments, will allow him to retire from his teaching job and stay home to take care of his wife. She suffers continual short-term memory loss.

According to an Idaho Health and Welfare Department investigation, Linda Walks was among 10 patients put at risk in the Silverton hospital emergency room because medical staff was inadequate. She was taken there after suffering a seizure.

Christensen was the doctor on call, but did not come into the emergency room after being advised of Walks’ condition. He has insisted that Walks, then 51, got “absolutely the best treatment she could have gotten” despite his absence.

Silver Valley Medical Center closed in September, and is in bankruptcy proceedings.