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Cardiologist expects to return to practice
BY PETER HULL, The Island Packet
Published Sunday, July 10th, 2005


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Hilton Head Island cardiologist James D. Johnston is seeking permanent residency in the United States after marrying an American citizen, according to court documents.
Johnston also states in the documents that he expects to resume the practice of medicine after completing an inpatient alcohol abuse treatment program. In an April 17 affidavit, he said he was "on the verge of completing my treatment program."

Hilton Head Regional Medical Center, where Johnston worked, said it had no comment on whether the hospital would reinstate Johnston's privileges to practice there.
"The hospital will not comment on speculation," said spokeswoman Kelly Presnell.

Johnston agreed last October to stop practicing medicine until he successfully completed treatment for alcohol abuse, according to the court documents. They were filed in 14th Circuit Family Court in connection with Johnston's effort to reduce child support and alimony payments to his former wife, Lynn K. Johnston.

Johnston says in the documents that he cannot continue to make the payments, which total $10,500 per month, because he has no income.

Exacerbating his financial problems are legal fees he is paying to lawyers, his affidavit states. He is paying lawyers to defend him against federal immigration charges that he falsely posed as a United States citizen when he actually is a Canadian citizen. He was indicted by a federal grand jury in Charleston last year and has pleaded not guilty to the charge.

In addition, he said, he is faced with legal expenses resulting from his efforts to become an American citizen and to get his medical license reinstated by the state Board of Medical Examiners.

Johnston remarried this spring -- his new wife is a U.S. citizen, court documents state -- and he has filed an application with the immigration service to remain in this country.

"At the present time, it does not appear that I am in imminent risk of being deported or forced to leave the United States," Johnston states in the April 17 affidavit. He said proceedings that could result in his deportation "are 'on hold' and I am pursuing avenues that may allow me to remain in the United States."

Johnston's Atlanta-based immigration attorney could not be reached for comment Friday.

His problems with the state Board of Medical Examiners over alcohol abuse reached a critical point last year when a nurse at Hilton Head Regional Medical Center reported that he appeared to be intoxicated late one night when he arrived in the emergency room to treat an 82-year-old heart attack patient.

As a result, Johnston is no longer part of an island cardiology practice, court documents state. His former medical partners have reorganized the practice and he doesn't expect to receive any further income from it, Johnston's affidavit states.

Nevertheless, he said he will seek a return to medicine.

"Upon completion of this treatment program, I will be eligible for reinstatement of my privileges to practice medicine," his affidavit says. "Upon resolution of my INS proceedings, I will be able to obtain employment again here, in my field."

In a separate matter, Johnston has denied allegations that a patient in his care died because the patient was not transferred to a better-equipped hospital quickly enough, according to a May 9 filing in the 14th Circuit Court of Common Pleas.

Sixty-one-year-old Terrence L. Linville began suffering severe chest pains that radiated into his left leg and arm, and he arrived at Hilton Head Regional Medical Center at about 4:45 p.m. Jan. 24, 2003, according to court documents. He spent more than three hours at the hospital before being taken to St. Joseph's/Candler Health System in Savannah, where he died.

His widow, Dorothy Linville, is suing Johnston, Dr. Jack C. Spencer and Hilton Head Regional Medical Center for medical malpractice on behalf of her late husband. She is seeking $10 million plus additional damages to be determined by a jury.

Spencer was the first doctor to examine Linville at the Hilton Head emergency room, seeing him at about 5 p.m., the suit claims. The doctor diagnosed him with a possible aortic aneurysm, a dangerous ballooning of the main artery leaving the heart. At about 5:10 p.m., Spencer consulted with the Savannah hospital, which agreed to accept Linville as a patient.

Shortly after speaking to the Savannah hospital, the suit states that Spencer spoke to Johnston, who said he would take over treatment and told Spencer not to transfer Linville to Savannah. Johnston arrived at the emergency room at about 6:41 p.m. but should have arrived within 30 minutes, according to the suit.

Linville left Hilton Head for Savannah at about 8 p.m., according to the suit, after Johnston diagnosed him with an aortic dissection, a condition that occurs when blood leaves the inner channel of the blood vessel and goes between the layers of the blood-vessel wall.