2 THE STATE OF OHIO,
SS:
3 COUNTY OF CUYAHOGZ-@.)

4
IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS
5
KEITH E. JONES,
6

7 Plaintiff,

8 VS. Case No. 90952

9 BEN D. ORTEGA, M.D. , et al , Robert M. Lawther

10
Defendants.
11

12
DEPOSITION OF DR.  RUSSELL W. HARDY
13
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1986
14

15
Deposition of Russell W. Hardy, a
16
witness called for examination by the Plaintiff
17
under the Ohio Rules of civil Procedure, taken
18
before me, Richard G. DelMonico, a Registered
19
Professional Reporter and Notary Public within
20
and for the State of Ohio, pursuant to notice,
21
at The Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio,
22
commencing at 1:30 p.m. the day and date
23
above set forth.
24

25

I

2


2 APPEAR AN CES

3 On beh al f of th e Pl ai nt i f f

4 FRED WEISMAN, ESQ. and
JED WEISMAN, ESQ.
5 Weisman, Goldberg & Weisman
540 Leader Building
6 Cleveland, Ohio 4 4 1 1 4

7
On behalf of the Defendant
8 Dr. Ortega:

9 JEROME S. KALUR, ESQ.
Jacobson, Maynard, Tuschman & Kalur Co.
10 200 Erieview Plaza
Cleveland, Ohio 4 4 1 1 4
11

12 on behalf of the Defendant
Bethandale Corp.
13
MATTHEW J. HATCHADORIAN, ESQ.
14 Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease
2100 One Cleveland Center
15 1375 East 9th Street
Cleveland, Ohio 4 4 1 1 4 - 1 7 2 4
16

17 On behalf of the Defendant
Huron Road Hospital:
18
JAMES L. MALONE, ESQ.
19 Reminger & Reminger
113 St. Clair
20 Cleveland, Ohio 44114

21

22

23

24

25

3

2 MR. FRED WEISMAN: The record
3 should show this deposition is taken by
4 agreement between counsel for each and
5 all of the parties to this law suit.
6 There is a waiver with respect to any
7 possible defect, I take it, in
8 connection with service or notice.
9 MR. KALUR: That's correct.
10 MR. FRED WEISMAN: Everybody
11 agreeable?
12 MR. HATCHADORIAN: Agreed.
13 MR. MALONE: Yes.
14
15 RUSSELL W. HARDY, M.D.
16 of lawful age, called as a witness by the Plaintiff
17 pursuant to the Ohio Rules of Civil Procedure,
18 being by me first duly sworn, as hereinafter
19 certified, deposed and said as follows:
20 DIRECT EXAMINATION
21 BY MR. FRED WEISMAN:
22 Q. State your name and your residence address,
23 doctor, and your professional address, please?
24 A. Russell Willis Hardy, 16628 Aldersyde
25 Drive, Shaker Heights, Ohio. The prof essional
4
1 address is Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio.

2 Q - Your speciality I know is neurosurgery.

3 How long have you been a physician and how long

4 have you been in the neurosurgical field?

5 A. II ve been a phy si ci an since 1 96 5 and 1

6 completed my training in neurological surgery in

7 1 97 3 .

a Q. I was handed a copy of your CV or

9 professional resume. I take it it is current?

10 A. It is current as of January 1st.

11 Q. This year?

12 A. Yes, sir.

13 Q. And with all of your publications, up to

14 January lst of this year?

15 A. That does not include any publications for

16 this year.

17 Q. Did you write any this year, have any

18 published this year?

19 A. I have a chapter in press on the treatment

20 of lumbar disk disease.

21 Q. Have you ever done any writing on any

22 matters that are germane directly or indirectly

23 to this particular situation that we are dealing

24 with in this law suit?

25 A. Well, indirectly I have a great many

5
1 publications on surgery of the lumbar spine and

2 the thoracic spine, one of which is in the press

3 and not in that CV.  I don' t recall any on the

4 cervical spine.

5 Q. Do you operate and have you operated on the

6 cervical spine as well as the lumbar spine?

7 A. Yes, yes.

8 Q. And have you done this particular operation

9 we have heard referred to as the Cloward

10 procedure?

11 A. Yes.

12 Q. How many of those have you done in your

13 career?

14 A. I do approximately 10 to 20 of these per

15 year, so over 13 years of neruosurgical practice,

16 I suppose I have done somewhere between 100 and

17 2 0 0 .I haven't counted them precisely.

18 Q. All Cloward?

19 A. There are several techniques to do anterior

20 inter-body diskectomies and fusions.  The Cloward

21 technique refers to an anterior diskectomy

22 referring to a certain set of instruments. All

23 of these procedures are anterior diskectomies and

24 fusions by one particular technique or another.

25 Q. In principle therefore essentially --

6
1 A. In essence these are all the same

2 operations, yes.

3 Q. Have you read Cloward?

4 A. And many of these are using the specific

5 Cloward instrumentation.

6 Q. Have you read Cloward's articles?

7 A. I have read some of his articles, yes.

8 Q. Do you regard him as an authority?

9 A. He is certainly an authority on the Cloward

10 technique, some of his writings on anterior

11 diskectomy and fusion are not entirely accepted,

12 I think.

13 Q. You may disagree with some of the things he

14 says, in other words in his articles that you

is have read?

16 A. It is conceivable.

17 Q. And you certainly have the right to do that

18 on any wri