A Lawrence clinic should have been allowed to tell civil court jurors that Dr. Stephen Vierthaler was a bad doctor who deserved his 1996 firing, an attorney argued Wednesday before the Kansas Court of Appeals.

“Evidence of the facts of what the truth is ought to be admitted,” said J. Nick Badgero, attorney for Lincoln Center Obstetrics and Gynecology, now known as Lawrence Ob-Gyn Specialists.

But Vierthaler’s attorney told appellate judges that Lincoln Center agreed not to raise the issue during the August 2000 civil trial ” and that Vierthaler’s performance didn’t explain why the clinic tried to keep patients from contacting him after the firing.

“Mudslinging doesn’t get to the bottom line of whether Dr. Vierthaler was interfered with,” Lawrence attorney Bill Skepnek said.

Lincoln Center fired Vierthaler in July 1996, giving him 60 days of severance pay. He sued the clinic, accusing it of breach of contract and of trying to sever his contact with patients ” not allowing him to take their files, and not telling the patients where he could be found.

A Douglas County jury ruled against him on the contract issue (the contract said Vierthaler could be fired without cause, given 30 days notice) but awarded him $300,000 for the “tortious interference” claim. The clinic appealed.

Badgero said Wednesday that his clients agreed not to raise the “bad doctor” issue with regards to the contract, but they wanted to use it to explain why they prevented patients from seeing Vierthaler. District Judge Michael Malone wouldn’t allow that.

Badgero said Vierthaler had been the subject of a malpractice claim and had lost privileges at Lawrence Memorial Hospital.

“We had concerns,” Badgero said.

Skepnek said LMH quickly restored Vierthaler’s privileges after it was found an incident there had been the result of equipment malfunction.

He said Lincoln Center was dishonest with Vierthaler’s patients.

“Those patients were told, ‘We don’t know where Dr. Vierthaler is,'” Skepnek said. “Well, of course they knew where he was.”

The Court of Appeals typically takes six to eight weeks to hand down rulings after the cases are heard.