By Judy Foreman, Globe Staff, 05/09/00

Members of Boston's medical establishment breathed a collective sigh of relief yesterday at the news that one of their number, Dr. Gilbert H. Mudge Jr., had emerged from a bruising jury trial intact - and that a jury of lay people was able to distinguish between a tragic outcome and negligence.

Several Boston-area cardiologists strongly agreed with the jury's 13-to-3 vote to clear Mudge of negligence in his treatment of former Celtics star Reggie Lewis, who collapsed in 1993 while shooting baskets then died. The first trial ended in a hung jury last year.

"I think a fair process was followed," said Dr. Deeb Salem, chairman of medicine at New England Medical Center. "It's sort of reassuring . . . to see a jury - two juries, really - focus on the facts. Obviously, the [medical] outcome was terrible, but outcome alone is not a reason for malpractice."

There is enormous relief within the medical world "that this whole episode is over, in terms of the publicity," Salem added. "Hopefully, this will allow Mudge to move on. The whole cardiology community has been touched by this, and I think most everyone is relieved."

Lewis died just weeks after Mudge had declared publicly that he had a "normal athlete's heart." Mudge said Lewis had a benign fainting condition called neurocardiogenic syncope, but later testified that he also was considering a second diagnosis of a potentially fatal heart-rhythm disturbance.

Dr. Thomas Graboys, director of the Lown Cardiovascular Center at Brigham and Women's Hospital, suggested that Mudge should not have had to face a second trial.

"I think those of us who have been monitoring this in the last trial were increasingly aghast and embarrassed that he should have been subjected to this trial," he said.

"Dr. Mudge adhered to the standard of care from the get-go," Graboys continued. "He carried out each and every test that was indicated. His decision to essentially manage Mr. Lewis based on the possibility of two problems was entirely reasonable, and, in fact, is the kind of approach we take with most of our patients." Graboys was a member of the "Dream Team" that originally diagnosed Lewis with a potentially fatal heart arrhythmia.

Dr. Stephen Oesterle, director of invasive cardiology at Massachusetts General Hospital, also expressed relief that Mudge's trials appear to be over.

"Dr. Mudge is one of the most respected and careful cardiologists in the country," Oesterle said. "In retrospect, his diagnosis may not have been correct, but there was no evidence I saw that he was careless or negligent."

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