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BOSTON, June 8 (UPI) _ Dr. Gilbert Mudge, the lead cardiologist being sued in the
1993 death of Boston Celtics star Reggie Lewis, has taken the stand in his own defense
at his medical malpractice trial in Boston.
Mudge again raised the possibility that
cocaine might have damaged the professional basketball player's heart.
"I was puzzled," Mudge said after
reviewing test results on Lewis's heart after the athlete collapsed during a playoff
game in 1993.
Mudge said the inconsistent tests results
made him consider cocaine as a cause.
He said the heart damage was "consistent"
with cocaine use.
Lewis's widow, Donna Harris-Lewis, has denied
her husband used cocaine, but Mudge previously said Lewis admitted to him in the
weeks before he died that he indeed had used the drug.
Mudge also testified about how Lewis came
to him in 1993 seeking a second opinion after the Celtics' "Dream Team"
of doctors said he had a potentially fatal heart ailment that threatened his playing
career.
Harris-Lewis accused Mudge and two consultants
of misdiagnosing her husband's heart ailment as a benign fainting disorder.
Lewis died three months later while shooting
baskets at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass. He was 27.
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