Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Arthur Ting is in the national headlines today for two reasons – having performed several recent surgeries on the knee of baseball’s all-star slugger Barry Bonds and for his problems with the Medical Board of California. While documents obtained from the Medical Board of California by general-interest reporters include 1993 allegations of Dr. Ting being “grossly negligent and/or incompetent in his treatment of a patient,” which resulted in probation, he continues to be the official team physician of the San Jose Sharks NHL and the San Jose Earthquakes MLS teams and the surgeon of choice for many professional athletes and motorcycle road racers. In fact, many of Dr. Ting’s professional athlete patients are repeat customers. “My experience with Dr. Ting has been nothing but good,” said racer Chris Ulrich, who is on the staff of Roadracing World Publishing, Inc. and has undergone several surgeries by Ting to repair crash damage. “He always gives me the best medical advice, not only for racing motorcycles but for life in general. I feel confident in letting him work on me. No matter what the injury, I feel based on my personal experience that he is always going to do what is best for me.” In addition to Ulrich, Dr. Ting is known to have consulted with and/or performed surgery on: five-time 500cc World Champion Mick Doohan, multi-time AMA Champion Miguel Duhamel, Suzuki MotoGP racers Kenny Lee Roberts and John Hopkins, Nicky and Roger Hayden, Eric Bostrom, Jason Pridmore, Jimmy Moore, Jamie Hacking, Kurtis Roberts, Craig Connell and Grant Lopez, among others. Pridmore credits Ting with saving his career following a serious leg injury suffered while training on a motocross bike about 10 years ago. “They (other doctors) said it was fixed, and it was healed,” Pridmore told Roadracingworld.com. “I went three months in an external fixator. They said my leg was fixed and it wasn’t. I went to see Dr Ting and he put me back together, and that’s the reason I’m still racing. That was in ’95. Since then he’s been there so many times for me, gotten me back on my feet, as he has a lot of the guys. “If Dr. Ting retired, I’d probably stop racing,” continued Pridmore. “I have so much confidence in him. I have 1000% faith in him. Unfortunately, I’ve seen him more than a lot of people.” Moore says that Ting helped him when his original doctor couldn’t, following a June 2003 crash that ultimately took Moore out of racing for more than a year. “The doctor that fixed my arm originally told me, ‘Jimmy, you have to understand that the break to your bone was really bad, which is why it’s taking so long to heal,'” Moore told Roadracingworld.com . “The bone got to 60% healed but there was this little gap that wouldn’t change, every time I went in to see him it was still there. It wasn’t healed and I tried to ride and I reinjured it, and then I went to Dr. Ting and he fixed it. “I gave that other doctor 9 months to get it right, and I trusted him.” Moore continued. “He couldn’t help me. Ting fixed it in 3 months to the day. That’s pretty straightforward. You’ve got 9 months and it’s still not right or 3 months and it’s done. There’s not much more to say. That’s the difference between Ting and other guys. Ting knows what is going on. He’s used to dealing with athletes and I think there’s a really big difference between the two.” Recent stories relating to Dr. Ting and his recent involvement with Bonds are here: ~http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/05/06/MNGKLCL3V11.DTL~ ~http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/baseball/mlb/05/05/bonds.surgeon.ap/index.html~ ~http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2054193~ ~http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/nl/giants/2005-05-05-bonds-surgeon_x.htm~
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