Weis testifies he was warned of risks in surgery lawsuit

BOSTON -- Despite the potential risks, Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis decided to have gastric bypass surgery because he was afraid he would one day "drop dead" if he didn't lose weight.

Weis, who suffered life-threatening complications and nearly died after the June 2002 surgery, testified Wednesday in his medical malpractice case against two surgeons that he has struggled with his weight all his life.

"I've probably been on every diet known to mankind," he said in response to questions from his lawyer, Michael Mone.

Weis, whose father died of a heart attack at 56, said he worried he wouldn't be able to see his two children grow up or reach his goal of becoming a head coach.

"The foremost concern was that I was going to drop dead," Weis said when his lawyer asked about his motivation for the surgery.

Weis claims in his suit that Massachusetts General Hospital physicians Charles Ferguson and Richard Hodin acted negligently by failing to recognize life-threatening internal bleeding and infection two days after the surgery.

Defense lawyers have said the doctors cared for Weis properly and that he experienced one of the known complications of the surgery.

Weis spent more than a month in the hospital after the surgery, lost feeling in his feet, and has had mobility problems since the surgery. He still needs a golf cart to get around practice at Notre Dame, and standing for up to five hours straight during games causes him severe foot pain.

Weis, the former offensive coordinator of the New England Patriots, decided to have the surgery shortly after the Patriots' February 2002 Super Bowl victory over the St. Louis Rams.

"I was watching the DVD of the Super Bowl, and I just looked at myself on the sideline and I said, 'We got a problem here,"' Weis testified on the second day of the trial in Suffolk Superior Court.

He thought his weight, about 336 pounds at the time, was thwarting his career.

"I looked at the DVD and said, 'If I were hiring, I wouldn't hire him,"' he said.

William J. Dailey Jr., a lawyer for the doctors, suggested under cross examination of Weis that the surgery was successful because it helped Weis achieve his stated goals: He lost nearly 90 pounds and landed his dream job at Notre Dame.