Football
Associated Press 16y

Barry Bonds' doctor in awkward position if called to testify

SAN FRANCISCO -- Barry Bonds' entourage would arrive at
BALCO on Saturdays and after hours so that the slugger could have
his blood and urine samples collected in peace.

Dr. Arthur Ting was part of a group that arrived at the Bay Area
Laboratory Co-Operative's Burlingame headquarters in November 2001.
The doctor that day drew Bonds' blood, an unusually pedestrian lab
technician role for an otherwise prominent orthopedic surgeon to
the stars.

But then Ting is known to go out of his way to cultivate rich
and famous patients.

He once cleared his clinic's schedule and sent a limousine to
pick up Siebel Systems Inc. founder Tom Siebel to squeeze in a
last-minute shoulder operation so the Silicon Valley billionaire
could recover in time for a golf tournament, according to press
accounts.

Ting also hosted a birthday party at his Woodside home for
former San Francisco 49er great Roger Craig and counted as patients
former 49er quarterback Joe Montana and Hall of Fame running back
Barry Sanders, whom Ting befriended while Sanders was still in
college.

But the relationship Ting carefully cultivated with Bonds over
the last decade -- including performing at least three surgeries on
the home run kin -- has put him squarely in the middle of the
federal government's perjury case against Bonds.

According to the federal indictment unsealed earlier this month
charging Bonds with perjury and obstruction of justice, two BALCO
tests Ting helped conduct in 2001 came back positive for steroid
use. Those failed tests will be used to bolster the government's
position the Bonds knowingly took steroids, legal experts said.

Ting also operated on the injured elbow Bonds blew out in 1999.
According to Bonds' former girlfriend, the slugger blamed the
injury on steroids, complaining that the elbow couldn't handle the
new muscle he had added.

So it came as little surprise when Ting was called last year to
testify before the grand jury investigating Bonds for lying under
oath about his steroid use. Bonds testified he unknowingly took
steroids given to him by his personal trainer -- an alibi
prosecutors charge is a lie.

Now, Ting's expected to be a vital, if reluctant, witness for
the government if Bonds goes to trial.

Ting's attorney Daniel Alberti confirmed Ting is still Bonds'
doctor, which might put Ting in an awkward position.

Since there is no protection in federal court for doctors
testifying against their patients like there is between lawyers and
their clients, Ting has little choice but to tell investigators
what -- if anything -- he knows about Bonds' alleged steroids use.

"The doctor can't try and protect Bonds," said Golden Gate
University law professor Peter Keane, a former San Francisco public
defender. "The prosecutors will treat Ting like any other witness.
If he doesn't tell the truth, he could be prosecuted for perjury;
if he doesn't testify, he could be held in contempt."

He also had to turn over Bonds' medical file to investigators
before he testified before the grand jury in April 2006. Three
months later, his son Ryan quit the USC football team after testing
positive for steroids.

One topic Ting likely will be asked to discuss is the dramatic
change he personally witnessed of Bonds' body.

When Bonds broke into baseball with the Pittsburgh Pirates in
1986, he weighed about 180 pounds. When Bonds chugged around the
bases Aug. 7 after slugging home run No. 756, the San Francisco
Giants listed his weight at 228 pounds.

The San Francisco Chronicle has reported that Bonds' jersey size
ballooned from a size 42 to a size 52 and that his shoe size went
from a 10 1/2 to a size 13 cleats. Most telling was the growth of
Bonds' head, which the Chronicle reported increased from a cap size
of 7 1/8 to 7 1/2, even though Bonds now keeps his head shaven.

This new and unwanted attention also has dredged up several
unsavory incidents in the doctor's past, including two California
Medical Board reprimands and a lawsuit filed against his former
clinic involving billing issues.

According to Derek Longstaff, the attorney who represented
Ting's three aggrieved patients, the Palo Alto Medical Foundation
would bill the patients for appointments that didn't happen. The
patients settled the lawsuit, which didn't name Ting as a
defendant, and he left the foundation after the medical board began
its investigation. Ting now has his own thriving sports medicine
practice in Fremont.

The Medical Board reprimanded Ting in 1996 and again in 2004,
when the California Attorney General alleged he "prescribed
dangerous drugs and controlled substances to friends and
acquaintances, particularly athletes, for whom he kept no medical
records of for whom the medical records were fictitious,
inadequate, or inaccurate."

The drug allegations were dropped as part of his agreement in
2004 to admit to improperly supervising a subordinate. He paid a
$15,000 fine and was placed on probation through 2009, which
allowed him to retain his medical license and continue to see
patients.

Ting didn't return telephone calls, and his attorney declined
comment other than to note Ting is highly respected in the medical
community.

He serves as team doctor for the San Jose Sharks and the San
Jose SabreCats of the Arena Football League. Ting's also listed as
team orthopedist for the San Francisco City College football
program.

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