Clinic’s performance dangerously less than maximum, lawsuit says

Sex is the fuel that puts the sizzle in Las Vegas, so it should come as little surprise that business has been brisk at the Maximum Performance Medical Center.

A city that uses the female form in various stages of undress to endlessly promote itself and pander to the male fantasy seems like a natural place for a clinic specializing in the treatment of erectile dysfunction and premature ejaculation and promising sexual performances lasting 45 minutes or longer. One advertisement boasts the center can provide erections of three hours and more.

Its Web site proclaims: "This is the most medically sound solution available. No pain. No surgery. It will change your life forever with one appointment."

While Las Vegan Jeff Cross would take exception with the first statements, he'd surely attest to that last line. Visiting Maximum Performance Medical Center at 6380 W. Flamingo Road has changed his life, all right, but not in a good way.

In a lawsuit filed in Clark County District Court, Cross alleges medical malpractice, negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent hiring and fraudulent misrepresentation. In short, and with no pun intended, Cross got far more than he paid for on July 16, 2006, when he was treated at the clinic.

While Sir Isaac Newton discovered the law of gravity and found that what goes up must come down, it's clear he never visited the Maximum Performance Medical Center. Cross defied the law of gravity for so long he suffered from a condition known as priapism, which as everyone who watches television commercials knows is an erection that lasts more than four hours.

When he sought relief for the condition from the clinic, he alleges, the antidote he received failed time and again. His condition persisted intermittently until Oct. 9, 2006, when he wound up at University Medical Center. Since treatment from an actual urologist, according to the lawsuit, Cross is no longer able to perform sexual intercourse.

Through attorney Peter Christiansen, Cross alleges his current medical malady was brought on by malpractice at the clinic. While he was initially seen by an actual doctor, he was treated for priapism by an unlicensed employee after hours. It turns out priapism never rests and does not keep banker's hours.

Although several physicians are associated with Maximum Performance, the clinic isn't owned by medical professionals. According to court documents, it's owned by Las Vegan Lawrence Berry and California attorney Jeff Fromberg. In Berry's deposition, he said doctors associated with the "clinic" are contract workers. It appears no nurses or other persons with medical training are employed there.

In its response to the lawsuit, an attorney for the defendant counters that "Maximum Performance provides the overhead for physicians to practice in their field of medicine, which allows the physician to focus on the practice of medicine, as opposed to handling the daily responsibilities of running a business."

The defense has gone to substantial lengths to make it clear Fromberg no longer has a monetary stake in the company.

Although Fromberg maintains some of the company books, he swears he has no knowledge of its day-to-day operations, hyperbolic advertising campaign or the claims made on its Web site.

When Cross sought help back in 2006 and finally reached someone at the center, he was helped by an employee ironically named Dan Rescue. But Dan couldn't rescue Cross. In his deposition, Berry was compelled to admit he really didn't know whether his employees have any medical training at all.

For his part, Berry has no official medical background but owns 75 percent of Maximum Performance, which is licensed by Clark County as a "leasing" business.

Berry's no doctor, but he has been to "college," so to speak. He served 50 months in federal prison for a telemarketing-related mail fraud conviction, according to his deposition. Who knows, maybe he portrayed "Marcus Welby, M.D." at the Boron Playhouse.

It's probably no solace for Cross, but he's not alone in his lament. Discovery in the lawsuit has revealed others have sued Maximum Performance after being left in similar circumstances.

One physician sued in the case, Dr. Louis Vincent DiFrancesco, has already settled. Another affiliated physician is sure to feel the sudden urge to disassociate himself from the office.

That may soon leave Maximum Performance with a legal impotence that's impossible to cure.

John L. Smith's column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. E-mail him at Smith@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0295. He also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/smith/.