Dr. Jan West, Kanye West’s deceased mom Donda’s plastic surgeon, made history on the Larry King show last night by being the first guest to walk off in 22 years. Larry asked his executive producer Wendy Walker toward the end of the show if a guest had ever left like that, and she said “You have been on the air now, Larry, for 22 years. And I have never seen a guest walk off… The only time I ever remember anything like this happening was one time, Vice President Gore was late and we put your children on for the first segment before he could get there.”

This was surprising to me, but Larry King is such a softball interviewer you could see how people would never get pissed off at him enough to leave. Adams delayed his appearance, and came on after the first commercial break, saying that he wanted to appear on the show, but that he would respect the wishes of the West family that he not talk about the case:

ADAMS: I — what I really want to say is I want to thank you for this opportunity. Basically, I had come here to talk about things in the press that aren’t accurate about me. But I have a tremendous amount of love and respect for the West family. And they’ve asked me not to go on. And I’ve said from the very beginning, I don’t have a side in this. They are my side.

And so I’m going to respect their wishes. And I’m going to apologize to you because I think I’m taking up your air time. But I will not be on the show and I will not discuss any of that. I’m going to honor their wishes, OK?

KING: Meaning, you won’t answer any questions about anything?

ADAMS: None. None.

[From CNN Transcript]

Adams went on to say that he would talk about what happened when the West family was comfortable with it and he ripped the microphone off and walked dramatically off stage. He didn’t get emotional or anything, but he did look and sound scared. The thing is, he was expected to at least address some of the many claims leveled against him, including multiple malpractice suits, several DUIs, the 100k in back taxes he owes, and his ex wife’s allegations that he physically assaulted her. He didn’t talk about any of that though, and just got the hell out of there, claiming he was doing it for the West family.

It’s more likely that Adams kept his mouth shut, something he hasn’t been able to do up until this point, due to a faxed letter from the West’s attorney that was received by his lawyer just prior to his scheduled appearance.

Adams’ attorney, Alan Tenenbaum, was on the show and confirmed that he did receive a fax from the West’s attorney, which came in right “as he arrived at [Larry King’s] office.” He said that it involved an issue of patient privilege, which is a civil matter, not a criminal matter, and he confirmed they could be sued for violating patient confidentiality. Adams had speculated earlier to the press that Donda died from a possible painkiller overdose, a statement that clearly violates patient doctor confidentiality. The West family has not yet announced a civil suit or an intent to sue.

Larry King said that the letter also threatened to go to the California Medical Board and have Adams’ license to practice medicine taken away if he continued to speak out about Dr. West’s case.

Adams could have talked about the other claims against him without violating Dr. West’s confidentiality, but he got scared and got the hell out of there. He does have a chance to speak out about the many stories about him that have been publicized as a result of this tragic case. He gave an interview to People Magazine that will appear in their next issue.

People senior editor Galina Espinoza was on the panel of experts commenting on Adam’s bizarre behavior on the show, and said that in that interview he dismissed the cases against him as “nuisance suits.” He also said that he never became board certified, something that is recommended but not required for physicians, because he didn’t think he needed to:

ESPINOZA: The DUIs he did not talk about. He did talk about a lot of the malpractice suits, and he dismissed most of them as “nuisance suits,” with his quote. And he did actually go on to say that in at least three cases where he did agree to a default judgment against him that if he had to do it over again, he wouldn’t do it, that he was an idiot for doing so. That was his explanation…

ESPINOZA: He was not board certified and we did ask him why he wasn’t. And he said that he did in fact start the process to become board certified, but things happened in his life. He had a serious illness. He wasn’t able to complete the process.

And then he went on to say, and I’m going to read this quote to you, saying that he wasn’t bothered by the fact that he does not have this credential, saying, we have made the board a tie to a certain level of competence, which I don’t really think is true.

So clearly, he did not think it was important for him to be board certified. He thought he was perfectly qualified.

[From CNN Transcript]

This guy is going down hard and he knows it. He must have been waiting for the axe to fall for the past few years and it was incredibly irresponsible for him to continue practicing medicine and behaving like an expert on television. Watching that show, he acted and behaved like a scared guilty person, and I hope that his license is revoked and that he’s sued into the ground. It won’t bring Kanye’s mom back, but their family might have a little justice.

Dr. Donda West’s funeral was held in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma yesterday. Kanye spoke at the ceremony, saying he hoped his mom would not “rest in peace, but rest in paradise.”

Here’s the video of Jan Adams walking off Larry King, thanks to TMZ: