DOCTOR TESTIFIES LEWIS ADMITTED DRUG USE

BOSTON - The cardiologist at the center of the malpractice suit stemming
from the death of Boston Celtics captain Reggie Lewis gave a detailed
account Tuesday of the day he says the player privately confessed he was a
cocaine user.

On the witness stand in his own defense, Dr. Gilbert Mudge said he and Lewis
were sitting in a car at Brandeis University when he asked the NBA All-Star
if he had used the drug in the past.

First, Lewis quickly changed the subject, Mudge testified. Next, a young fan
tapped on the car window and asked the athelete for an autograph. Then,
Mudge said, the doctor reminded Lewis he hadn't answered the question.

"He nodded his head and said yes," Mudge testified.

Two weeks later, on July 27, 1993, Lewis died of a cardiac arhythmia while
practicing jump shots. He was 27.

Lewis' widow sued Mudge and two of his consultants, Drs. Peter Friedman and
Mark Creager, claiming they misdiagnosed and mistreated her husband. A third
consultant settled with Donna Harris-Lewis for an undisclosed sum.

Mudge has claimed Lewis' alleged late admission of drug use made an accurate
diagnosis impossible.

In the months before Lewis died, Mudge had announced Lewis had a
neurological condition that causes fainting spells and predicted Lewis
would play professional basketball again.

That finding went against an earlier diagnosis by a "Dream Team" of top
doctors who said Lewis had a life-threatening, potentially career-ending
arrhythmia, or abnormal heartbeat. That diagnosis came after Lewis collapsed
during a playoff game in April 1993.

Mudge, head of the cardiac transplant unit at Brigham and Women's Hospital,
said he was not surprised by Lewis' admission of cocaine use.

"There are many wonderful people who have abused cocaine," he said, adding
that he told Lewis they would have to meet again to discuss a future
treatment regimen in light of the admission.

That meeting, he testified, was scheduled for July 28 - the day after Lewis
died.