PLED NO CONTEST TO ONE COUNT OF VIOLATING VEHICLE CODE SECTION 23152(b) (DRIVING WITH BLOOD ALCOHOL LEVEL 0.08% OR HIGHER). THREE YEARS INFORMAL PROBATION WITH TERMS AND CONDITIONS.
Did SLO County medical examiner skate on hit-and-run?
Local officials decided to look the other way after the San Luis Obispo County contracted medical examiner was involved in a hit-and-run on his way to an autopsy. Even so, officers did arrest Dr. Gary Alan Walter for driving with a .19 blood alcohol level.
SLO County pays Walter, who lives in Visalia, $200,000 a year to do autopsies, medical exams, file reports and testify in court, according to his contract. The coroner’s team generally conducts autopsies and medical examinations once a week at a medical examination facility located at 835 Aerovista Place in San Luis Obispo.
At about 7:45 a.m. on March 9, Walter was spotted speeding down Broad Street near Orcutt Road with a blown front tire and steam pouring from the front end of his Cadillac Escalade truck. By the time SLO City police officers arrived, Walter had pulled his truck over near Tank Farm Road, just a half of a mile from the county medical examination facility, the police report says.
Walter told officers he had no idea how his truck had been damaged. Walter claimed he had driven from the Starbucks at the Marigold Center. Officers searched Walter’s reported route for signs of an accident, but found no evidence.
Officers again asked Walter what route he had taken, and Walter changed his statement. He told officers he had driven down Broad Street from Higuera Street, according to the police report.
Officers then discovered debris from Walter’s truck in front of Big Sky Cafe on Broad Street. Officers determined Walter had struck a vehicle that had been parked in front of the restaurant, though it was no longer there, according to the accident report.
Nevertheless, the accident report recommends taking no further action. Walter was not charged with hit-and-run.
Walter told officers he had consumed two single-shot vodkas at a home he owns in Cambria between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. After sleeping for three or four hours, Walter said he headed for work.
Officers transported Walter to French Hospital Medical Center for a blood test that showed an alcohol concentration of .19. The test results contradict Walter’s statement to police because he would not have had a .19 blood concentration 14 hours after consuming two single vodka drinks.
Walter pleaded no contest to misdemeanor DUI and was sentenced to three years probation.
Because of Walter’s questionable statements to officers, the hit-and-run and driving to work while intoxicated, it is likely attorneys locally and in the Central Valley will question the accuracy of his reports and testimony.
Last week, Walter testified that Alvaro Medrano, 54, a man who lost his life in a bar fight, died from injuries suffered in a fall, rather than blows to the head. Sergio Aranda, 36, and Travis Woolf, 37, are currently on trial for voluntary manslaughter stemming from the fight. Walter’s testimony is a key component to the prosecutor’s case.
Nevertheless, Tony Cipolla, the SLO County Sheriff’s Department public relations officer, said the sheriff plans to continue working with Walter through the end of his contract in June 2017. Walter’s contract permits either party to terminate the agreement with or without cause with 90 days written notice.
“The sheriff’s office had serious discussions with Dr. Walter about our concerns regarding the incident,” Cipolla said. “Since he is contracted through June 2017, the sheriff’s office will continue to honor that contract. We recognize that people make mistakes that are out of character but that does not prevent us from having confidence in Dr. Walter and insuring (sic) this does not occur again.” (LINK)—5/16/2016
Family of inmate who died in SLO County jail disputes findings of coroner with DUI record
Attorneys for the family of an inmate who died in San Luis Obispo County Jail in January are challenging the county’s ruling that the death was “natural,” after they learned the state medical board filed disciplinary proceedings against the pathologist who performed the autopsy.
Andrew Chaylon Holland was held in the jail’s “drunk tank” in a restraint chair for nearly two days, then died about 20 minutes after being released from the restraints Jan. 22.
Records obtained by The Tribune show that County Jail staff had been told four months before, in September 2016, not to restrain inmates inside the sobering cell, which is designated only for unrestrained inebriated inmates.
Records also show that a judge had issued an order Jan. 10 for Holland to be transported to the county’s inpatient mental health facility and administered antipsychotic drugs. Holland was never taken to the mental health facility, although there was room available, and there was no evidence in the coroner’s toxicology report that Holland had antipsychotic drugs in his system at the time of his death.
The coroner’s report listed Holland’s cause of death as an intrapulmonary embolism, which the National Institutes of Health says usually begins as a blood clot in a leg vein and can be caused by extended time sitting or lying down.
County officials said in a statement Friday that they are reviewing all restraint policies and Sheriff Ian Parkinson has suspended all use of restraint chairs in the jail.
Challenged report
In an April 10 filing, the State Medical Board accused Dr. Gary Walter, a Coroner’s Office-contracted medical examiner who performed the autopsy on Holland, of endangering the public after a misdemeanor DUI conviction in May 2016.
According to court records, Walter was arrested March 9 after officers pulled him over and he blew a 0.155 BAC. Walter allegedly told the responding police officer that he was a medical examiner on his way to work. He pleaded no contest in May to misdemeanor driving under the influence and received three years of probation, a fine and a three-month DUI class, according to court records.
Walter performed autopsies on at least five of the 11 inmates who have died in the jail since 2012, according to records collected by The Tribune.
For several years, Walter has been the primary forensic pathology expert for the county District Attorney’s Office in the prosecution of murder and other criminal cases.
In November, Walter contradicted his own autopsy report in testimony given at the murder trial of James Lypps, and the accuracy of his testimony has been previously questioned by several defense attorneys in San Luis Obispo Superior Court.
In December, the county Board of Supervisors approved a request from the Sheriff’s Office to hire a full-time staff medical examiner for the Coroner’s Office when Walter’s contract expires June 30. Walter was contracted at a fixed rate of $200,000 every two years.
Emails provided in a records request show the Sheriff’s Office offered Walter a last-chance agreement on March 29 to finish his contract.
Walter performed the autopsy on Holland on Jan. 25.
Holland family attorney Paula Canny alleges that, contrary to Walter’s finding in his report, Holland did not die of “natural” causes.
In a statement to The Tribune, Parkinson said Walter told him Holland’s “prolonged seated position is ‘possibly contributory’ to clot formation,” but that “the chair itself does not cause clots to form.” Parkinson wrote that Walter could rule the manner of death as natural, homicide, accidental, suicide or “unknown.”
“Drew died because of what humans did to his body, that is not natural,” Canny said. “I think (Walter) does have a bias if his employer who’s given him this (second chance) is responsible for the death of the inmate.”
Canny noted that Walter was on his way to work to do an autopsy when he was stopped for a DUI.
“If he couldn’t drive a car safely, what makes him think he can use a scalpel?” she said. “His reports can’t be trusted.”
In its April 10 filing, the State Medical Board’s deputy attorney general accused Walter of professional misconduct based on his arrest and is seeking a hearing to revoke or suspend Walter’s medical license.
‘The only remedy … is a lawsuit’
Other records obtained by The Tribune show that in September 2016, the Board of State and Community Corrections, the state agency that regulates and inspects county jails, found the San Luis Obispo County Jail in violation of seven sections of Title 15.
In a Sept. 21 biennial inspection, the field representative reported that jail staff was using the sobering cell to house restrained inmates, a violation of state law.
In response to questions Friday, county officials stated that Holland was in the cell because it allows “maximum visibility and offers direct observation” from staff working in that pod.
On Monday, a spokeswoman for the state corrections agency said the agency has received no proof of corrective action from the jail on any of the seven listed violations. In an attached email, an agency inspector wrote that it’s “not uncommon” for jails to not correct violations found in state inspections because compliance with adult Title 15 is “voluntary,” unlike juvenile facilities.
Asked what regulatory teeth the agency has, BSCC spokeswoman Tracie Cone wrote: “You have asked the perplexing question of our existence.”
Cone cited a state Attorney General’s Office opinion that said because the state agency does not fund jails to come into compliance, so it can’t force them to do so.
“The only remedy … is a lawsuit,” she wrote.
It’s unclear why Holland was never transferred to the county Behavioral Health Department’s inpatient Psychiatric Health Facility. Observation logs from the facility show that during each of the 12 days Holland was at the jail, at least one room was available at the facility.
In a response to questions Friday, the county administrative office wrote: “Holland was not transferred because Mental Health determined they did not have the capacity to take him.”
Jeff Hamm, the health agency director, clarified that it was for safety reasons: “There can be situations in which we appear to have a bed or two available on the PHF (licensed for 16 beds) but, because of the specific characteristics of the patients present, primarily related to the acuity of their illness, our medical director might announce that the facility is at its operational capacity, and impose extraordinary measures on additional admissions.
“That was the case on the weekend of Mr. Holland’s death.”
April 13, 2017: (Identity withheld pending family notification), 60. Cause not yet determined
Note: Unless otherwise stated, place of death was San Luis Obispo County Jail. (LINK)—4/14/2017
Visalia doctor’s DUI threatens license
A Visalia pathologist convicted of drunken driving in San Luis Obispo last year is facing disciplinary action by the Medical Board of California.
The doctor, Gary Alan Walter, operates a pathology lab in Tulare, Microcorre Diagnostic Laboratories, which serves as a contract medical examiner for sheriff-coroners in Tulare, Kings and San Luis Obispo counties as well as the Tulare Regional Medical Center and its clinics.
According to a contract with Tulare County approved in 2015, Walter’s lab provides pathology services to the coroner’s office, including medical inspections, full autopsies, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome cases, homicides, suicides and other cases with no medical history.
The contract is for $22,000 a month or $264,000 a year. Initially, county supervisors approved a two-year contract on 2013 and then extended it to 2017. Funds from the sheriff’s office operating budget were designated to pay for Microcorre’s contract. The contract expires on June 30.
In Kings County, Walter has worked under contract since at least 2015. According to the Kings County agreement, Microcorre’s compensation is $99,000 annually. And, like those in Tulare and San Luis Obispo counties, the agreement ends on June 30.
Walter is also a member of the TRMC medical executive committee, one of seven doctors appointed in January 2016 by the hospital board to supervise its medical staff. The board’s action appointing the seven is being challenged in court.
The Medical Board accusation, filed April 10, says Walter’s license to practice medicine could be suspended or revoked. Most likely, though, if the accusation is upheld he will be placed on probation. The Medical Board’s most recent annual report says 30 of 43 cases involving drug or alcohol abuse resulted in probation with practice uninterrupted. The accusation does not indicate any prior incidents involving Walter.
He was arrested on March 9, 2016, on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol.
The incident report from the San Luis Obispo Police Department says Walter’s vehicle, a 2007 Cadillac Escalade, hit a parked car at a downtown intersection shortly before 8 a.m. Walter told police he was on the way to work.
A police officer found Walter sitting in his car, parked but with the engine running, along a road 2.4 miles from the accident scene.
The police report said there was the faint odor of alcohol on his breath. It said Walter told the officer had “no idea” how his car was damaged and he gave conflicting reports on where he had driven from.
When officers checked the first location he mentioned, they found no evidence of a collision, but then, according to an officer’s report, “he changed his statement.” It was at a second intersection Walter provided that officers found debris that matched Walter’s vehicle.
The report said he failed field sobriety tests, was arrested and taken to a hospital for a blood test, which showed a blood alcohol content of .19%. Anything over .08% presumes the driver to be under the influence.
Walter wasn’t available for comment on Thursday. A phone message seeking comment wasn’t returned.
In addition to being a member of TRMC’s medical executive committee, he is also its vice chief of staff. He has been a member of the TRMC medical staff since 1984.
TRMC officials did not respond to questions about Walter’s arrest and accusations from the Medical Board.
In San Luis Obispo County, Walter has worked under contract as a forensic pathologist since 2005, according to a report in a local newspaper, the New Times. The paper said contracts it reviewed said he and Microcorre are paid $200,000 a year to conduct autopsies and provide other services, including testifying in court.
Walter testified in a deposition in the TRMC medical executive committee case that he works in San Luis Obispo County every Wednesday.
San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s spokesman Tony Cipolla told the New Times Walter was not on county business when he was arrested. “The Sheriff’s Office had serious discussions with Dr. Walter about our concerns regarding the incident,” Cipolla told the newspaper. He said Walter would finish out his contract with San Luis Obispo County.
The newspaper cited a 2013 report to the county board of supervisors that Walter was the only licensed forensic pathologist within 150 miles who does contract work.
San Luis Obispo County started looking for a full-time forensic pathologist more than a month ago. The county’s posting says it is ending 10 years of contracting services because of increased demand and newly opened facilities.
The Medical Board accusation is based on Walter’s conviction for driving under the influence of alcohol on his way to work. State codes say that constitutes unprofessional conduct by a doctor.
Medical Board disciplinary actions go through several administrative steps. The more serious are referred to the state attorney general’s office, where accusations are drafted.
The accusation against Walter will be heard before the Office of Administrative Hearing’s officer. Cassandra Hockenson, public affairs manager for the Medical Board, said the administrative hearing panel has a packed schedule and it could be several weeks before a hearing is scheduled.
“We have no control when it will be scheduled,” she said. (LINK)—4/21/2017
Embattled former SLO County examiner gets a break
The former San Luis Obispo County medical examiner, who came under scrutiny for misbehavior and questionable rulings on causes of death, can keep practicing medicine, despite having a DUI conviction.
On Wednesday, the California Medical Board adopted a decision to revoke the license of Gary Walter, but to stay the revocation and place Walter on probation for three years. The terms of Walter’s medical probation require that he abstain completely from consuming alcohol, complete an ethics course, go to therapy and undergo regular medical evaluations. Walter is also prohibited from supervising physician assistants.
In 2016, Walter was convicted of DUI and sentenced to two days in jail and three years probation. The conviction stemmed from a hit-and-run Walter committed in San Luis Obispo while on his way to perform an autopsy. At the time, he reportedly had a blood alcohol concentration of .19.
While the discipline from state medical board pertained to Walter’s DUI case, the medical examiner faced public scrutiny for multiple cause of death rulings. In early 2017, Walter ruled the SLO County Jail death of Andrew Holland was natural, even though deputies strapped him in a restraint chair for 36 hours before he died.
Also in 2017, multiple medical experts rejected Walter’s finding that a young Ventura woman died because of an LSD overdose at a music festival. Additionally, Walter was named in a wrongful death lawsuit over a man who died in Lemoore police custody.
The state medical board’s decision to place Walter on probation will take effect on April 6. (LINK)—3/10/2018
MEDICAL BOARD RECORD— 22439 DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS—License Active; current order
E-Town Doctor Charged With Dealing Prescription Drugs
An Elizabethtown doctor who should be prescribing medicine to those who need it is now facing charges of trafficking drugs here in Louisville. If convicted, Dr. David Dao could face up to 20 years in prison. WAVE 3’s Shannon Davidson reports.
A doctor accustomed to walking the halls of Hardin Memorial Hospital had to walk into a Jefferson County courtroom Monday facing several felony counts, including obtaining prescription drugs by fraud or deceit, trafficking in those drugs, and unlawfully prescribing them.
According to police, they caught Dr. David Dao, a 55-year-old pulminologist, selling Brian Case the painkiller hydrocodone, by reviewing surveillance video from the motel. They say he accepted $174 in exchange for the pills, which were in an unmarked bottle.
The video was not made available to WAVE 3 pending the investigation. But Dao’s lawyers say the video proves nothing. “This gentleman is innocent,” said Maury Kommor, Dao’s attorney. “We’re going to everything we can to prove that as quick as we can possibly show that, because in the meantime, his life’s on hold.”
Dao’s medical license remains revoked from the hospital pending the trial.
Brian Case, Dao’s co-defendant, also pleaded not guilty to his charges. (LINK)—10/20/2003
Doctor pleads not guilty in drug case
An Elizabethtown physician pleaded innocent to drug charges on Monday in Jefferson Circuit Court.
Dr. David Dao, 55, was arraigned on 15 felony drug charges. Two of his Louisville-based attorneys, Maury D. Kommor and R. Kenyon Meyer, appeared with him in court.
Dao’s co-defendant Brian Case, who is identified in documents from the state medical board as “Patient “A,” also pleaded innocent at the hearing. Case, of Nelson County, faces eight felony drug charges.
Dao and Case were allowed to remain free without posting bond. Both men are scheduled to appear for a pre-trial hearing on Nov. 17.
The two men were indicted after they were arrested in July by Louisville narcotics officers at the Red Carpet Inn.
“This gentleman (Dao) is innocent, and his life is on hold until this is resolved,” Kommor said.
Dao’s medical license was revoked by the state medical board following his arrest.
The medical board alleges Dao had a sexual relationship with CAse, and supplied drugs and money to him while Case was Dao’s patient. Dao and Case worked together to fraudulently obtain prescription drugs on numerous occasions over three years, the medical board’s report said. Dao allegedly wrote personal checks and prescriptions to Case in exchange for sex and part of the drugs, the report said.
Attorneys declined to address the sexual allegations raised in the report.
Case’s attorney, Michelle Sparks of Bardstown, said her client is, for the most part, a victim in the case. She said Dao as a doctor had much more power than CAse and “was controlling of him.” (LINK)—10/22/2003
Hardin physician faces new charges
A suspended Elizabethtown physician faces new charges of prescription fraud in an indictment issued yesterday by a Jefferson County grand jury.
He is accused of illegally prescribing and trafficking in prescription medication.
David Dao, initially indicted last year, now faces 13 counts of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud or forgery, six counts of prohibited activities relating to controlled substances, and one count each of conspiracy to traffic in a controlled substance (hydrocodone) and trafficking in a a controlled substance (hydrocodone).
Also indicted was Brian Case, who prosecutor Shane Young said was a former patient and office manager for Dao. Case faces 13 counts of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud or forgery and one count of conspiracy to traffic in controlled substance (hydrocodone). (LINK)—3/19/2004
Doctor pleads not guilty to 8 new drug charges
An Elizabethtown physician arrested on drug charges in Jefferson County has pleaded not guilty to new felony charges in Nelson County.
Dr. David Dao, 56, was charged with eight counts of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud and eight counts of complicity to obtain a controlled substance by fraud, If convicted, he could be sentenced to one to five years in prison on each count.
Court documents claim that Dao met with 26-year-old Brian Case of Bardstown repeatedly between May and July to obtain hydrocodone. Case faces the same charges as Dao.
The two were indicted on numerous drug charges in jefferson County after their July arrests at a Louisville motel. Dao and Case pleaded not guilty to those charges.
A state medical board report said that Dao supplied Case with drugs and money while case was his patient. Dao allegedly wrote personal checks and prescriptions to CAse in exchange for sex and part of the drugs, the report said.
Dao’s state medical license was revoked after his arrest. He is free on $5,000 bond. (LINK)—3/20/2004
Doctor indicted on felony drug charges
A Hardin County doctor has been indicted on more than 90 felony drug counts.
David A. Dao, 57, of Elizabethtown, faces 98 charges of illegally prescribing and trafficking prescription painkillers. Dao formerly worked at Hardin Memorial Hospital an downed a medical practice.
A co-defendant, Brian D. Case, 27, also was indicted on 33 felony drug charges.
Prosecutors allege that Dao and Case fraudulently filled prescriptions at various pharmacies in Elizabethtown for narcotic drugs such as hydrocodone, Oxycontin and Percocet.
He was acquitted of seven other counts of obtaining drugs through fraud and a trafficking charge.
Similar charges in Nelson County against Dao were dismissed.
Daos license currently is suspended by the state medical board. He is classified as inactive on the boards Web site.
Dao and Case are scheduled to be arraigned in Hardin District Court on Jan 24. (LINK)—12/31/2005
Elizabethtown Doctor Pleads Not Guilty to Dozens of Drug Charges
A Hardin County doctor has pleaded not guilty to more than 90 felony drug counts.
David Dao, 57, of Elizabethtown faces 98 charges of illegally prescribing and trafficking in prescription painkillers. Dao formerly worked at Hardin Memorial Hospital and owned a medical practice.
A co-defendant, Briab Case, has also pleaded not guilty in Hardin Circuit Court Tuesday on 33 felony drug charges.
Prosecutors allege that Dao and Case fraudulently filled prescriptions at various pharmacies in Elizabethtown for narcotic drugs such as hydrocone, oxycontin and percocet.
Dao is appealing a conviction in Louisville on charges of writing prescriptions and checks to a patient in exchange for sex and part of the drugs the patient obtained with the prescriptions.
Similar charges in Nelson County against Dao were dismissed. (LINK)—1/25/2006
United Airlines Passenger Is Dragged From an Overbooked Flight
The disturbing scene captured on cellphone videos by United Airlines passengers on Sunday went beyond the typical nightmares of travelers on an overbooked flight.
An unidentified man who refused to be bumped from a plane screamed as a security officer wrestled him out of his seat and dragged him down the aisle by his arms. His glasses slid down his face, and his shirt rose above his midriff as uniformed officers followed.
At least two passengers documented the physical confrontation and the man’s anguished protests, and their videos spread rapidly online on Monday as people criticized the airline’s tactics. A security officer involved in the episode has been placed on leave, the authorities said, and the federal Transportation Department is investigating whether the airline complied with rules regarding overbooking.
Tyler Bridges, a passenger on Sunday’s flight who posted a video to Twitter, said in a telephone interview on Monday that “it felt like something the world needed to see.”
The shocking scene raised questions about the common practice of overbooking and how far airlines will go to sell all of their seats. Particularly annoying, Mr. Bridges said, was that the airline was looking for extra seats for some of its employees.
The videos show a security officer removing the unidentified man from his seat and dragging him off the plane as he screams. The flight was scheduled to depart O’Hare International Airport in Chicago for Louisville, Ky., at 5:40 p.m. but was delayed two hours.
Charlie Hobart, a United spokesman, said in a telephone interview on Monday that “we had asked several times, politely,” for the man to give up his seat before force was used.
“We had a customer who refused to leave the aircraft,” he said. “We have a number of customers on board that aircraft, and they want to get to their destination on time and safely, and we want to work to get them there.
“Since that customer refused to leave the aircraft, we had to call” the police, and they came on board, he said.
The Chicago Department of Aviation said in a statement on Monday that the incident “was not in accordance with our standard operating procedure” and that an officer had been placed on leave pending a review of the matter. The department declined to identify the officer.
Airlines routinely sell tickets to more people than the plane can seat, counting on several people not to arrive. When there are not enough no-shows, airlines first try to offer rewards to customers willing to reschedule their plans, usually in the form of travel vouchers, gift cards or cash. The arrangement — which is usually negotiated before passengers board the plane — can belucrative to flexible travelers and is crucial for airlines to maximize profit.
“A bakery doesn’t want to have a lot of extra pastries at the end of the day they have to throw out,” said Seth Kaplan, managing partner at Airline Weekly, an industry publication. “To an airline, an empty seat is basically the same thing as stale bread. It’s something they can never sell again.”
But involuntarily bumping passengers is rare. In 2016, United involuntarily denied boarding to 3,765 of its more than 86 million passengers on oversold flights, according to the Transportation Department. An additional 62,895 people voluntarily gave up their seats.
The event on Sunday was the second social media stir for United in two weeks. In March, two girls were barred from a flightbecause they were wearing leggings, which the company said violated its dress code for a benefit for United employees and their dependents. Critics called the policy sexist and overbearing.
On Sunday, Mr. Bridges said that when he arrived at the gate about 20 minutes before boarding, United had announced that the flight was overbooked; the airline was offering $400 vouchers to anyone who would give up their seat, Mr. Bridges said.
As the passengers boarded the plane, “there was no indication anything was wrong,” Mr. Bridges said.
An airline employee came on board and said United needed four people to get off, Mr. Bridges said, adding that the airline had by then increased its incentive to an $800 voucher. The airline later said that it offered up to $1,000 in compensation.
Mr. Hobart, the United spokesman, confirmed that United sought passengers willing to give up their seats with compensation but that none stepped forward.
Another United employee told passengers that the plane would not leave until four people got off, Mr. Bridges said. The employee specified that the airline had four United employees who needed to get to Louisville, he said.
Four passengers were selected to be bumped, and three left without incident, Mr. Hobart said.
Mr. Hobart would not say whether the bumped passengers were chosen by a computer, an employee or some combination of the two. But factors can include how long a customer would have to stay at the airport before being rebooked, he said, and the airline looks to avoid separating families or leaving unaccompanied minors.
A United employee first approached a couple who appeared to be in their mid-20s, Mr. Bridges said, and the pair begrudgingly got off the plane. Then the United employee went to a man five rows behind Mr. Bridges and told him he needed to get off the plane. Mr. Bridges said the man told the employee: “I’m not getting off the plane. I’m a doctor; I have to see patients in the morning.”
Mr. Hobart said: “We explained the scenario to the customer. That customer chose not to get out of his seat.”
The United employee then told the man that if he did not get off the plane, she would call security. As she turned to leave, the man shouted after her, Mr. Bridges said. Specifically, he said, the passenger complained that he had been singled out because he was Chinese.
“It was really intense, really uncomfortable,” he said.
The situation also became uncomfortable for the United employees who then got on board and took the vacated seats, Mr. Bridges said. They were berated by passengers and told they should be ashamed, he said.
The man who had been removed returned to the flight briefly, Mr. Bridges said. Video shows him jogging through the aisle, repeatedly saying, “I have to go home.”
Jayse Anspach, a seminary student who was also on the flight, said that when the man returned to the plane, he ran toward the back. It was not clear how the man had managed to board again.
At one point, the authorities and medics surrounded the man and gave him tissues for his mouth, which was bleeding, Mr. Anspach said. Eventually the man moved to the front of the plane and collapsed sideways into a seat before being taken off the plane on a stretcher, Mr. Anspach said.
In a statement, Oscar Munoz, the chief executive of United Airlines, called the episode “an upsetting event.”
He said the company apologized for having to “reaccommodate” the customers.
“Our team is moving with a sense of urgency to work with the authorities and conduct our own detailed review of what happened,” he said. “We are also reaching out to this passenger to talk directly to him and further address and resolve this situation.”
In a statement, United said, “We apologize for the overbook situation.”
Andrew D. Gilman, the chief executive of CommCore Consulting Group, a crisis communications firm, said the situation would probably make people reconsider whether they wanted to fly United. That could be particularly damaging with business passengers, a lucrative group that is “outraged as much as anybody,” he said.
“As somebody who flies hundreds of thousands of miles, I’m saying, ‘I thought once I was on the plane, it was my seat,’” Mr. Gilman said. “They unfortunately disrupted a number of certainties that people tend to rely upon, so I think it’s a big trust thing.”
Mr. Gilman said the episode was “also going to be really hard on their employees for a while.”
“It’s a hard enough job — high stress, tense people, delays — and now you have people who are suspicious of you,” he said. “How they can communicate that they were sincere and meant well is going to be very challenging.” (LINK)—4/10/2017
Using Doctors With Troubled Pasts to Market a Painkiller
Dr. Judson Somerville, a pain specialist in Laredo, Tex., received $67,000 in speaking fees, travel and meals in 2013 to promote a powerful and addictive painkiller called Subsys, according to a new federal database of payments that drug companies make to physicians.
But while Insys Therapeutics, the Arizona company that makes the product, was paying Dr. Somerville to promote it, he was under investigation by the Texas Medical Board. Last December, the board ordered him to stop prescribing painkillers after it found that he had authorized employees to hand out pre-signed prescriptions to patients and after it learned that three of his patients had died in 2012 of drug overdoses, most likely from drugs that he had prescribed.
Dr. Somerville, who received more money from Insys than any other doctor between August and December 2013, is just one of the company’s highly paid doctors who have recently faced legal or disciplinary trouble.
Dr. Gavin Awerbuch, a Michigan neurologist who received $56,000 from Insys, was arrested this spring after federal prosecutors said he defrauded Medicare of $7 million and improperly prescribed Subsys to patients who did not need it. Another top Insys speaker, Dr. Jerrold Rosenberg of Rhode Island, was reprimanded in September for inappropriately prescribing painkillers, including Subsys.
An analysis of the new federal Open Payments database shows that five of the 20 physicians who received the most money from Insysd recently faced legal or disciplinary action, including three who were said to have inappropriately prescribed painkillers.
Many of the 20 highly paid doctors — most of them pain specialists — were also top prescribers of Subsys, according to prescribing information from Tricare, the health insurance program for military families, and internal Insys documents.
The data, which covered only that five-month period in 2013, provides unusual insight into the lengths that some drug companies go to cultivate relationships with doctors, and shows that Insys enlisted doctors with troubled track records to market its product to other physicians.
The drug industry has long paid influential doctors to speak to peers as a way of building word-of-mouth marketing. But such practices can cross the line, legal experts said, when doctors promote uses of the drug that are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration, and when the speaking fees are paid in exchange for the doctors’ prescribing behavior.
In recent years, drug companies have paid billions of dollars to settle federal charges that they inappropriately marketed their products. But the same companies have made billions more in sales of the very drugs they were accused of selling inappropriately. Insys told investors last December that federal investigators were looking into its sales and marketing practices, and in September it said it had received another federal subpoena.
“This appears to be the business plan,” said Eric G. Campbell, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, who studies conflicts of interest between doctors and the drug industry. “It appears to be, you do whatever you have to do, and you know that eventually you will pay fines, but you will pay the fines and still make a lot more.”
The aggressive marketing of Subsys, the company’s only brand-name product, is especially remarkable, given that its use is highly restricted; it is approved only for cancer patients who are already taking opioid painkillers around the clock. Previous analyses have shown that only 1 percent of prescriptions for the product are written by cancer specialists.
Several former sales representatives said in interviews that they were encouraged by the company to call on pain doctors who treated patients with a wide range of ailments, and to reward high-prescribing physicians with perks like paid speaking engagements. And in at least two cases, the company hired the adult children of top doctors to serve as their parents’ sales representatives.
In a statement, Insys said that it had appropriately marketed Subsys and that the drug had been successful because it works better than its competitors. “We believe that existing data strongly supports that prescribing decisions have been driven primarily by the clinical attributes of Subsys,” the company said.
Insys paid doctors $2.8 million in the final five months of 2013, a marketing budget that put it in the company of major drug makers like Boehringer Ingelheim and Novo Nordisk, which market several products that are used to treat common medical conditions like diabetes and heart disease. During a five-month period at the end of 2013, Insys paid 20 doctors more than $30,000 each in speaking and consulting fees as well as perks like travel and meals.
Sales of Subsys are strong: The product brought in $58.2 million in the third quarter of this year, more than double the $28.4 million it generated in the same quarter last year. Subsys represents close to 100 percent of Insys’s revenues.
Subsys is a form of fentanyl, a narcotic that is often used when other painkillers fail to provide relief. The product, which is sprayed under the tongue, begins working in as little as five minutes, which is useful for patients who experience sharp bursts of pain. But it carries a high risk of dependency and can cause respiratory distress — and death — for those who are not using painkillers regularly.
Several of the highest-paid doctors said they spoke on behalf of Subsys because they believed in the product.
“I’m not a big ‘talk for companies’ kind of guy,” said Dr. Somerville, who noted that he was a former president of the Texas Pain Society. “They liked my personality and how I approached things, and I liked their product.”
Dr. Somerville, who was a top prescriber of Subsys, said Insys representatives never questioned him about the Texas Medical Board’s ruling, and he continued speaking about Subsys for a few months after the board’s decision. Insys officials said they removed him as a speaker after learning of the disciplinary action.
Dr. Somerville took issue with the medical board’s claims, saying the board did not have evidence that he contributed to the patients’ deaths and that the action was the result of a vendetta against doctors who frequently prescribe opioids. “I’m very aggressive in trying to help my patients,” he said. “I’m a very caring doctor. I like money, but that’s not my god, O.K.?”
Other top speakers for Insys have also faced regulatory or legal trouble. Dr. Paul Madison, a pain specialist in Chicago, was indicted in 2012 on federal fraud charges after the authorities claimed that the surgical center he owned billed insurers for procedures that were never performed. Insys paid Dr. Madison nearly $33,000 in 2013. Another top Insys speaker, Dr. Steven Y. Chun of Sarasota, Fla., paid $750,000 in February to settle federal charges that he had billed for procedures he did not perform. Dr. Chun received $45,000 from Insys in 2013, according to the database.
Dr. Chun said that he admitted no wrongdoing in the federal settlement and that he provided excellent care to his patients. Dr. Madison said he had done nothing improper; both doctors declined to comment further.
Insys officials said Dr. Chun and Dr. Madison were not accused of improper medical care. Dr. Awerbuch, the Michigan neurologist who was arrested on Medicare fraud charges, declined to comment through his lawyer. Insys said it ended its arrangement with him after his arrest.
In addition to paying high-prescribing doctors to speak on behalf of Subsys, Insys also hired the doctors’ family members. In 2013, Dr. Rosenberg’s son, Abraham, was a top sales representative for the company. Another highly paid doctor, Thomas L. Whitten, has a daughter who worked this year for six months as a sales representative.
Dr. Whitten, who received $43,000 in payments from Insys at the end of 2013, said his daughter, Alexandria, began working for the company this year after the previous representative in his region quit. He said the company asked him for a few recommendations to replace the previous representative, but when his suggestions fell through, his daughter’s name came up. “It was kind of mutual — it was simultaneous,” he said. Ms. Whitten is a recent college graduate and had never worked in pharmaceutical sales previously, he said, adding that she quit a few weeks ago.
Dr. Whitten said he did not write any new prescriptions for patients while his daughter was his sales representative. “She didn’t get any extra bonuses for anything she did,” he said.
In a statement, Insys officials said Dr. Whitten was already prescribing Subsys before his daughter was hired as a sales representative, and he continues to prescribe it even though she has quit.
Abraham Rosenberg did appear to benefit from his father’s prescribing practices. As of last June, Mr. Rosenberg was the second-highest performer in his region and the seventh-best sales representative nationwide, according to a company report that was provided by a former sales representative for Insys. At the time, Mr. Rosenberg’s top-prescribing doctor was his own father, who wrote prescriptions for 6,404 units of the drug in the second quarter of 2013, more than the combined total of drug units written by all the other doctors in his son’s territory.
Dr. Rosenberg, who did not return calls for comment, was also among the company’s highest-paid doctors at the end of 2013, according to the federal database, earning close to $36,000 from Insys.
In September, Dr. Rosenberg was reprimanded by the Rhode Island Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline for prescribing Subsys to patients without cancer pain and failing to properly document the reasons.
In a brief interview, Abraham Rosenberg confirmed that he had worked for Insys for “about a year,” but said he had quit around a year ago and declined to comment further.
The company said Dr. Rosenberg’s prescribing practices were consistent with national trends among speakers and nonspeakers and said he did not appear to prescribe the product differently because of his son’s employment. The company said Dr. Rosenberg’s reprimand did not prohibit him from prescribing painkillers.
Insys officials said the company previously allowed sales representatives to call on physicians who were family members, but said its policy had recently “evolved” and the practice was no longer allowed.
Correction: November 27, 2014
An earlier version of this article misstated in one instance the time period covered by the government database on payments made to doctors by pharmaceutical companies. It is a five-month period, not six. (LINK)—11/27/2014
R.I. doctor pleads not guilty to healthcare fraud, kickbacks
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Federal authorities have charged a Rhode Island doctor, who specializes in diagnosing and treating pain, with health-care fraud and receiving kickbacks in return for prescribing the highly addictive spray painkiller fentanyl.
Dr. Jerrold Rosenberg, 62, is charged with receiving $180,000 in speaking fees from June 2012 to July 2015 in a fraudulent scheme that resulted in the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars to Medicare and insurance companies.
Rosenberg is described in the indictment as “far and away the biggest prescriber of the fentanyl spray in Rhode Island” and one of the country’s top prescribers.
Though the drug company is not named in the indictment, the initials used to identify its company chief executive officer, vice president for sales and a sales representative match those of the former CEO, vice president of sales and a sales representative of the Chandler, Arizona-based Insys Therapeutics Inc. The trio is named in a separate 2016 federal indictment in Massachusetts. The unnamed drug company in the Rhode Island indictment is also described as being based in Chandler, Arizona.
Rosenberg was arraigned Thursday in U.S. District Court on a 19-count federal indictment. He pleaded not guilty and was released on $100,000 unsecured bond.
Rosenberg was ordered to surrender his passport and is limited to travel in Rhode Island and southern Massachusetts unless he is granted special permission. He was ordered to continue mental-health counseling and refrain from alcohol and non-prescribed drugs.
No new restrictions were imposed on his license to practice medicine. Rosenberg already has entered into a “monitoring agreement” with the Department of Health under a previous consent order which includes monthly reports from a third-party company, said Joseph Wendelken, a department spokesman.
“The Department of Health is gathering information about this indictment and will make sure that it goes through the Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline’s normal process for determining whether or not an investigation will be opened,″ Wendelken said in an email.
The Health Department Board of Medical Licensure & Discipline has twice reprimanded Rosenberg, in 2014 and again in 2016. The board found, among other things, that he did not clearly document his off-label use of Subsys, the brand name for a prescription spray medication containing fentanyl, according to state disciplinary records.
In April 2016, the board reprimanded him again for failing to comply with the terms of a 2014 consent order. He agreed to a seven-day suspension of his license to prescribe control substances and agreed to monthly monitoring by an outside firm for 12 months.
Charles A. Tamuleviz, a lawyer with Nixon Peabody LLP, Providence, who is representing Rosenberg, said after Thursday’s hearing that “Dr. Rosenberg believes now, and he believed at the time (that) … he exercised appropriate care and treatment for his patients at all times.”
Rosenberg practices at 1637 Mineral Spring Ave., North Providence, and previously had an office at 827 North Main St., Providence. Formerly of Jamestown, he has been living in North Providence temporarily and is planning to move into a house he recently purchased in Warren, Lee Vilker, an assistant U.S. attorney, said after the hearing.
The 30-page indictment alleges that Rosenberg prescribed the spray to patients who were not eligible to receive the drug, which was approved for cancer patients suffering from “breakthrough” pain and who did not respond to other narcotics.
In some cases, patients suffered debilitating side effects or got no pain relief from the spray and asked Rosenberg to switch medications. Rosenberg refused, “telling them that if they wanted another drug, they would need to find another doctor,” the indictment says.
When a physician assistant working for Rosenberg noticed the improperly prescribed drug and tried to wean them from it, Rosenberg barred the assistant from treating patients who were using the spray, the indictment says.
Rosenberg’s son, identified in the indictment only as “A.R.,” also was a sales representative for the drug company, covering Rhode Island. A large portion of the son’s commission-based compensation came from the father writing prescriptions for the fentanyl spray. His son has not been charged with any crime.
The indictment says that Rosenberg filed false reports with insurance programs saying that patients had cancer and that they had breakthrough pain that didn’t respond to other drugs.
The drug company’s sales representative told Rosenberg that he needed to prescribe more of the fentanyl spray if he wanted to receive more paid speaking programs, according to the indictment. The programs, often held at high-end restaurants, were purportedly to educate other doctors about the advantages of the spray.
But Rosenberg would stage speaking programs, for which he received $1,500 to $2,200, at which he was the only medical professional who could prescribe the drug, the indictment says. It says he would forge the signatures of other doctors on the sign-in sheet and invite his wife and other family members to dine on the drug company’s dime, ordering extra meals to inflate the apparent attendance on the bill.
In 2015, the drug company reported about $330 million in net revenue from the fentanyl spray, the indictment states, which amounted to “virtually all” its profits.
Rosenberg received $215,292 in speaking fees, travel, meals and consultation from pharmaceutical companies between August 2013 and December 2015, according to ProPublica’s Dollars for Docs database. Sixteen doctors in Rhode Island earned higher payments during that period than Rosenberg; the top-earning doctor received more than $1.1 million, according to the database.
Rosenberg, who was arrested Thursday morning, appeared at the U.S. District Court hearing in handcuffs, wearing a New England Patriots sweatshirt and sweatpants. After his handcuffs were removed, he huddled at the defense table with his lawyer, Tamuleviz. He then turned to face the benches where his wife was seated and made a thumbs-up sign. (LINK)—2/02/2017
RI Doctor Indicted on Charges of Health Care Fraud, Receiving Kickbacks
Indictment alleges fraud and kickbacks in connection with prescriptions for a powerful and highly-addictive fentanyl spray
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A 19-count federal indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Providence charges Jerrold N. Rosenberg, 62, of North Providence and Jamestown, R.I. with health care fraud, conspiracy to solicit or accept kickbacks, and receipt of kickbacks related to Rosenberg’s prescription of a fast-acting, powerful, and highly-addictive version of the opioid drug Fentanyl that is administered as an under-the-tongue spray.
Rosenberg was taken into custody today by agents from the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, and the Medicaid Fraud Control and Patient Abuse Unit of the Rhode Island Department of Attorney General, on a federal warrant issued by the Court. Rosenberg was arraigned before U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Lincoln D. Almond and released on unsecured bond.
The indictment alleges that, owing to its potency and potential for addiction, the Fentanyl spray is approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration solely for “the management of breakthrough cancer pain in … patients who are already receiving and who are already tolerant to opioid therapy for their underlying persistent cancer pain.” The spray is extremely expensive, with the cost of a thirty-day supply ranging from almost $2,000 to over $16,000. As a result, insurance companies, including insurers covering Medicare patients, impose strict requirements and limitations that must be met before the Fentanyl spray will be covered. Typically, these limitations require that a doctor submit paperwork showing that the patient has active cancer, that the spray is intended to treat breakthrough pain from this cancer, and that other powerful opioid drugs have been tried, without success.
It is alleged that Rosenberg repeatedly submitted false and fraudulent documentation to insurers to get them to approve and pay for the Fentanyl spray, including authorization forms and so-called letters of medical necessity that falsely claimed patients had cancer and related pain. He did this for patients who never had cancer at all, as well as cases where the patient’s history of cancer was long past and/or unrelated to any pain for which they sought treatment with Rosenberg.
In addition to the health care fraud scheme, it is alleged that Rosenberg conspired to seek and receive kickbacks from the manufacturer of the Fentanyl spray. These took the form of “sham” speaker programs, where, instead of a legitimate lecture about the Fentanyl spray, Rosenberg received company-paid dinners at expensive restaurants and speaking fees, on occasion dining only with family members or representatives from the drug company. In several instances, attendance forms for these events were forged to show that medical professionals had been present for a supposedly legitimate promotional discussion, when in fact they had not. The indictment alleges that these speaker programs were, in fact, a cover for payments by the drug company to Rosenberg, to induce him to write more, and higher, prescriptions for the spray.
Finally, it is alleged that Rosenberg’s son worked as a sales representative for the drug company that manufactured the Fentanyl spray, where he was responsible for marketing the drug to a number of physicians, including his father. The sales commissions of Rosenberg’s son were tied to the number of prescriptions written by doctors, and it is alleged that Rosenberg wrote more prescriptions for the Fentanyl spray to provide a financial benefit to his son.
An indictmentis merely an allegation and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
The investigation was conducted by the United States Attorney’s Office, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, and the Medicaid Fraud Control and Patient Abuse Unit of the Rhode Island Department of Attorney General.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lee H. Vilker and Zachary A. Cunha. (LINK)—2/02/2017
CALIFORNIA MEDICAL BOARD RECORD (John Chu)— 65326 CAUGHT—Link DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS—License renewed & current; Probation; Limits on Practice
CALIFORNIA MEDICAL BOARD RECORD (Gary Phillip Jacobs)— 42016 CAUGHT—Link DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS—License renewed & current; Administrative action taken by other state or federal govt; Probation; Limits on Practice
State Slaps Doctors John Chu and Gary Phillp Jacobs for Prescription Pad Abuse
Two area doctors who misused their prescription pads have had their medical licences placed on probation for five years by the Medical Board of California.
Dr. John Chu, who resides in Laguna Niguel and practices emergency medicine at Kaiser Permanente in Huntington Beach, prescribed Ambien without having performed medical evaluations to his mother, two brothers and a doctor in his department.
Dr. Gary Phillip Jacobs, who resides in Long Beach and has worked as a family and internal medicine specialist in Westminster, Whittier, Hawaiian Gardens and Van Nuys, started prescribing Ativan to himself in 2012, although the board did not receive an anonymous tip about it until January 2015.
Chu and his attorney Frederick M. May signed a probation acceptance letter from the medical board on Nov. 9, according to state records.
Jacobs signed his acceptance letter on Nov. 4, but the copy I downloaded from the board’s database is missing the signature of his attorney Tracy Green.
Ativan is used to treat seizure disorders, such as epilepsy, and can also be given just before surgery and medical procedures to relieve anxiety. But it is a controlled substance because it can cause paranoid or suicidal thoughts and impair memory, judgment and coordination. Combined with other substances, particularly alcohol, Ativan can slow breathing and possibly lead to death.
While the board’s probation order mentions the self prescribing of a controlled substance, it deals more with Jacob’s apparent attempts to avoid participating in the state investigation of him. According to the board, he:
* Failed to participate in an interview with the board, which was responding to an anonymous complaint alleging the doctor was self medicating in January 2015.
* Told board investigators, who confronted him at his Los Angeles office in August 2015, that he would give them his lawyer’s contact information.
* Twice failed to answer messages from board investigators seeking an interview a month later, so the board subpoenaed him. But the subpoena could not be served on Oct. 19, 21, 27 and 28 of 2015 because Jacobs was not in his office when servers showed up.
* Responded, on Dec. 16, 2015, to a certified letter sent Nov. 15 about him scheduling an interview, saying he would be in contact to do so. But messages an investigator left on Dec. 16, Dec. 28, Jan. 7, 2016, to schedule the interview were not answered.
* Received, on Jan. 13, 2016, a subpoena—hand delivered by the investigator—commanding Jacobs to appear at the Division of Investigation, Health Quality Investigation Unit in Cerritos on that Jan. 27.
* Left, the morning of Jan. 27, 2016, a voice mail with the investigator explaining that he was ill and would not make it to the interview.
* Never responded, as of March 7, 2016, to the investigator’s Jan. 27 voice mail about re-scheduling the interview.
The board took into consideration for its discipline Jacobs having received a letter of reprimand on Feb. 7, 1997, for unlawful use or prescribing of dangerous drugs from 1985-95. Because Jacobs enrolled in a board diversion program, he avoided probation or license revocation proceedings back then.
During probation, he cannot use controlled substances and must undergo routine drug tests. Jacobs is also required to complete ethics and prescribing practices courses, notify every hospital or facility where he has privileges of his probationary status, obey all laws and make quarterly reports on his progress.
He cannot practice medicine solo nor supervise physician assistants.
And, this one is key given the new probation report: Jacobs must make himself available to the board for interviews at any time.
Ambien is supposed to be a short-term aid for insomnia, and prescribing it should be done as part of a treatment plan that does not include open-ended use of the medication, according to the state board. That is because Ambien is an addictive, controlled substance, which might shine a light on why a patient identified by the board as J.C. needed so many prescriptions—many with refills—from his brother Chu starting in 2011 and continuing for three years.
Take a look:
J.C. got these scripts without medical evaluations being done by Chu or proper records about the visits being kept, according to the board. The same can be said for:
* Chu’s mother, identified as L.C., who got scripts from her son for 30, 10 mg Ambien pills on Jan. 17, Feb. 17, April 30, Oct. 10 (with a refill), Oct. 29, 2012, (with three refills) and Nov. 12 of 2013 and Jan. 7 of 2014.
* A.C., another brother of Chu, who got the same prescriptions on: Nov. 6, 2012, (with three refills) and Jan. 22, March 10 (with three refills), April 19, May 29, July 24 (with three refills) and Nov. 1 of 2013 (with two refills).
* Chu’s fellow Kaiser emergency medicine physician C.L., more of the same on: Sept. 18, 2012, (30 pills with five refills) and 60 pills each on March 17 (three refills), Aug. 13 (two refills) and Aug. 30 (on refill) of 2013.
The treatment of J.C. represents gross negligence, while the scripts for that patient as well as his mother, brother A.C. and Dr. Chu’s colleague constitute repeated negligent acts, furnishing drugs without examination, excessive prescribing, violating state drug laws and failure to maintain adequate records, according to board documents.
During his probation, Chu must: maintain adequate records; allow a board designee access to his records and controlled substance inventories; take a continuing medical education class and an ethics course; practice with other doctors and not alone; avoid prescribing drugs to anyone, including family members, who he is forbidden from treating; and he must show the board letters he has sent to family members explaining he cannot see them as a doctor any more.
The state indicates Chu has already met conditions that he complete prescribing practices and medical record keeping courses. But he also must obey all laws and give quarterly updates to the board about his progress in meeting the other conditions. Violating probation could set in motion revocation procedures, and he must let the board know if he decides to surrender his medical license. (LINK)—2/01/2017
VERMONT OPTOMETRY BOARD RECORD—no record DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS—no record as of 4/16/2017
City man set to serve jail time for DUI-4
A Rutland optometrist will serve more than a year in jail for drunken driving.
Dr. Leif Erickson was sentenced in Rutland criminal court Tuesday to 15 to 42 months in prison following his conviction on DUI-4, driving without a license and several charges of violating his conditions of release.
Erickson pleaded guilty to the charges as part of a plea agreement that called for a contested sentencing hearing.
“He’s a danger while he’s on the road, and he’s the sort of danger this sentence should address,” Deputy Rutland County State’s Attorney Ian Sullivan said while arguing for jail time
Erickson was pulled over early last year after a city police officer saw him driving erratically, having left a downtown bar, heading to Burger King. At the time, Erickson was still awaiting sentencing on his third DUI conviction. Sometime after that, he missed a required check-in with the police, and Erickson confessed on the stand that he drank at least once after the final DUI arrest.
Erickson testified that his legal troubles convinced him to get into an alcohol rehabilitation program in August.
“It was very beneficial for me,” he said. “Before that, I was very literally having a breakdown in terms of losing respect in the community. … I’m thriving in my practice now. I feel I can give back.”
Erickson said he served a number of elderly and disabled patients, and pleaded with Judge William Cohen not to render his employees jobless by handing down a jail sentence that would force him to close his practice.
Cohen said he would not give a defendant special treatment for being an employer.
“I will sentence on the events and will sentence on the events only,” he said. “This is clearly a case where a punishment component is required.” (LINK)—1/18/2017
Community protests Rutland optometrist’s jail sentence after multiple DUIs
A Rutland optometrist is getting three and a half years in jail after four DUIs and now community members are protesting his sentence.
Leif Erickson was dropped off at the jail Tuesday evening. Earlier in the day, he said he was on the road to recovering from his addiction but now won’t have that opportunity.
Erickson spent his last day of freedom making signs for a protest he will not attend.
“I have to be held accountable,” said Erickson.
Erickson agrees he should be punished for his fourth DUI conviction in Vermont, but he doesn’t think spending 15 to 42 months behind bars is a fair punishment.
“It’s just devastating,” said Tim Rice, Erickson’s husband.
Rice orchestrated the protest outside of the Rutland County Courthouse in hopes that the court will reconsider the punishment.
“One year, four months in jail is, we feel, too harsh and out of line with the nature of the crime,” said Rice.
Because he is considered a low-risk offender by the state, Erickson will not be receiving treatment while in jail.
“Most professionals agree that treatment is much preferred over incarceration for people with drug and alcohol addiction,” said Rice.
In 2015, Erickson lost his driver’s license. He will be closing his optical shop in two weeks, leaving his patients to find eye care elsewhere and three employees out of a job.
“Because I made these mistakes, all of these people are suffering and that’s the most difficult for me,” said Erickson.
Rice says locking up someone in need of help is a waste of taxpayer money.
But State’s Attorney Rosemary Kennedy says spending that money is a choice that can be costly but worth it.
“I think Dr. Erickson and people who continue to drive drunk create a risk in this community and it’s worth taxpayers’ money to safeguard the rest of the community from them,” said Kennedy.
Erickson has had opportunities for treatment in the past but has relapsed. (LINK)—1/31/2017
MICHIGAN MEDICAL BOARD RECORD— 5101011276 DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS—Probation, Fine Imposed, Community Service imposed 3/05/2005; no specific charges or documents listed as of 4/16/2017
Michigan inmates sue doctor over alleged prison clinic sexual assault
It wasn’t long ago that that institutional food giant Aramark sat alone as the undisputed poster child for all that’s wrong with privatizing prison functions.
There’s not much worse than a company that starves inmates, and — when it does feed them — sends rotten chicken tacos, rat turds, garbage, and maggots down the chow line.
Except, perhaps, for one that is killing and injuring them. Corizon, the nation’s largest for-profit prison health care provider, is earning a reputation elsewhere in the nation for its poor service, and a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit charges that a Lapeer-based Corizon doctor, Joseph Burtch, sexually abused at least four prisoners at the St. Louis Correctional Facility near Saginaw.
According to a complaint filed with the court, Burtch repeatedly rubbed his crotch against inmates’ legs during checkups. He would get fully aroused, then keep going.
A judge recently denied a request from Burtch’s attorneys to dismiss the case. The judge in the motion to dismiss that the doctor’s actions were “not objectively harmful” or “sufficiently serious,” and the case is expected to move forward for a trial this fall.
Though Michigan State Police officers interviewed Burtch in 2014 and didn’t file charges, the Michigan Department of Corrections found enough evidence against the doctor that it revoked his security clearance. Prisoners who filed the lawsuit are charging a violation of their Eighth Amendment rights and asking for monetary damages, says Michigan State University College of Law’s Civil Rights Clinic attorney Dan Manville, who is representing the plaintiffs.
He said Burtch is working for a company that provides health care to seniors in care facilities, and Corizon offered the doctor a job at a prison in a different state after the Michigan Department of Corrections revoked his security clearance here.
A prisoner who alleged to have been sexually assaulted by Burtch in the same way in 2007 isn’t part of the lawsuit, and another prisoner who made allegations but has since been released didn’t partake in the suit. The complaints leveled against Burtch in 2007 weren’t fully investigated. But when two more prisoners filed the same charges in 2014 — after the passage of the Prison Rape Elimination Act in 2003 — the MDOC and state police investigated.
“When you have prisoners who weren’t in the prison at the same time saying this happened, then there could be a problem,” Manville tells Metro Times.
The patients, of course, were in a difficult position, figuratively and literally speaking. Manville said they were being treated for severe headaches and cancer, and feared that they wouldn’t receive medical treatment were they to file grievances. Physical self-defense is also a bad option. It’s prisoners’ word against that of Burtch, and pushing or threatening him is an assault that would extend prisoners’ stay. Manville says Burtch had prisoners in a nearly defenseless position, and he knew it.
“What do you do?” Manville says. “If you assault the doctor, then you get more time. One [inmate] was about to get out and would have lost parole, so he was afraid.”
In the complaint, Manville wrote that inmates felt “fear, anger, and confusion” and “helpless” as the doctor molested them. He charges one inmate, who was sexually abused as a child, suffered emotional trauma over Burtch’s assault, and the parole board denied early release because the inmate could no longer participate in group therapy.
Burtch’s attorney didn’t respond to a request for comment, nor did Corizon.
Attorneys, prisoners, and advocates have long contended that private medical companies typically provide substandard care and put prisoners’ health in danger. However, the issues in Michigan lacked the drama of the food service problems that caught the media’s attention, led to public outrage, and eventually resulted in the state ending its contract with Aramark.
But a look at Corizon’s record in other states is alarming, to put it mildly.Prison Legal Newsdocumented the company’s problems in a 2014 article, highlighting gross incompetence that killed inmates and put their health at serious risk.
Among the highlights: In 2014, Corizon nurses in Arizona were accused of contaminating insulin vials, thus exposing dozens of inmates to HIV and hepatitis. In Florida, inmates successfully sued the company for refusing to send them to the hospital, which left one inmate paralyzed in 2007 and another dead in 2009.
In Idaho, a 2012 report found “prisoners who were terminally ill or in long-term care were sometimes left in soiled linens, given inadequate pain medication, and went for long periods without food or water,” and an inmate with chronic heart disease died of a heart attack after Corizon failed to treat him.
In 2013 in Iowa, Corizon nurses ignored a pregnant female prisoner who was left to give birth on the prison floor. Other inmates delivered the baby.
Private companies are brought in to save money, and in health care, there’s one way to do so — dramatically cut the level of care. That appears to include hiring employees who might have more than a checkup on their minds. (LINK)—2/01/2017
Note: There was a photo posted here previously that was NOT of Dr. Jones. My apologies to that doctor for the mixup.
NEVADA MEDICAL BOARD RECORD— 10127 DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS—none listed as of 4/16/2017
Pediatrician who let man impersonate doctor reaches settlement with state medical board
A pediatrician accused of allowing a man under her supervision to impersonate a doctor and looking the other way as he treated hundreds of patients has reached a settlement agreement with the Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners and will face no disciplinary action, board members said Friday.
The board unanimously approved an agreement during its Friday meeting with Dr. Carmen Felice Jones, who in turn is expected to drop a Clark County court case she filed earlier this year against members of the board.
Jones, who became medical director of the Las Vegas Health Center in January 2012, allegedly allowed Zeeshan Malik Hoodbhoy to “impersonate a Nevada licensed physician” without a valid license and to prescribe controlled substances without a valid prescriber license, according to the board’s original order of summary suspension.
The board found that Hoodbhoy examined and treated hundreds of patients, using Jones’ U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency registration number to provide prescriptions.
Jones was notified in April 2013 that her license was immediately suspended by the board “based upon its reasonable belief that the health, safety and welfare of the public” was at imminent risk, but the suspension was lifted within two months, according to the board’s website.
The board filed a formal complaint against Jones in June 2013 and an amended complaint about three months later.
“Dr. Jones was rarely, if ever, present at the center; did not see the patients, did not authorize prescriptions for those patients and did not properly supervise Mr. Hoodbhoy’s practice of medicine,” the original suspension order stated.
The order also indicated Jones admitted to medical board staff that she allowed multiple unlicensed individuals to practice at the now-closed center, which was located at 6332 S. Rainbow Blvd., Ste. 120, and a second facility, Agape Health, for which she was the medical director.
She allegedly also admitted to “only seeing the (Agape Health) location one time,” never meeting or treating patients but instead receiving text notifications from staff that prescriptions were needed and calling in the prescriptions.
Jones’ attorney, Jacob L. Hafter, declined to speak with the Review-Journal regarding the case.
Jones pleaded guilty in Clark County’s Eighth Judicial District Court to conspiracy to practice medicine without a license in 2014 and Hoodbhoy pleaded guilty to practicing medicine without a license. The exact terms of their sentences were not immediately available.
During Friday’s meeting, the board’s legal division said Jones allegedly committed actions “under duress” and that she “has learned her lesson.”
The board also discussed concerns from some members Friday that no letter of reprimand would be issued in the case but ultimately determined that the availability of the complaint and settlement agreement online would provide the public with a record of the case.
Jones filed a complaint in federal court in June 2013 alleging the medical board denied her due process when it suspended her license. After that judgment was denied and an unsuccessful appeal attempt, she filed a civil suit against members of the medical board in district court.
In exchange for the board withdrawing and dismissing its complaint, Jones will dismiss the civil lawsuit, the board’s legal staff said, adding the move would “mitigate additional expenses regarding legal matters.” (LINK)—9/09/2016
NATUROPATHIC BOARD RECORD— 130 DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS—None listed as of 4/07/2017
Encinitas naturopathic doctor involved in IV turmeric death identified
Autopsy: Dr Kim Kelly tried to revive Jade Erick
ENCINITAS, Calif. (KGTV) - Jade Erick reacted immediately to the turmeric infusion delivered intravenously by her Naturopathic Doctor. She passed out and went into cardiac arrest.
Dr. Kim Kelley and his staff called 911, then tried CPR and an EpiPen to revive her. By the time an ambulance arrived, the 30-year old Oceanside woman had no pulse.
Erick was revived, but after five days in the intensive care unit of Scripps Encinitas Hospital, she died, according to the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s autopsy report.
Her death was ruled accidental.
Dr. Kelly is now under investigation by the FDA and the California Department of Consumer Affairs, according to a spokesperson for the Medical Examiner.
Both agencies told us they cannot comment on investigations.
Since that report, we’ve fielded hundreds of questions from viewers who wanted to know the name of the practitioner who performed the infusion of a substance many people take in pill form to fight inflammation.
Dr. Kim Kelly has been licensed to practice naturopathic medicine in California since 2005. There have been no disciplinary actions taken against his license.
A 10News photographer photographed the outside of Kelly’s office in Encinitas. While he was there a woman emerged from the office and asked him not to talk to patients. When he asked if the doctor was available for an interview, she responded, “he’s busy” and walked away.
A spokesperson for the Food and Drug Administration offered this statement:
“In general, consumers should be mindful of products that claim to prevent, treat, or cure diseases or other health conditions, but are not proven safe and effective for those uses. Relying on unproven products or treatments can be dangerous, and may cause harmful delays in getting the proper diagnosis and appropriate treatments.” (LINK)—4/06/2017
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