Dr. Thomas C. Weiner, the oncologist who was the topic of a 2024 ProPublica investigation, won’t ever once more observe medication within the state of Montana.
Final week, medical board members revoked Weiner’s license, citing seven circumstances of malpractice. The board concluded that he had violated guidelines {of professional} conduct and supplied substandard care. By legislation, it should report Weiner to a federal database that tracks docs who’ve been disciplined — which is able to make it extraordinarily troublesome for him to observe medication.
That call comes greater than a yr after ProPublica uncovered how, for years, Weiner had been suspected of hurting sufferers, together with some who died, at St. Peter’s Well being, the one main hospital serving the state capital of Helena. The story, constructed on court docket and medical information, confirmed Weiner subjected sufferers who didn’t have most cancers to chemotherapy and different harmful remedies, uncared for to correctly deal with sufferers who had been critically unwell, overprescribed addictive narcotics and was suspected by colleagues to have hastened the deaths of greater than a half dozen folks.
Weiner, 62, has denied mistreating sufferers. He didn’t reply to a request for remark concerning the board’s resolution to revoke his license. St. Peter’s Well being, which fired him in 2020, accusing him of malpractice, didn’t present remark. The hospital has beforehand attributed the mistreatment of sufferers to a rogue physician and says it offers high-quality care.
Weiner sued St. Peter’s for wrongful termination, a case the hospital in the end gained. Weiner additionally filed a defamation declare in opposition to Dr. Randy Sasich, a former St. Peter’s colleague who lodged complaints about his care. Sasich stays a defendant in that lawsuit.
In line with an order by the Montana Board of Medical Examiners, Weiner agreed to by no means once more search a medical license within the state and stated he not supposed to observe there.
Earlier than his termination, Weiner was the best paid physician at St. Peter’s. Over time, he made tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars} and wielded his affect locally to drive out hospital leaders who questioned his judgment. Colleagues feared him, and few challenged him. His firing prompted a public outcry, led by his nursing workers and former sufferers, lots of whom proceed to assist him in a “We stand with Dr. Tom Weiner” Facebook group and on billboards expressing their assist.
The ProPublica investigation recognized scores of problematic circumstances. The medical board, although, targeted on simply seven. Amongst them was the case of Scot Warwick, whose demise and subsequent post-mortem was the catalyst for Weiner’s downfall.
As ProPublica reported, Weiner recognized Warwick in 2009 with Stage 4 lung most cancers, a illness that kills most individuals in months. For the following 11 years, Weiner subjected his affected person to spherical after spherical of debilitating therapies together with chemo. In 2020, he began to say no quickly, gaining the discover of Sasich, who couldn’t make sense of his unique prognosis and inconceivable survival span. However earlier than Sasich may discover solutions, Warwick died an agonizing demise. His widow, Lisa Warwick, ordered an post-mortem. It got here again unfavourable for most cancers — a discovering Weiner has repeatedly dismissed — and concluded he doubtless died from the chemotherapy that Weiner had ordered.
Medical board members confirmed the post-mortem’s findings. In its written order, the board concluded that Warwick died “resulting from gemcitabine-associated pulmonary toxicity.” In different phrases, the chemotherapy killed him.
The board famous that “Weiner disagrees with this discovering and doesn’t admit to it.”
In response to the board’s resolution, Lisa Warwick stated, “It’s positively welcomed information — very blissful to listen to it — however with the caveat that this complete factor took means too lengthy.” For 5 years, a board that’s supposed to guard sufferers, she added, “blatantly turned a blind eye.”
In line with a hospital spokesperson, after St. Peter’s fired Weiner in 2020, it supplied the medical board with 1000’s of pages of paperwork detailing its allegations, together with that Weiner took over full management of his sufferers’ care, which made it troublesome for different docs to see or query his therapy. These paperwork, many later obtained by ProPublica, languished for years with out evaluation by the board, a thriller its spokespeople have declined to elucidate.
The board renewed Weiner’s license in 2021 and 2023. After ProPublica’s investigation publicly revealed the hospital’s allegations in opposition to Weiner, the board renewed his license for a 3rd time this yr.
Weiner’s troubles lengthen past dropping his license. Final yr, the U.S. Division of Justice sued him, accusing him of prescribing useless remedies, double billing, seeing sufferers extra regularly than needed and “upcoding” — billing for costlier remedies than he delivered. Weiner has denied the costs. For its half, St. Peter’s already agreed to a $10.8 million settlement for quite a few violations of the False Claims Act associated to Weiner’s billing of federal insurance coverage applications.
Individually, the mother and father of a deceased 16-year-old woman whose case was prominently featured within the ProPublica investigation have filed a wrongful demise lawsuit in opposition to Weiner, the hospital and different workers, accusing them of substandard care and fraud, which is ongoing. In a prolonged interview with ProPublica, Weiner denied that his therapy led to her demise.
A legal investigation can be underway, led by the Montana Division of Justice with assist from federal investigators, in response to a number of individuals who’ve been interviewed by legislation enforcement. That workplace didn’t reply to a request for remark. Weiner has not supplied touch upon the continued legal investigation.
Weiner bought his dwelling in Helena this yr, abandoning a metropolis deeply divided over his legacy and many individuals who nonetheless imagine he was a world-class physician who has been unfairly focused by the hospital and the media.
Anthony Olson, a former affected person whom Weiner prescribed nine years of chemotherapy for a cancer that never existed, was amongst that group of supporters till docs at St. Peter’s helped him settle for what had occurred to him. His physique continues to be recovering from being poisoned for thus lengthy. He has considered becoming a member of the Weiner Fb group to share his story. However, he stated: “I assume there may be nothing I can say to them that may deliver them round to cause. I’m simply glad that nobody else goes to be injured.”
