Dr. Thomas C. Weiner, the oncologist who was the subject of a 2024 ProPublica investigation, will never again practice medicine in the state of Montana.
Last week, medical board members revoked Weiner’s license, citing seven cases of malpractice. The board concluded that he had violated rules of professional conduct and provided substandard care. By law, it must report Weiner to a federal database that tracks doctors who’ve been disciplined — which will make it extremely difficult for him to practice medicine.
That decision comes more than a year after ProPublica exposed how, for years, Weiner had been suspected of hurting patients, including some who died, at St. Peter’s Health, the only major hospital serving the state capital of Helena. The story, built on court and medical records, showed Weiner subjected patients who didn’t have cancer to chemotherapy and other dangerous treatments, neglected to properly treat patients who were seriously ill, overprescribed addictive narcotics and was suspected by colleagues to have hastened the deaths of more than a half dozen people.
Weiner, 62, has denied mistreating patients. He did not respond to a request for comment about the board’s decision to revoke his license. St. Peter’s Health, which fired him in 2020, accusing him of malpractice, did not provide comment. The hospital has previously attributed the mistreatment of patients to a rogue doctor and says it provides high-quality care.
Weiner sued St. Peter’s for wrongful termination, a case the hospital ultimately won. Weiner also filed a defamation claim against Dr. Randy Sasich, a former St. Peter’s colleague who lodged complaints about his care. Sasich remains a defendant in that lawsuit.
According to an order by the Montana Board of Medical Examiners, Weiner agreed to never again seek a medical license in the state and said he no longer intended to practice there.
Before his termination, Weiner was the highest paid doctor at St. Peter’s. Over the years, he made tens of millions of dollars and wielded his influence in the community 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 staff and former patients, many of whom continue to support him in a “We stand with Dr. Tom Weiner” Facebook group and on billboards expressing their support.
The ProPublica investigation identified scores of problematic cases. The medical board, though, focused on just seven. Among them was the case of Scot Warwick, whose death and subsequent autopsy was the catalyst for Weiner’s downfall.
As ProPublica reported, Weiner diagnosed Warwick in 2009 with Stage 4 lung cancer, a disease that kills most people in months. For the next 11 years, Weiner subjected his patient to round after round of debilitating therapies including chemo. In 2020, he started to decline rapidly, gaining the notice of Sasich, who couldn’t make sense of his original diagnosis and improbable survival span. But before Sasich could find answers, Warwick died an agonizing death. His widow, Lisa Warwick, ordered an autopsy. It came back negative for cancer — a finding Weiner has repeatedly dismissed — and concluded he likely died from the chemotherapy that Weiner had ordered.
Medical board members confirmed the autopsy’s findings. In its written order, the board concluded that Warwick died “due to gemcitabine-associated pulmonary toxicity.” In other words, the chemotherapy killed him.
The board noted that “Weiner disagrees with this finding and does not admit to it.”
In response to the board’s decision, Lisa Warwick said, “It’s definitely welcomed news — very happy to hear it — but with the caveat that this whole thing took way too long.” For five years, a board that’s supposed to protect patients, she added, “blatantly turned a blind eye.”
According to a hospital spokesperson, after St. Peter’s fired Weiner in 2020, it provided the medical board with thousands of pages of documents detailing its allegations, including that Weiner took over complete control of his patients’ care, which made it difficult for other doctors to see or question his treatment. Those documents, many later obtained by ProPublica, languished for years without review by the board, a mystery its spokespeople have declined to explain.
The board renewed Weiner’s license in 2021 and 2023. After ProPublica’s investigation publicly revealed the hospital’s allegations against Weiner, the board renewed his license for a third time this year.
Weiner’s troubles extend beyond losing his license. Last year, the U.S. Department of Justice sued him, accusing him of prescribing needless treatments, double billing, seeing patients more frequently than necessary and “upcoding” — billing for more expensive treatments than he delivered. Weiner has denied the charges. For its part, St. Peter’s already agreed to a $10.8 million settlement for numerous violations of the False Claims Act related to Weiner’s billing of federal insurance programs.
Separately, the parents of a deceased 16-year-old girl whose case was prominently featured in the ProPublica investigation have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Weiner, the hospital and other staff, accusing them of substandard care and fraud, which is ongoing. In a lengthy interview with ProPublica, Weiner denied that his treatment led to her death.
A criminal investigation is also underway, led by the Montana Department of Justice with help from federal investigators, according to several people who’ve been interviewed by law enforcement. That office did not respond to a request for comment. Weiner has not provided comment on the ongoing criminal investigation.
Weiner sold his home in Helena this year, leaving behind a city deeply divided over his legacy and many people who still believe he was a world-class doctor who has been unfairly targeted by the hospital and the media.
Anthony Olson, a former patient whom Weiner prescribed nine years of chemotherapy for a cancer that never existed, was among that group of supporters until doctors at St. Peter’s helped him accept what had happened to him. His body is still recovering from being poisoned for so long. He has thought about joining the Weiner Facebook group to share his story. But, he said: “I assume there is nothing I can say to them that will bring them around to reason. I’m just glad that no one else is going to be injured.”
Great Job J. David McSwane & the Team @ ProPublica Source link for sharing this story.
