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Jun-11-2010 09:37printcomments

Schneider Trial Week 7

"Doctors will have more lives to answer for in the next world than even we generals" - Napoleon Bonaparte

Schneiders crossing street
Courtesy: THAINDIAN NEWS

(WICHITA, Kansas) - U.S. District Judge Monti Belot expects to send the Schneider case to the jury next Tuesday. The jury is down to 11 people after another juror was discharged this week. Both the prosecution and defense have agreed that 11 jurors can decide the fate of the Schneiders.

Marianne Skolek

There are no longer any alternate jurors. If another juror is discharged from duty, it will result in a mistrial.

Phyllis Rowland's daughter was one of dozens of patients who died while under the care of the Schneider Medical Clinic.

Phyllis Rowland testified for the defense this week that even though her daughter known as "Robin G" died while being treated at the Schneider Medical Clinic, she believed former doctor, Stephen Schneider helped her daughter, who suffered from severe migraine headaches.

"She even wrote a letter to Dr. Schneider thanking him for giving her life back," Rowland testified.

She was one of the last witnesses called by the defense in the federal trial, which is wrapping up its seventh week of testimony.

The Schneiders are each charged with 34 criminal counts related to the prescribing of pain-killers at their clinic. Prosecutors say those prescriptions contributed to the drug overdose deaths of 68 patients.

Rowland testified that Schneider give her daughter a prescription for Actiq, a drug many times more powerful than morphine for her migraine headaches. Actiq gave her daughter the relief she needed, Rowland said.

Under cross-examination by the prosecution, Rowland said she didn't know that her daughter had been diagnosed with mental illness, which may have increased the perception of her pain.

When directed to the autopsy saying her daughter died of an accidental overdose of fentanyl - the active ingredient in Actiq - Rowland discounted it.

"I've seen the autopsy and I don't believe it," Rowland said, adding that her daughter suffered from other medical problems such as pneumonia. The mother further testified that Actiq helped her daughter's headaches --"I don't think she could have survived without it."

It appears she couldn't survive with it either. Rowland's daughter died at age 45 in May 2007 days after her last visit to the Schneider clinic.

Another defense witness called was Martha Brown who testified she worked as a coder for billing at the Schneider Medical Clinic in Haysville from 2002 until the clinic closed in 2008. Brown was a certified coder when she joined the clinic but her certification lapsed while she was there because she didn't complete continuing education courses. Brown said her job was to take the fee tickets from the patients each day and check the codes, which are used for billing insurance. Defense Attorney Kevin Byers asked -- "Did you ever see Linda Schneider fill out or change code tickets?" Brown: replied "Never."

Assistant US AttorneyTreadway in cross examination asked Brown -- "Are you aware that Dr. Schneider testified if false claims were submitted, it was the responsibility of the coder?" Brown replied "No" she was not aware. Treadway then asked if Connie White, a Physician's Assistant at the clinic worked without a doctor's supervisor and Brown replied "I believe so."

A cardiac pathologist testifying on behalf of Dr. Schneider criticized the Sedgwick County Regional Forensics Center. Steven Karch, MD told jurors earlier this week that it was impossible to determine the cause of death for several patients at Schneiders' clinic. His reason being the Sedgwick County coroner did not typically do "microscopic heart tissue examinations" when a toxicology report came back positive for drugs. Karch testified that in 19 of the 21 deaths, the patients had severe cardiac issues. In one case, no autopsy was done and in another the person died of a methamphetamine overdose.

Dr. Karch is renowned for conducting research in the early part of 2000 on the death of Napoleon Bonaparte.

Napoleon died at the age of 52 in 1821, on the island of St Helena in the south Atlantic where he had been banished after his defeat at Waterloo.

Most historians accept the official explanation that Napoleon died from stomach cancer. This was the verdict of an autopsy carried out after his death by his personal physician.

Over-enthusiastic medics - not cancer or murder - may have caused Napoleon Bonaparte's death, researchers suggest.

But doubts were raised in 2001 when French forensic specialists said tests on Napoleon's hair suggested a "major exposure to arsenic".

Researchers from the San Francisco Medical Examiner's Department outlined their theory for the French Emperor's demise in New Scientist magazine in July 2004.

It was suggested that the British governor of St Helena, Hudson Lowe, conspired with French count Charles de Montholon to assassinate Napoleon.

This new theory from the US scientists says arsenic clears the two suspects. It says exposure to the poison from coal smoke and other environmental sources could have been a factor in Napoleon's death.

But they say it is more likely that it was the treatments given to Napoleon in an attempt to cure him that actually killed him.

The researchers, led by forensic pathologist Steven Karch, MD say this would have caused a serious potassium deficiency, which can lead to a potentially fatal heart condition called Torsades de Pointes in which rapid heartbeats disrupt blood flow to the brain.

They say the final straw is likely to have been a 600 milligram dose of mercuric chloride, given as a purge to clear the intestines two days before his death.

This was five times the normal dose, and would have depleted his potassium levels still further, they say.

Dr. Karch told BBC News Online he came to his conclusions after looking at "modern cases" where treatments had led patients to develop a potassium deficiency, and then Torsades de Pointes.

He said: "There is a very strong argument for this - but it's not as sexy as the idea that he was murdered.

"The arsenic wasn't killing him - his doctors did him in" Karch was quoted as saying.

Interesting that doctors would be blamed from evidence of a death going back to 1821 -- and based on "looking at modern cases."

Wonder why the microscopic heart tissue examinations were not an important factor in Dr. Karch's medical conclusion when he blamed the doctors for Napoleon's death.

This article written as a voice for Casey G, age 28 died Oct. 23, 2007

The Series:

Jun-16-2010: Schneiders Fate in the Hands of the Jury - Marianne Skolek Salem-News.com

Jun-11-2010: Schneider Trial Week 7 - Marianne Skolek Salem-News.com

Jun-09-2010: Tumbling Tumbleweeds - a Continuing Look at the Schneider Trial in Kansas - Marianne Skolek Salem-News.com

May-29-2010: Schneider Trial - Week 5 - Marianne Skolek Salem-News.com

May-23-2010: Schneider Trial - Week 4 - Marianne Skolek Salem-News.com

May-16-2010: Week 3 - Stephen Schneider Trial - Marianne Skolek Salem-News.com

May-13-2010: American Pain Society's 29th Annual Scientific Meeting - Marianne Skolek Salem-News.com

May-08-2010: Week 2 of the Schneider Trial - Marianne Skolek Salem-News.com

May-02-2010: Week 1 of Pill Mill Doc Trial in Wichita, Kansas - Marianne Skolek Salem-News.com

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Salem-News.com Reporter Marianne Skolek, is an Activist for Victims of OxyContin throughout the United States and Canada. In July 2007, she testified against Purdue Pharma in Federal Court in Virginia at the sentencing of their three CEO's who pled guilty to charges of marketing OxyContin as less likely to be addictive or abused to physicians and patients. She also testified against Purdue Pharma at a Judiciary Hearing of the U.S. Senate in July 2007. Marianne works with government agencies and private attorneys in having a voice for her daughter Jill, who died in 2002 after being prescribed OxyContin, as well as the voice for scores of victims of OxyContin. She has been involved in her work for the past 7-1/2 years and is currently working on a book that exposes Purdue Pharma for their continued criminal marketing of OxyContin.

Marianne is a nurse having graduated in 1991 as president of her graduating class. She also has a Paralegal certification. Marianne served on a Community Service Board for the Courier News, a Gannet newspaper in NJ writing articles predominantly regarding AIDS patients and their emotional issues. She was awarded a Community Service Award in 1993 by the Hunterdon County, NJ HIV/AIDS Task Force in recognition of and appreciation for the donated time, energy and love in facilitating a Support Group for persons with HIV/AIDS.

oxydeaths.com/news_chilling.htm
nytimes.com/2007/05/10/business/11drug-web.html?
blog.nj.com/njv_bob_braun/2007/07/sometimes_only_justice_can_rel.html
judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/testimony.cfm?id=2905&wit_id=6612
You can send Marianne an email at: mskolek@aol.com
oxydeaths.com




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