Doctoring the Truth
Welcome to Doctoring the Truth, a podcast where two dedicated audiologists dissect the world of healthcare gone rogue. Explore jaw-dropping stories of medical malfeasance, nefariousness, and shocking breaches of trust. The episodes provide deep dives that latch onto your curiosity and conscience. It's a podcast for truth-seekers craving true crime, clinical insights, and a dash of humor.
Doctoring the Truth
The Sins of the Stethoscope: Unraveling the Murder of Dr. Brian Stidham
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Stay safe, and stay suspicious...trust, after all is a delicate thing!
Okay, I need my mouse, Don't worry, I'll cut it out. Oh, hello, hello. Welcome to Doctoring the Truth, the podcast where we pull back the curtain on true crime in healthcare. I'm your host, Jenna Tunnell, and with me is my delightful co-host, amanda House. We are two doctors of audiology here to bring you Inside Real Life Cases where once trusted healthcare providers veered off the ethical path into criminal territory. Hey, amanda, welcome to our first podcast.
Speaker 1:How excited are you Um a ball of nerves and excitement. I don't know why nerves? Because no one can see us.
Speaker 2:No one can see us, it's just you and I. Right, yeah, for now, I'm excited. Yeah, well, I am really excited as well. I think we should just dive right into it. Um, today's episode's titled the Sins of the Stethoscope, which is hard to say. Well, I am really excited as well. I think we should just dive right into it. Today's episode's titled the Sins of the Stethoscope, which is hard to say, and is part one of a two-part series about the murder of Dr Brian Stidham, a pediatric ophthalmologist.
Speaker 2:On the evening of October 5th 2004, in Tucson, arizona, 37-year-old Brian Stidham, a well-known pediatric ophthalmologist, was found dead in the parking lot of the North First Medical Plaza where he ran his private practice. He'd been stabbed 15 to 17 times and suffered a skull fracture. Police discovered his wallet on him, which still contained cash, so it didn't seem like it was a robbery. This was a crime of another kind. Was it revenge? Was it a chance encounter with a murderer on the loose? Stay tuned, listeners, to find out the resources that I used to research. This episode included a book titled Toxic Rage A Tale of Murder in Tucson by journalist AJ Flick. Rage A Tale of Murder in Tucson by journalist AJ Flick an episode of Forensic Files I mean, of course entitled Office Visit, an episode on investigation discovery entitled Killing Time, a 48-hour mystery documentary entitled An Eye for an Eye and various articles from the Tucson Citizen, which is a newspaper at the time. So the rest of the resources will be listed in our show notes. I should give a trigger warning, for those who need it We'll be talking about murder and a violent crime, so let's get into it. Let's do it.
Speaker 2:At approximately 1020 on the evening of Octoberober 5th 2004 in tucson, arizona, a 911 dispatcher contacted pima sheriff's department to respond to reports of a man sprawled out on the black top of an office complex parking lot. The police arrived moments later to find the man deceased on the ground with 15 to 17 stab wounds and a skull fracture. His wallet located on his person was cash still inside identified him as Brian Stidham, age 37. Dr Stidham wasa well-known pediatric ophthalmology surgeon who owned a private practice in the North First Medical Plaza where he was found. Earlier that evening he'd given a lecture to medical students in his office and police noted a partly eaten slice of pizza on the ground beside him, which is a detail that just I hate that oh my God, I know, it just hurt my heart.
Speaker 2:I can't imagine. Brian's day started like many others. He got up at 5 am. He went to lift weights, which actually was the first time since in a while, because he had heart surgery about a month ago. He left his house for the office at 7.20 in the morning and he had a packed schedule of patients to see that day.
Speaker 2:At 1 pm he called his wife, daphne, who said she wanted to bring their children by to see him at the office, since she knew he had to stay late that night to give a lecture to his medical students. He later on called his wife on her cell at 545, but he sounded rushed. They talked about an upcoming gala and what Daphne planned to wear to it. He hung up and said he had to go wait for the pizza that he'd ordered while Daphne went to cook dinner for their two children. Christine Heller and her fiancé Anthony arrived in his pickup truck around 10 pm that evening. Christine worked as a massage therapist and she'd accidentally forgotten her engagement ring at the office because she would typically take it off to give massages. I mean, who wants a ring?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, nobody wants that In your biz. So she was worried about someone swiping it though, because cleaning crew and other people would come in during the night Well sure. So her fiancé agreed that he would go with her because she just felt creeped out about going back to the office at night. So he agreed to accompany her to retrieve it. When they pulled into the medical complex parking lot they saw a man in medical scrubs sprawled out on the ground, unmoving. Anthony pulled his truck up next to the guy, rolled down his window and yelled hello, excuse me, sir, are you all right? He got out of the truck and noticed papers were just strewn everywhere over the parking lot. He asked him again if he was okay, but there was no response. Anthony then nudged him with his foot no response. He got back into the truck to move the truck away from the body. Christine, he's not moving. He said Is he drunk? Christine asked. Anthony said I know like what? Seriously natural response, I guess anthony. I mean, do you come across that much, right? Um, anthony said. Anthony said he didn't know.
Speaker 2:But christine, who had basic life support training, said they should check for pulse and call 9-1-1. Good girl, christine, let's all give her a clap out because first thing we learned right in our annual BLS yeah, exactly, but he didn't have a pulse and he wasn't warm, but she said he wasn't clammy or cold either. So you know, that says something about how long the body had actually been there. But let's talk about the victim, david Brian Stidham. He was born on August 13th 1967 in longview, texas, to parents mac and joyce. Stidham brian was apparently named after his uncle david, but everyone just called him brian. I mean, what's the point of that? Um, brian's uncle david was a physician and so was his grandfather smarty pants family.
Speaker 2:Yeah I know right. I couldn't find much information about his early childhood, but I did find an interview with a close friend of Brian's in the Tucson Citizen newspaper from May of 2007. And his friend, dwayne Probst, talks about their experiences together. Dwayne and Brian met in the eighth grade. They were both drummers at rival middle school bands. Dwayne shared that Brian wasn't a great musician but he worked his tail off to be perfect and by our senior year he was all state. This is a quote from him. I was the alternate second chair. I had to go sit in the audience and watch him with his mom and dad. That just shows you know, perfectionism can take you anywhere. So the boys also had a close friend named Joe Little. According to Dwayne, they'd hang out, wash his truck, spend time doing homework together and run around town. Long view.
Speaker 2:Texas in the late 80s could be rough, though. Dwayne recalled there were fights all the time. We grew up in that time where somebody would say I'm going to kick your ass and you say and you say, well, all right, where do you want to do it? Uh, but brian wasn't you and me a sandwich bike rack, meet me at noon. But brian wasn't the kind of person that would engage in that. So apparently the only trouble that brian ever got into with the law was when he was caught with booze at the age of 20 in Georgia. I mean, come on, we can forgive him.
Speaker 1:We've all been there.
Speaker 2:Right, right. His prosecution was deferred and during their freshman year, all three kids set their intentions for what they wanted to be when they grew up. Brian said he was going to be a doctor, joe was going to be a lawyer and Dwayne a doctor. Joe was going to be a lawyer and Dwayne a musician. And, according to Dwayne, all of these three dreams turned out to be true. Oh, I love that. I love that for them. Who?
Speaker 1:does that? I had no clue what I was going to be. I mean, I didn't know what.
Speaker 2:I was going to be till.
Speaker 1:I met you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, till I made you, I was like you need to do this, amanda, all right. So after graduating high school in 1985, brian moved to Nashville with Twain and attended Vanderbilt University. I mean, he was obviously very intelligent and driven because he then attended Harvard Medical School, I know. So he attended Harvard in 1990 and he graduated in 1993. I mean, it's a four-year program.
Speaker 1:I'm just saying the guy's smart, very smart.
Speaker 2:So I looked at the requirements to become a board certified pediatric ophthalmologist and according to the American board of ophthalmology it's four years of undergrad, four years of medical school, one year clinical internship with nine months of that uh, with a broad experience in direct patient care across different specialties, and then three months of experience in ophthalmology and then after that it's residency training for at least three years, but it can take up to seven years of residency to complete the board certification requirements.
Speaker 1:Oh, my OMG.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:I'm like are you tired? I am just tired thinking about it. So he, stidham, attended residency at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School's Internal Medicine Department for a year, but then he switched to ophthalmology medicine department for a year, but then he switched to ophthalmology. Dwayne said that Brian had told him that the reason that he switched to ophthalmology from internal med was because he didn't want the phone to be ringing in the middle of the night, you know. And he really liked working with kids.
Speaker 2:But our little friend Brian wasn't all about the books. He began dating his neighbor, daphne Herding, soon after he arrived in Dallas. Daphne, daphne the two would run, they would go running together. They'd spend their evenings talking and drinking sake. I hope they had some sushi with the sake. I'm sure they did. Yeah, I couldn't find any evidence of that, but let's hope.
Speaker 2:Dwayne noted that Daphne was gorgeous and that he could tell they were a good couple because it seemed like they could read each other's minds Cute. He stated that's so cute, right, I want that for? Do you have that? I want that for everybody. Oh, warm fuzzies. He stated that Brian was actually engaged to another girl at one point Scandal. But Brian's friends didn't like that girl and Brian called off the wedding two weeks before the wedding day. Yikes Dwayne said Daphne was different and a lot like Brian. She said he was quiet, reserved. Or she yeah, he said that she was quiet reserved. Or she yeah, he said that she was quiet, reserved. And a woman of few words quote. She chooses her words carefully. She just has a very sweet soul and is just a dear end. Quote. Daphne later described Brian as sincere and approachable, with a big heart. She said he was easy to talk to and he made me feel so good inside and I felt safe with him.
Speaker 1:That's sweet. I'm just like still thinking you were engaged before too, Plus all this medical school. Like you were busy, I mean busy boy, right that's a lot to be juggling Right.
Speaker 2:Good multitasker, yeah Well, the two eventually married in a garden ceremony at the Crescent Hotel in Dallas on May 31st 1997, with Dwayne as the best man, of course. Dwayne, I know, wait till you hear what the mother-in-law says. I mean, I don't have such a lucky experience with this Okay.
Speaker 1:I was like this is going to go either way.
Speaker 2:But his mother-in-law, jung Ja Herding, said I used to tell him he had no flaws. He was the perfect son-in-law, the perfect husband. Aww End quote I love him. Dwayne started a band with another friend of his from Longview, texas, named Porter Howell. The name of the band was have you heard of it, little Texas? Oh, no, well, a lot of people have, because apparently they play country music. Surprise, I looked them up and they're still going strong. They've produced eight albums and played thousands of shows across the country. They still tour and the band is comprised of the original members Porter Howell, who is the lead guitarist and lead vocals, dwayne O'Brien, who's rhythm guitar and vocals, and Dwayne Probst, who does bass and vocals, and drummer Del Gray. First of all, what are the odds of two Dwaynes in one band?
Speaker 1:Of course it's a country band. I know someone from Texas. I'm going to ask her if she knows about this.
Speaker 2:During its heyday, little texas ranked or racked up 12 top 20 singles, with seven top tens and three number ones. They received multiple grammy, cma and acm nominations, winning the american country music for top vocal group of 1994. So to date the band, the band members, have continued to write or, co-write, record and play every single note on every single they've released. Okay, which is so impressive, but to me the most remarkable thing about this band is their hair. So if you just pull up your google machine, have a peek at those early 90 perms, oh my god, it's so fabulous, there is so much hair. So please do yourselves a favor. Little Texas in the 90s Wow, okay, but back to Brian.
Speaker 2:Brian and his bride spent their honeymoon in Hawaii and then they moved to Indianapolis for a fellowship that Brian had in peds ophthalmology and adult strabismus. Strabismus is eye misalignment, so that would eventually become his specialty. The couple moved back to Texas a year later when Brian was hired as a faculty member at the University of Texas in Houston. They then had two children Alexander Brian, spelt A-L-E-X-A-N-D-R-E Brian in 2000, and Catherine Elizabeth in 2003. In 2001, brian saw an advertisement in a medical journal for a peds ophthalmologist position in a private practice. Brad Schwartz MD was looking to hand over his pediatric patients to keep up with the demands of his adult patients. Brian got excited because he loved Tucson. Daphne was quoted as saying he'd never seen anything like the West the cacti, the vibrant sunrises and sunsets. He fell in love with it and said honey, we've got to come here, we've got to stay here.
Speaker 1:she said Gotta do it.
Speaker 2:Gotta do it. Dwayne, however, remembers trying to warn Brian against moving there and he said weird things happen there. I swear there's an aura of evil to it. I wish you would think about this. Uh, foreshadowing, yeah, Uh, gotta talk to Dwayne. I mean wow, but Brian loved the mountains.
Speaker 1:How did he know this Is the band touring at this time?
Speaker 2:I don't know, Like maybe they just had a bad gig Dang, just bad vibes there, I don't know.
Speaker 2:Brian just brushed it off. He's like I love the mountains, I love hiking, and he's like the partner that I'm going to be working with is ultra cool. He's giving me the keys to the kingdom. It's going to be great. I'm going to be doing exactly what I've always wanted to do. Now, talking to another healthcare professional that prefers to work with kids, I mean I get it right. Adults are grumpy. They've got a lot to complain about. I mean kids, kids, you make a difference and they're grateful. They don't know any better, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah yeah, yeah for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yep, that's. That's actually why I only work with kids. Now I shouldn't say that's why it's nice same, I mean it, it's.
Speaker 2:It's definitely a perk. All right, so now we're gonna discuss a piece of toilet paper stuck to the bottom of the shoe that's been dragged through sewage and his name is bradley schwartz. Yeah, if you can tell, kind of don't like the dude sure and so this is a guy who's taking the pediatric caseload from the practice owner.
Speaker 2:Yes, okay yeah, and his name is bradley schwartz. So I'm gonna start with a comment from a parent of a patient of bradley schwartz, who said that he told this family quote there are only two who can save your child god and me.
Speaker 1:And god's busy excuse me while I'm gagging narcissist much omg.
Speaker 2:So yeah, we're dealing with a huge ego right there. Okay, bradley Problem was he was actually a very good surgeon, of course he was.
Speaker 2:Other than his verbal ability to check his massive, overinflated opinion of himself, he was by many accounts great with patients and their families. So let's talk about Brad. Bradley Allen Schwartz was born on January 14, 1965, in Brooklyn, new York. Sorry to our Capricorn friends, he was born to parents Henry and Lois Schwartz, and he grew up on Staten Island. The Schwartzes were kosher Jews who adhered to the strict dietary rules of the Jewish faith, so they had two sets of dishes, cooking utensils, pans and silverware to keep the meat and the dairy products separate. Brad apparently carried this tradition on throughout his adult life and he'd get extremely angry if anyone mixed dishes around him. He had quite a temper. Apparently His father was a high school teacher and his wife was, and his mom sorry, I don't know why I said his wife.
Speaker 2:Bradley's father was a teacher and Bradley's mom was an administrator at a large brokerage firm. They both felt strongly that they needed to put their children through college, but their limited salaries made that difficult. Bradley's parents eventually moved to Florida to be near their daughter, a nurse who had two children of her own. Bradley later said he had a normal childhood. He didn't suffer abuse or neglect. He didn't have head injuries None of the stuff we look for. His family was law-abiding. He played baseball, basketball and was in the Boy Scouts, and he even became an Eagle Scout.
Speaker 1:Whew All the activities.
Speaker 2:Right. Bradley attended public school and then enrolled in a private religious high school in New Jersey, new Joisey, from which he graduated in 1983, and then he attended Stony Brook University of New York at Binghamton, where he studied history and math and then graduated at the top of his class in 1987. He attended the University of Rochester School of Medicine in New York and graduated there in 1991. And then, on May 3, 1991, he married Joan Samuels, who graduated from the same university's Institute of Optics. They moved to Connecticut for Brad's internship in internal med at Norwick hospital and then after that he attended attended his residency at the medical college of Virginia in Richmond, where he was chief resident of the ophthalmology department. The couple had two children, ariel in August 1992 and Raina in June of 1995. Love those names.
Speaker 2:Brad's wife, joan, quit her optical engineering career to care for the children when Brad began his fellowship in pediatric ophthalmology at Will's Eye Hospital in 1995 in Philadelphia. A year later, in July 1996, he accepted a second fellowship in neuro-ophthalmology at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, where he worked until the middle of 1998. While he was in residency, brad began suffering from immense dental pain that resulted in eight root canal surgeries, two extractions and surgery on his jaw and sinuses and even painkillers I know it sounds awful Painkillers couldn't even take the pain away. So he's in chronic, constant pain and you know we've seen studies that show that. You know, chronic pain changes brain chemistry right, it changes, it can change a person. So I wonder if this might be kind of a precursor to what happens later on. Might be kind of a precursor to what happens later on.
Speaker 2:So Brad and Joan moved their family to Arizona, where he accepted a position in an ophthalmology group based in Phoenix for him to be able to open up an office in Southern Arizona. He wanted to take Tucson by storm, but instead he created a massive one in his personal life. So let's talk about credentialing. As you know, when a provider takes a job with a new company, you have to submit a series of applications to each insurance company to be able to see patients and file reimbursement claims. This is a long and arduous and frustrating process at best, but Brad would have none of it. He used to call up the administrator in charge of credentialing for this practice. Her name was Carrie DeLorme and he'd scream at her oh my God, can you imagine?
Speaker 1:I know Like it's her fault, as if Carrie has anything to do with like expediting the process.
Speaker 2:I know right. At one point she said he called and left a vulgar message cursing her out because a medical director from an insurance company denied a surgical procedure for a patient due to a lack of medical necessity. On the voicemail, brad told Carrie that he would kill him because he was so angry. Uh-huh.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, not subtle, yeah, so Carrie reported the phone call to her leadership, who lodged a harassment claim against Brad on her behalf, and eventually Brad was let go. He'd apparently ruffled enough feathers during that first year, and this was the last straw.
Speaker 1:Brad said he Goodbye.
Speaker 2:Yeah, goodbye, you're done. You're done. Don't let the door hit you where the good Lord split you. Brad said he didn't care because he'd open up his new practice and he wanted to call it Arizona specialty eye care. However, he had that pesky little non-compete clause which he chose to ignore. So that resulted in the Phoenix ophthalmology practice suing him for breach of contract, but eventually, over time, both sides settled. Brad was pretty set up, resulted in the Phoenix ophthalmology practice suing him for breach of contract, but eventually, over time, both sides settled.
Speaker 2:Brad was pretty set up, however, for referrals. He was the only game in town that worked with ENT and neurosurgeons to remove craniofacial tumors, and he also did pro bono work for patients without insurance, including a group called Manos de Ayuda who would volunteer monthly to see patients across the border of Mexico. Manos de Ayuda, who would volunteer monthly to see patients across the border of Mexico. Manos de Ayuda means helping hands. Mothers of patients from Mexico would gift him with hand-woven tapestries and other items that he would display in his office. He also became the official ophthalmologist for the Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and Blind, which speaks to us personally Clap, clap, clap, sing that, clap, clap, clap, sing that Clap, clap, clap and he volunteered at the VA Go Veterans. He enrolled his son and volunteered for the Cub Scouts. He sounds like a stand-up guy, right?
Speaker 1:A wonderful competitor, right now he doesn't sound too bad.
Speaker 2:Other than calling him.
Speaker 1:Carrie.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean poor Carrie, but other than that's, he's doing his community, um, his service for the community, and he seems like he's doing his job. Uh, what could go wrong? He's a wonderful, compassionate surgeon, uh, yeah, but he continued to suffer from dental pain. He couldn't chew easily and he lost a lot of weight. He had many medical appointments of his own that he was supposed to attend, but, as we know, it's not easy, when you have your own practice, to get out for appointments that are typically during business hours. So he started to turn to illegal prescriptions of Vicodin for the pain and Ritalin for his ADHD. He began experiencing sharp pains in his right shoulder and numbness in his fingers, which, as you can imagine, is devastating for a surgeon. So he ended up having to have spinal surgery.
Speaker 1:Dang.
Speaker 2:Meanwhile, joan and Brad had a third child, danielle in 2000. But Joan filed for divorce in 2001 after she caught Brad and another woman together. Oops, yeah. The woman he was cheating on Joan with was a local Pima County attorney's office prosecutor. Her name was Lourdes Salomon Lopez. They met when Lourdes brought her foster daughter for Brad to treat her esotropia crossed eyes in December of 2000. The two started dating after they were talking on the phone when Brad called to see how her daughter was doing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean super nice for your surgeon.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I got lots of time to call every single patient. Anyway, she got a call, so that was something, and she noted that he was very curious about her profession and about the law. She brushed it off as he would ask me how I would try a case. I guess we'd talk about the things you do when people are close. I mean, people talk about their professional lives and, quote girl, get a clue. No victim blaming, but like, seriously, what a character.
Speaker 2:So meanwhile Brad's practice was in high demand. He had more patients than he could handle. He was making more than $2 million a year and around this time he treated a toddler who was brought to see him for what his parents thought was a lazy eye. But Brad discovered a cancerous tumor covering the boy's right eye. Brad helped remove the tumor, fit him with a prosthetic eye and received a glowing write-up in the Tucson Citizen newspaper. It was around this time Brad quit taking his painkillers and he focused on growing his practice. He wanted to venture into plastic surgery. Given his recent success, he decided he needed someone to take over the peds so he could focus on adults. So he placed that ad in a trade journal for a pediatric ophthalmologist, to which Brian responded. Brian was so excited about the move, stating the most beautiful life, beautiful things in life are free, love, family and nature, and quote oh, hang on. Okay, now it's time for chart notes. We're going to take a little sidebar here. Welcome to our chart note segment, where we learn something about what's happening in medicine and health care, and I'm calling this little chart note. You'll put your eye out. Um.
Speaker 2:So members of the american medical association House of Delegates called for the AMA to direct public attention to horrifying but preventable eye and other injuries in children caused by toy water beads and their blasters recently by the public. These water bead gel blasters can have devastating consequences to vision, said Aaron Shriver, md, speaking as a delegate from the American Society of Ophthalmic, plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. Shriver, who's at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, said one ophthalmology resident diagnosed hyphoma or blood inside the the eye caused by the toys during four of his 20 calls. Other injuries include recurrent inflammation in the eye, iritis and herpetic keratitis or herpes infection of the cornea, she said. Douglas Myers, md, chair of otolaryngology section council, said the beads can also be ingested because they look like candy. They can be stuck in ear canals and noses and have the capacity to expand up to 1500 times their diameter. You don't have to have a blaster to do injury. He said oh my God, what are we doing to our kids? I mean, I kind of want to see one, but not in an orifice. Not in an orifice and not in my office.
Speaker 2:The resolution urged the AMA to use its muscles to influence federal reclassification of the beads as hazardous, especially for children, duh, and to encourage water bead sellers to supply customers with eye protection and educational materials on water bead dangers and educational materials on water bead dangers. They noted 8,159 emergency room visits in the nation due to water beads between 2007 and 2022. 46% of those were from ingestion, 37% of those were ear canal insertion, 12% nasal insertion and 9% eye injury. I mean, have you seen any in your clinic? This is uh, yeah, oh, my gosh, yeah.
Speaker 2:This is um, alarming. At least it does remind me of the uh, the christmas movie, the christmas story, yes, where that kid he just the whole movie just wanted a bb gun and his mom kept going. You'll put your eye out, um, anyway. Uh, our medical community is largely unaware of these pathways and therefore unable to form an informed opinion on this matter, leading to a silence of positions, said Rupa Naik MD, the author and chair elect of the AMA IMG governing council, who spoke on its behalf. So I'm not sure why they don't understand what pathways these things are getting through, but um sounds like people aren't aware, aware um. Many of the delegates express concerns that there needs to be better alignment among state legislative language to ensure that legislation supports the delivery of high quality medical medical care in the us.
Speaker 2:Blah, blah, blah yeah or we just learned that water beads are dangerous and maybe we just stop selling them, I don't know. So in that same meeting they talked about the immediate access to records rule. So apparently the discussion was passionate and it centered around how physicians oppose the nation's information blocking rule, which allows patients to have access to certain test results and medical records before their physician has a chance to review them. Contrary opinions also arose over discussion of a resolution that would authorize the AMA to advocate for a 36-hour embargo on a provision in the federal information blocking rule which requires patients to have immediate access to medical information like test results, as soon as they're available, even prior to the physician uh reviewing them. The embargo would give physicians time to review the information and be prepared to inform the patient of the interpretation and treatment plan so they don't jump to inappropriate conclusions or panic reasonably, which they absolutely do get uh, I mean chart message.
Speaker 1:You're gonna go google it if you don't know what it means and we all know what dr google says it's not good, well and like also from the provider's perspective is like if a patient writes into you that goes to a pool of people who see it first and then they try to triage and answer it on their own. So it's like you we might not even see that.
Speaker 2:Note for for how long extra worrying time right that's true yeah, that's a good point, right, just stress everywhere so to kind of make it go over better. From what I can tell, the group did offer amendments to say that the AMA would favor situations in which patients would have the option to authorize an embargo or not, if, if they wanted immediately, I mean okay. So in other words, you could go no, I don't want to be able to see my results for at least 36 hours. Who's gonna do that? No one wants it right away. Um, like fast food, we can't, we can't wait. So I guess that was their way of like trying to make it more palatable to pass. But electronic health record systems don't always have that capacity to allow patients to select whether they want the information or not after the physician reviewed it. So this amendment would have the AMA advocate for criteria for IT developers to include this option for patients in the future. So regulations prioritize an individual's right to their medical records. Research indicates 96% of patients prefer receiving results immediately online, even when the test results are abnormal. But several speakers vehemently opposed this. Catherine Gutfeind Okay, friend of a gut, sorry, catherine.
Speaker 2:Md, an alternate delegate from California who spoke for herself, said that the result has been disruptive and scary when her patients get information online. I don't know how many emails I've gotten about a urinalysis. Oh my gosh, I have squamous cells in my urine. And then they're looking at Dr Google. She says I've had patients see their cancer diagnosis before I could get to it and that's a tragedy. I mean, that's something I didn't even think about. Yeah, so it's not just that people are going to take results and then like, blow them out of proportion. There could be some bad news and you need your doctor there by your side walking you through it. A former AMA presidentara mccainy, md delegate from the american society of clinical oncology, was also opposed to the amendments and said many of her patients are experiencing what she called scansiety, which I can. I mean totally great word. Um, the, it makes sense. Um, the radiologist has seen those cysts in the liver for many years, but writes in the note they can't rule out metastatic disease. It's the whole what we call this.
Speaker 2:This isn't the quote, but me saying is what we call the CYA clause you know, cover your ass and the patient cries all night because they think their life is over. She said what we're asking is to look at the unintended consequences of this well-intended rule, to get patients their information and allow physicians to be there and hold their hand when they're giving bad news or reassure patients that they're having an abnormal test, but it doesn't mean the end of their lives. Other things that were covered in this meeting Well, we won't go into all of them. There were more than 30 resolutions and reports but what I found interesting in our true crimey realm, federal regulations governing how body parts from cadavers may be used was discussed. Current laws cover only body parts used for transplants. Did you know that? Did you know that? So yeah, so if you donate your organs, there's only regulation around stuff that's used for transplants. The rest of the stuff is up for grabs.
Speaker 2:So in recent years, reports have emerged about how body brokers profitable sale of other human tissue to entities that misused, abused or defiled their acquisitions from 1,638 people, such as when more than 20 bodies were used in US Army blast experiments without next-of-kin consent. So they just took these lovely souls who donated their bodies to science and used them for blast experiments. It's so disrespectful. Laser surgery on the eye. I don't know if you knew this, I didn't. I mean so audiologists are clinical doctorates, as are optometrists, but nine states allow optometry laser surgery, even though the optometrist training for laser use consists of a 16 hour didactic course with no training on live patients.
Speaker 2:No, I did not know that I mean, would you?
Speaker 1:also Nope.
Speaker 2:No thanks. Yeah, I'm all for, you know, operating at the top of your licensure, but not without the proper training or at least a little internship, something a live eyeball, can we?
Speaker 1:get some cadaver eyeballs in here to practice. I mean, they won't be able to tell you like is it better with one?
Speaker 2:or two.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I can see but at least you can yeah right, that's so creepy.
Speaker 2:I didn't know that Ravi Goel, md, representing the American Academy of Ophthalmology, said that the current AMA language allows optometrists to perform eye surgery using lasers. If a physician supervises, which he says doesn't protect patient safety, and that folks, you heard it here scientific language, the verb lazed. That made me so happy. Thank you for that. All right, so we went back to the case um brian, remember he'd moved to tucson. He quickly became indispensable. He loved, he was great with anxious parents. He used to wear colorful hats to set kids' mind at ease. Um, and he would often become well, brad would often become jealous and irritable because probably jealous because Brian was better working with families. But Brian was also laid back. He had a warm demeanor and Brad was irritated that Brian would often wear scrubs in the clinic instead of the dress, shirt and tie that Brad preferred. Hello, who doesn't want to show up to pajamas at work? Plus, you know kids, kids snot tears, you know stuff. Know kids, kids snot tears, you know stuff. Right, I mean, there's the occasional poopy diaper and vomit. I mean what happens? All right, well, brad was still struggling with his addiction to Vicodin. He convinced Lourdes to help him out and she would sometimes have Vicodin prescriptions on hand to treat her migraines. He also had his office manager, lori Espinoza, help him out by allowing him to prescribe her relatives Ritalin. Oh, brad, he wasn't smart about it, though. I mean, yeah, he got caught For someone who went to Havid. He got caught, havid. He got caught when he called to refill one of lord's prescriptions. He's like I'm just refilling this for my patient. And then they asked for id and he refused to show it. So the pharmacist reported him to the dea. When the dea arranged an interview with lordis to try to get to the bottom of the matter, she lied and denied ever having Vicodin prescribed for her by Brian. That's not clever, lourdes. I know Love does crazy things.
Speaker 2:The DEA then raided Brian's office in December of 2001, and Brian was there seeing patients and the DEA demanded that all activities stop until they searched the premises. This was Brian's first knowledge that Brad had a problem. I mean, imagine you've got a new job, you've been there a month, clinics full of patients they would see 26 to 60 patients a day. Can you imagine? No thanks, but I mean these guys were busy. So all of a sudden your office is being raided. Brian confided to a pediatrician friend of his at the time. The raid scared the hell out of me, quote. I mean, I haven't been here that long and these guys come in grabbing everything, taking all the charts, disrupting the patients and the staff. What the hell is going on here? Sometimes I think it's not worth it. I should just go back to Texas, end quote. Oh, if only he had foreshadowing Right. His friend urged him not to give up. Tucson needed a promising pediatric surgeon. This set the seed for Brian to explore thoughts of setting up his own practice. His friend helped him find a suitable space, a nearby vacant office in a medical complex.
Speaker 2:On August 2nd 2002, lourdes resigned as deputy county attorney. On September 26th 2002, she was indicted in federal court on four counts of helping Brad obtain illegal prescriptions. Lori was indicted on 36 counts. That poor office, I mean, she was just like a scheduler assistant. That poor office, I mean, she was just like a scheduler assistant. And Brad was indicted on 77 counts. On October 12th 2002, brad voluntarily checked into a 30 day inpatient treatment program. He met Dr Mark Oustein, who specialized in addiction medicine. The two became friends and Dr Osteen lent Brad $40,000 to get back on his feet.
Speaker 1:Casual.
Speaker 2:You know, they say psychopaths are very charismatic. I mean, I'm just saying I'm not a psychologist, but obviously he must have some kind of sway with people. So he talked this guy who was supposed to be treating him into $40,000. And then in January 2004, he loaned Brad another 20,000 because Brad said he needed it because he was divorcing Joan. He put up his office building. Brad did as collateral and when he left the inpatient treatment program he went to a 90-day program at Rush University Behavioral Health Treatment program for doctors with addictions. I mean, they have a whole program for doctors with addictions.
Speaker 2:I mean it's great that they have it, but it's sad that they need it. Yeah, he told his office staff the reason he'd be going away for so long is that he had a brain tumor and he needed surgery in florida. What an ass. I mean, who lies about cancer? That's so gross. Uh, during that time, brad's dad, henry, went to the office to collect brad's mail and he discovered brian been handing out business cards to patients for his new private practice. Which awkward. So, yeah, that was cheeky. Uh, so Henry broke the news to Brad, of course, and, um, henry and his wife, brad's parents, urged Brad to fire Brian. Brian was summarily escorted out of the office the very next day and he was protesting, saying but there's still patients in the lobby and they were like we don't care, they care about it. So, uh, goodbye.
Speaker 2:So when Brad gets out of rehab and returns to Tucson on Valentine's day, 2003, he realizes that Brian has started a private practice with many of Brad's patients and some of his staff. He was furious. He also had the fallout from the DEA investigation and the charges against him to contend with. In June of 2003, he and Lourdes fell out while he was driving and he tried to push her out of his moving vehicle, resulting in prepare to get mad, both of them being charged with misdemeanor domestic violence charges. How the hell is that fair? I mean, I wasn't there, but it's crazy. After that, brad continued to contact her and manipulate her into thinking that this was normal, he loved her. Oh, it just happens, you know, and they should put the incident behind them. A judge placed a restraining order between the two, thank goodness, and Brad's defense attorney suggested Brad write a letter detailing the events to explain his side of things. Oh, because we're worried about Brad's side of things. I mean, obviously it's not his fault. He pushed his girlfriend out of a moving vehicle. So this is what he wrote on June 26th 2003. This is all him. Here's a partial list of the adverse consequences of my crime. This is not him, but notice like, how he's like deflecting. This isn't him. It's what happened to him Cause, let's not forget, brad's the victim here. All right to brad.
Speaker 2:Indictment on october 8, 2003 brought crime to public attention. Not his crime, just crime. I had not used any medication illegally in over a year before indictment, as documented by clean urine tests. Next bullet I was immediately and summarily suspended by every hospital in Tucson without investigation, I was dropped by almost every health care plan in Arizona. I was ordered by the board to go for an inpatient stay for substance abuse problems. First I was sent to Cottonwood to Tucson for one month, followed by a three-month stay at Rush University Behavioral Health Professionals Program. Even though no substance abuse issue with current yeah, he's a liar, he just just continues like yeah, I mean dude.
Speaker 2:My former business associate, dr Stidham, started his own practice while I was hospitalized and took four of my full-time employees with him. He has bad-mouthed me to the physician community while he openly advertised the grand opening of his practice and placed his business cards and announcements. While I was in Chicago at Rush, dr Stidham plotted with Lori Espinoza to get him credentialed on all healthcare plans behind my back while I was hospitalized, she gave him all my forms that I designed and utilized in my office and have copyrighted. That makes me giggle, because, yeah, I mean, they're not his forms. They come from the insurance companies and you have to fill them out. They're not his. I mean yeah, okay, it was cheeky if he was using Brad's staff. Yeah, no, that's not good, lori Espinoza, again, this is Brad's take. Lori Espinoza embezzled over $10,000 from my office while I was hospitalized and is currently being investigated by the Tucson Police Department Fraud Unit. I couldn't find where that came from, so I don't know if that's true or not.
Speaker 2:My patient population, which totaled over 15,000 patients, is now dissipated. They have gone for care to other doctors or competitors. What the hell do you think they're going to do when you're gone for four effing months? Right, I mean, I'm sorry. Not only that, you lied and said you have brain cancer. They're probably thinking well, I don't want a dude with half a brain to like come in, right? Or also, if you had to have brain removed, I don't know that. I kind of want you on my, your tiny little surgical instruments in my eyeball. Yes, right, okay, back to brad. I'm already irritated. We've got a few more of these.
Speaker 2:Yeah, uh, I have paid over 170 000 in legal expenses, health care costs related to my inpatient stays and rehab. Well, right, welcome to the world of health, which you are a part of perpetuating. Okay, so my monthly income prior to my indictment was over a hundred thousand dollars monthly. A hundred thousand dollars monthly. But it's so sad because he goes on to say because I have not worked since October 8, 2002, I've lost over $900,000 in pay and keep in mind I had legal and health care costs. Thank God, still there's no acknowledgement that he has any of the culpability here. So anyway, he goes on.
Speaker 2:I have gone through a painful divorce. I have three small children who were kept from seeing me for the four months I was in rehab. They weren't kept from seeing you, dude, you were, you were in treatment. You did this to yourself. I have to stop shouting at him. I'll just keep reading his stuff. Okay, I've.
Speaker 2:I've suffered shame, humiliation and, essentially, excommunication from the medical community in Tucson. My career in Tucson is likely done. I will have to relocate to another city If I am to practice. This will be impossible to do because it will require getting licensed in another state. I have suffered a yeah, right, I've suffered. Right, god forbid needs to get credentialed again.
Speaker 2:I've suffered a career threatening injury that resulted in herniation of another disc in my neck and has left me with potentially permanent numbness in my left hand. Okay, I said I wasn't going to say anything, but like, let's think about that. So here we are, a surgeon who's essentially performing like microsurgery. Um, are we not worried that he has permanent numbness in his left hand. I know we're supposed to feel bad about it, but, like, should you be looking at going back to being a surgeon? Maybe that's a bigger deal, I don't know. Do you disclose that to your patients? I'm going to do your surgery with one hand, right? I don't know. He says, yeah, I want to keep my patients safe. Um, I'm close to filing bankruptcy and I have over a hundred thousand dollars in credit card debt. Oh, who used those credit cards, bradley? Was it perhaps you? Sorry? Um, I promised I would get through this list. We're almost there.
Speaker 2:I've suffered the guilt of knowing that I involve friends and loved ones in my crime. That has impacted negatively upon them as well. Ooh, it might be a hint of an apology there, but not really. I have previously had 10 full-time employees who have since had to seek work elsewhere. My practice provided income for their respective families and loved ones. This is also a small part of the guilt I bear. Yeah, but four of those people are getting paid by Bri guy. So you're okay, dude. Uh, oh, and then he says the inability to work at the job that I love more than anything. And lastly, two frivolous lawsuits have been filed against me immediately after the indictment in cases that did not involve any medical wrongdoing. The plaintiff's attorneys hope to capitalize on my negative public image and reach settlement. Yeah well, you put yourself in the spotlight with your behavior. Also, there's that numb hand, okay.
Speaker 2:So in October the medical board released its findings, noting that Brad's conduct would have harmed patients who trusted him, they ordered five years of probation. While on probation, brad was ordered to submit a statement under oath four times a year that he's complying with its orders, including a year to complete the board's physician assessment and clinical education program in narcotics and medical records. He was banned from prescribing or storing strong meds and had to enroll in the monitored aftercare program for physicians impaired by alcohol or drug use. I mean again the fact that that's a program geez. In addition, he had to attend group therapy once a week, attend 90 12-step meetings in 90 days and then a minimum of three 12-step self-help group meetings a week, as recommended by his group therapist. He could then apply for medicine prescription after a year. He wasn't allowed to drink alcohol, eat anything with poppy seeds which was funny and submit to regular urine drug testing. That's a lot.
Speaker 2:Brad pleaded guilty to 74 of the 77 charges against him. The judge decided to delay sentencing. I know, right, you're going to quibble about the three. I know, dude, let's round it up and make it 80. I don't know. The judge decided to delay sentencing for a year. Lourdes and Lori got similar deals. The charges would be dismissed if all three defendants stayed out of trouble for a year. Brad was ordered to pay a $7,500 fine, surrender his DEA registration to prescribe drugs, comply with all the conditions imposed by the Arizona Medical Board and give the government $40,000 for court costs.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, remember this guy was making. What did he say? A hundred thousand a month, anyway, yeah, no, that would be devastating, but we also wouldn't behave this way. So, okay, word of warning. There are so many women involved with this womanizing piece of crap that I had to make highlights. So there's a list. I'm just going to list the ones that appear in multiple, multiple times throughout the research that I did. There's literally dozens of women, but we've got a top nine list going here Ready, so we're. We've already heard about Lourdes, uh, solomon Lopez.
Speaker 2:Lourdes was married to her husband, danny, and had two children. They divorced in 1995. She started her career as a lawyer from 97 to 99, and then became a prosecutor with the Pima County Attorney's Office in 2000. In January of 2003, she became engaged to Brad. Apparently, brad paid her ex-husband Danny meanwhile to kill Brad, but Danny died in a gun battle with cops in March of 2003 before he was able to fulfill the deal. It was apparently some drug deal gone bad, can you, I mean, let that sink in.
Speaker 2:Okay, brad and Lourdes moved in together in April of 2004, but Brad left after two days of living together. So that went well. And then, to make matters more exciting, in May of 2004, he stole Lourdes' car. He just showed up in her driveway with a spare set of keys and drove it off. Um, what a dude, what a stellar guy. All right, next lady, ate, aisha, henry. Aisha met brad in rehab and ran into him. Later on he told her he loved her. He tried to get her to file a sexual assault claim on brian to get even with him. She refused and in 2004 brad asked aisha if she would get her husband to hurt brian for 3 000. And in 2004, brad asked Aisha if she would get her husband to hurt Brian for $3,000. Yes, you heard that right. She was married the whole time and he wanted to pay $3,000 just to kind of incapacitate him a little. Maybe quote unquote throw acid in his eyes, yeah.
Speaker 2:Next lady Liliana Bibb. Liliana was apparently Lourdes' cousin. So great, um, how did I mean? What are the odds? Because they met on matchcom, brad proposed to her after two weeks of dating. Um, what I like about Liliana is, uh, she found out that he was cheating on her, so she borrowed $2,000 from him and ghosted him. He never got the money back. So that's one for the ladies.
Speaker 2:Next lady Stephanie Nagel. Stephanie met Brad at the courthouse where they were both in attendance for their own personal crimes. She had some fraud or bad checks or something she was dealing with. Brad pestered her to date him and then asked her if she knew any hit men. You know, as you do. Oh, you're so hot. No, no, no, what's your favorite color? Do you know any hit men? Um, and she asked why he was asking her that. And he's like well, you've been in jail, so I figured he'd know such a person. So Stephanie also wised up and managed to ghost him eventually.
Speaker 2:Now we get to Carmen Fernandez. Carmen was a phlebotomist and a college student studying criminal justice. She was separated from her husband and had one child. She met Brad because he would come in weekly for his urine tox screenings and try to hit on her. Eventually, one of her co-workers said you should go out with that guy, he's cute, guess what. Brad asked her if she knew a hitman. That didn't seem to deter her very much, though, because she became pregnant with his child in the summer of 2004. So, reminiscent of the money that disappeared with Liliana, brad gave her $2,000 and he disappeared. Nice Rachel Atkinson is next. She met Brad in 2004 when she took her infant son to see him and Brad removed a tumor from behind the child's left eye. She messaged him about her son's recovery and he eventually asked her out. I mean, as you do, rachel was recovering from a broken engagement, so they started sleeping together several times a week.
Speaker 2:Next lady for a shave Kristen Peterson. She met Brad by answering a personal ad of Brian's on an online dating site. She helped him move out of his home with Lourdes after those famous two days that they managed to live together. He knew about his other women. Oh God, this woman is batshit. Oh yeah, I couldn't even my brain couldn't do the math to see how much overlap was going on. I mean, there were handfuls at a time, but Kristen is probably the most cray cray out of the group.
Speaker 2:Um, she knew what was going on with all these extra women. But she said quote, damn it, bradley, I love you. You've literally had my heart from day one. There's just something about you. Even knowing that you had 10 girlfriends at once, including me, I still somehow thought it was me that you loved the most. Period end quote. I know, kristen, get some therapy, honey, you deserve better. Yeah, you deserve better. Oh god, we're not even at nine yet.
Speaker 2:Okay, lisa goldberg, lisa and brad met on matchcom. They went on a date on this. Uh, for sure, for sure, for sure. On the. The second date, bradley told her he loved her. She told him she wasn't there yet, you know. Second date yeah, but on the third date he took her shopping for an engagement ring. The guy just doesn't know how to slow it down. Um, so Lisa shared that Brad talked about a deep seated resentment towards Brian and that Brian had taken all his patients away and ruined his life.
Speaker 2:I want him dead, he told her one night. That's a terrible thing to say. She told him well, it's a terrible thing he did to me. He shouted I'm telling you, I want that man killed. That's ridiculous. She said you don't mean it and you know it. He ruined my life, lisa. Brad said he's gonna die. All right, let's go on to. Yeah, here's something. Please say something to somebody. Somebody, uh, I mean not to this extent, holy cow. Okay. So Rosalia.
Speaker 2:Rosalia Humo was a friend of Lourdes who needed a job. Lourdes referred to her or sorry, lourdes referred her to Brad's office state, stating that Brad was starting up his practice again and he might need an assistant. Rosalia agreed to meet with Brad and a smart girl took her friend Margaret along. Brad told her I've got this huge, huge problem and I need someone to help me get rid of this problem. Do you remember that doctor? I was working with Dr Stidham. He's the problem, brad said. He practically ruined my life. It's been hell just getting back to where I am.
Speaker 2:Do you think you could help me? Like, do what she asked? Well, I was thinking that if someone planted pornography in his office because he's a pediatric ophthalmologist, it would land him in real hot water. Lord just told me, something like that could ruin someone for life. And if it would get out into the community, into the papers that this children's eye surgeon was caught with porn in his office. It would humiliate him just the way I was humiliated when he turned me over in the drug thing period, end quote.
Speaker 2:How would you right? Um and rosalia had nothing to do with it. But our sorry, uh, brian had nothing to do with it, neither did versalia. But um, so rosalia goes on. How would you do it? She asked well, brad said I could take a picture of my son naked and then we could plant it in brian's office and then call the cops. I think I said. Brian said but it was brad, this is brad. Can you imagine talking about your own child and then take a naked picture of them and put it out there to frame someone? The hell is wrong with this guy. He goes, rosalia, maybe you could put it there or you could get someone else to do it Obviously I can't be the one to do it because you have standards, dude and then maybe we could plant some illegal drugs in his office. Maybe you know where we could get some drugs and we could put them there too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, she said, why are you so mad at him to do that? He stole my patients, brad said. When I was in rehab. I lost half my patients and half my staff to Brian. You know I pulled him out of Longview, texas, to come here. I paid 120k to relocate him. All I asked for was a little loyalty and at the first sign of trouble he splits and takes half of everything with him. He doesn't know how much harm I can cause him. I know where he works. He has an office at First and River, this little complex where it's dark when he gets off late at night.
Speaker 2:Do you think he could find somebody, like one of your gang members, to kill him? What Rosalia said shocked. I want him fucking dead. Brad said Can he find someone? I need someone. I can make it look like a carjacking. You know he drives a white Lexus and he always parks it in the same place. He leaves late at night. I mean it would be nothing for someone to knock him off and take the car. The cops would think it's just another random killing. I'm sure you know people who do this sort of thing. I'd pay him too, half up front, half after. Do you think you can help me, rosalia, I can see about that.
Speaker 2:She said, unsure if he was serious. She thought the sooner she agreed with him, the sooner she could leave and hope to never see him again. There are so many things right now that I want to say, but maybe I mean we can maybe bottle it up and to the end, but take a deep breath. Okay, so this wasn't the only time brad said stuff like this. There were multiple occasions where his womanizing or connections with people resulted in him somehow manipulating the conversation. In instances where his lover or acquaint connections with people resulted in him somehow manipulating the conversation. In instances where his lover or acquaintance could potentially exact revenge against brian's did him and nobody took him seriously. Enter bruce bigger.
Speaker 1:And this, dear listeners, is where we'll pick up the rest of the story next week wow, what a great place to stop, because none of us are wondering I, I, my jaw is still down here. Let me pick it up quick about um brad. Obviously, casing out brian at his new place of work knows well. I suppose he would have known what he drove from working together before. But you know where you park your car, well, brown, that time he gets off work it's nice and dark. So I'm just like did brad do it, or god it's?
Speaker 2:so stalkery somebody go do this oh my goodness, we'll have to stay tuned yeah, right, I, I'm like why are you assuming I know people like this well, really all the women. What, what? Yeah, well, and, and I feel like, cause he's a he's a flaming racist, I think. Because she was Mexican, he assumed okay, you're a gang member who, uh, obviously can get ahold of drugs and hit men. I mean, he's such a piece of garbage. I just really hate this guy.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, um, fascinating so far, thank you. I can't wait to find out what happens with him. Um, I hope he's either. I'm not going to say cause this is everyone's first time meeting me, so I'm not gonna say um, thank, you.
Speaker 2:So next week we are going to cover part two of sins, of the stuff scope, where we will meet suspects, discuss the trial, the verdict and the current status of the alleged killer or killers so don't miss it.
Speaker 1:Subscribe and follow doctoring the truth wherever you enjoy your podcasts for stories that shock, intrigue and educate. Trust, After all, is a delicate thing. You can also leave us comments, questions or compliments on our website at doctoring the truth Dot buzzsproutcom. Goodbye.
