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Accused Pill Mill Doctor Seeks Double Standard
Posted by: Tom Warner
September 16, 2009
Topic: Medical Malpractice
The lawyer defending Dr. Stephen Schneider in several medical malpractice lawsuits asked the court to suspend those cases while the doctor awaits trial on federal criminal charges. Dr. Schneider is accused of negligently writing prescriptions for narcotics that resulted in patients becoming addicted to the strong painkillers or dying from overdoses. Dr. Schneider is facing 34 federal charges, along with his wife, relating to their prescribing of the strong narcotics and the deaths and addictions that followed according to papers filed in federal court by the U.S Attorney. Dr. Schneider's wife, Linda, was an L.P.N. who managed their Haysville, Kansas clinic. Both Schneider's have denied any wrongdoing.
Dr. Schneider lost his medical license to practice medicine last year and has refused to answer questions from the lawyers handling the medical malpractice cases. Dr. Schneider's defense lawyer in the medical malpractice cases says it will violate his client's Fifth Amendment right to remain silent in the criminal case if he has to defend himself and answer questions in the civil cases.
Curiously, Dr. Schneider and his lawyer have questioned the family members and clients in the medical malpractice cases before filing a motion to try and protect Dr. Schneider from having to answer similar type questions from the lawyers representing the families and individuals who have been harmed and killed by Dr. Schneider's claimed negligence in operating a "pill mill." Medical malpractice attorney Gerard Scott of Warner Law Offices, P.A. in Wichita, Kansas, who represents a family in a wrongful death lawsuit brought against the doctor, observed that Dr. Schneider's lawyers have been able to question his clients and family members. In a story reported in the Wichita Eagle newspaper on September 15, 2009, Gerard Scott stated," He's been able to go forward. And now to step forward and say...you don't get to depose my client, is just not fair." The trial judge took the motion under advisement but a ruling is expected shortly.
This is very typical of how doctors who are accused of malpractice and their lawyers try and manipulate the legal system to avoid accountability. If Dr. Schneider's lawyers really wanted to work on a level playing field, they should have filed their motion to try and delay accountability before deciding to question the individuals and family members in the medical malpractice cases. It is clear Dr. Schneider and his lawyers want it both ways: they want to conduct full discovery, question the victims and their families, and prepare their defense and then set up a legal roadblock to prevent the lawyers representing the other side of the case from questioning Dr. Schneider and preparing their case against him. The problem is the medical malpractice trials are set for next summer. The criminal case is on appeal to the Federal Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals on a procedural matter and there is no trial date set.
As the old saying goes, "Justice delayed is justice denied." Dr. Schneider's motion to further delay efforts to hold him accountable for his actions should be denied. It is simply not fair to allow Dr. Schneider's lawyer to conduct discovery in the medical malpractice cases and then try and deny the victims' families the right to do the very same thing.
