FEDERAL JUDGE DISMISSES CHARGES AGAINST KENTUCKY CARDIOLOGIST, ENDING AN EIGHT-YEAR ATTEMPT BY PROSECUTORS TO CRIMINALIZE DIFFERENCES IN MEDICAL JUDGMENT

COVINGTON, Ky., Jan. 5, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- A federal judge has dismissed criminal charges against retired interventional cardiologist Dr. Richard Paulus of Ashland, Kentucky, ending an eight-year-long case that involved two trials and multiple appeals, Dr. Paulus's lawyers at the BLL law firm, the Law Office of Stephen Chahn Lee, and the Mussetter Law Office announced today.

"This long-overdue dismissal finally recognizes the truth – the government cannot prove wrongdoing by Dr. Paulus based on the actual evidence regarding his medical practice," said Hilary Holt LoCicero of the BLL law firm, lead counsel in the second trial that recently concluded. 

From 2008 through 2013, Dr. Paulus was part of the cardiology department at King's Daughters Medical Center in Ashland.  Dr. Paulus spent more than two decades helping patients with heart disease in the tri-state area served by KDMC, and the interventional cardiology program he developed there was ranked by various organizations as one of the best in the country.

Dr. Paulus was charged with wrongdoing by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Kentucky in 2015, and his case went to trial in 2016.  The conviction in that trial was thrown out on constitutional grounds by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit because Dr. Paulus had not been provided at trial with significant exculpatory information that supported his innocence and showed that the government's evidence had been cherry-picked.  The appeals court accordingly held he was entitled to a new trial.

Prior to the second trial in 2023, U.S. District Judge David Bunning properly excluded from evidence various types of irrelevant, inadmissible, and misleading information that the government hoped to introduce.  The second trial lasted five weeks and concluded with closing arguments on December 7. 

The case against Dr. Paulus, as presented by federal prosecutors, focused on a small, not statistically valid number of Dr. Paulus's medical procedures in which he had seen significant blockage in the patients' coronary arteries that he believed justified the placement of a coronary artery stent.  The government presented experts who disagreed with Dr. Paulus's medical judgments, while Dr. Paulus presented experts who agreed with him and agreed that the stents were necessary.

Ultimately, the government was unable to prove any wrongdoing by Dr. Paulus on a single count of the indictment.  The jury acquitted him on one charge and, on January 3, the government filed a motion to dismiss all remaining charges.  The motion was granted by Judge Bunning yesterday afternoon.

"Dr. Paulus was improperly accused by the government," Ms. LoCicero added. "He dedicated his life to helping sick patients and he always acted in their best interests.  There was substantial evidence at trial that established this.  Essentially, the case boiled down to legitimate disagreements between experts in a complicated field of medicine.  The government's attempt to criminalize such disagreements among doctors was unjustified.  Doctors frequently disagree and that was never any proof of wrongdoing."

Dr. Paulus was represented at the first trial by the late Robert S. Bennett, Ms. LoCicero, and C. David Mussetter.  Dr. Paulus was represented at the second trial by Ms. LoCicero, Mr. Mussetter, and Stephen Chahn Lee, a former federal prosecutor with extensive experience with health care fraud matters and data analytics.

Ms. LoCicero is a partner in BLL, a white-collar boutique law firm located in Washington, D.C. 

Mr. Mussetter is a solo practitioner in Ashland, Kentucky.

Mr. Lee is a solo practitioner in Chicago, Illinois. 

For further information, contact John Sullivan of BLL at (202) 880-2129 or via e-mail at [email protected].

SOURCE Law Office of Stephen Chahn Lee, LLC