Posted on 03/09/2004 5:21:35 AM PST by Born Conservative
Chiropractor gets 18 months Joanne M. Gallagher, 44, was sentenced to federal prison for defrauding Medicaid in connection with patient's death in 1999. By BRETT MARCY bmarcy@leader.net
HARRISBURG - A Hazleton chiropractor who pleaded guilty to mail fraud last year in connection with the death of one of her patients will spend 18 months in federal prison for defrauding Medicaid, a judge ruled Monday. Joanne M. Gallagher, 44, stood stoically as U.S. District Court Judge Christopher Conner delivered her sentence, but her husband, four children and dozens of her supporters could not hold back their tears.
Meanwhile, seated on the other side of the courtroom, the victim's mother, Dawn Strohecker, wept uncontrollably while being consoled by family and friends.
The decision comes almost five years after the death of Strohecker's daughter, Kimberly Strohecker, a 30-year-old Hegins Township woman with severe epilepsy who died April 29, 1999, after following the advice of Gallagher to stop taking her anti-seizure medication.
Gallagher, of the Degenhart Chiropractic Health Center, pleaded guilty last July to one count of mail fraud several days after a mistrial was declared in her federal trial in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. She also had been charged with multiple counts of Medicaid fraud in connection with Kimberly Strohecker's death, but those charges were dropped.
In his decision, Conner said Gallagher "abused her position of trust," both with Kimberly Strohecker and the Medicaid program, when she treated Strohecker for her epilepsy and fraudulently billed Medicaid for the treatment, knowing Medicaid does not cover treatment for epilepsy by a chiropractor.
"The defendant enjoyed the confidence of the Medicaid program and she abused that confidence," Conner said.
Still, the 18-month prison sentence was lighter than the two-year maximum allowed under federal sentencing guidelines. Conner said he believed Gallagher "expressed remorse for Miss Strohecker's death and admitted her own culpability," so he decided on the lesser sentence.
Also helping Gallagher's case were dozens of patients, friends and family members who traveled from as far as Spain, Canada and Chicago to show their support. The courtroom was packed with nearly 150 people, and dozens of others were left locked out of the room for lack of space.
Several people took the witness stand to attest to Gallagher's good character and her ability to help other epileptic patients. Among them was Michael Daly, a New York City police officer and attorney whose 4-year-old daughter received treatment from Gallagher for her epilepsy.
"Dr. Joanne didn't make us any predictions. She didn't make us any promises, except for one. She promised us she would do the best she could for our daughter," Daly said. "I credit Dr. Joanne with the lion's share of the progress my daughter has made up to today."
Gallagher's supporters painted a picture of a woman dedicated to her family, her church, her family and her patients.
But Assistant U.S. Attorneys Gordon Zubrod and Mary Catherine Frye introduced their own witnesses to characterize Gallagher as a manipulative woman who purposely misled her patients to believe she could cure them of epilepsy and other serious ailments. One of their key witnesses was Dawn Strohecker, who appearing frail and spiritually broken, could barely utter a sentence without bursting into tears.
Dawn Strohecker told the judge how she tried to stop her daughter from following Gallagher's advice and urged her to continue with the drug regimen prescribed by her medical doctors. She said she also tried to convince Gallagher to stop treating her daughter.
"I called the clinic and told her not to see my daughter, not to ever see my daughter," Dawn Strohecker said, tears pouring down her cheeks. "You're not doctors. We go to doctors, not quacks ... . Our life was sad enough before we lost Kim. It's nearly destroyed now."
In addition to her prison term, Gallagher was ordered to pay a $9,000 fine and restitution. After her prison term, she will serve a two-year term of supervised release. She is scheduled to surrender to authorities to begin serving her prison sentence on April 6.
Brett Marcy, the Times Leader's Harrisburg correspondent, may be reached at (717) 238-4728.
Not the sharpest tool in the shed...
I just saw your comment from 2004. I see a Chiropractor regularly and I can assure you from the research I’ve seen there’s a 1 in 2 million chance that you could have a stroke from Chiro care, so I think they’re may have been some misplaced facts here. Your more likely to suffer Vertebral Basilar Artery Insufficiency or a Transient Ischemic Attack from putting your neck into Extension on a wash bowl at a hair dressers or a salon then with a Chiropractor. Not to mention that the International Chiropractic Association, and the International Chiropractic and Pediatric Association have so many peer reviewed articles on this very fact. I’d love to show you the research on that. My Chiropractor Dr. Ray Omid helps so many people with all sorts of conditions, he adjusts and let’s the body do the healing. Chiropractors go through 4 years of school in a Doctorate program, and go through the same basic classes Medical Doctors go through but without the pharmalogical element. Calling anyone a quack when all the research shows conventional medicine is the number one killer in this country, is just plain ignorant.
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