The News-Gazette - Senator Waiting for VA's Answers

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A U.S. senator says he's still waiting for answers from Danville's Veterans Affairs Illiana Health Care Center regarding his questions about a physician who's facing criminal charges in connection with the deaths of three patients in Indiana.

In a Sept. 22 letter to Acting Director Diana Carranza, U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk wrote that Dr. John K. Sturman was arrested on Aug. 5 on three counts of reckless homicide and 16 counts of issuing invalid prescription drugs by a practitioner, filed in Marion County, Ind.

At the time of his arrest, Sturman had been working for about five months as a neurologist and staff physician at the Danville medical center's pain management clinic.

"It has now been over six weeks since Dr. Sturman was arrested, and answers to the following questions remain unanswered," wrote Kirk, a U.S. Navy Reserve veteran.

Among the questions:

-- Who was responsible for hiring Sturman, who had been disciplined in California and Indiana, and what process was used to hire him?

-- How many Illiana patients were under Sturman's care, and have they been notified of his arrest?

-- What actions have been taken to ensure the accuracy of prescriptions Sturman wrote for patients?

-- Are Illiana officials investigating Sturman?

"From a vet's perspective, it's troubling if Dr. Sturman was their doctor," said Danielle Varallo, Kirk's press secretary in Washington, D.C. "We owe it to them to track this information down."

Illiana officials just received Kirk's letter, spokesman Wade Habshey said Thursday.

"We have reached out to his staff to see where the VA can be of assistance," Habshey told The News-Gazette in an email. "Once we have our dialogue with the senator's staff, we'll be able to share our response."

Habshey also said Sturman resigned from the Illiana facility on Aug. 14 and is no longer a VA employee.

Sturman, 69, has pleaded not guilty to the charges, which allege he "recklessly killed another human ... by writing and/or issuing prescriptions" to one patient for methadone, dilaudid and/or valium between May 10, 2010, and Aug. 6, 2010; another patient for dilaudid, xanax and/or fentanyl between July 25, 2011, and Dec. 20, 2011; and another patient for fentanyl and/or oxycodone between July 1, 2009, and Oct. 26, 2011, all "without legitimate medical purpose and outside the usual course of practice."

His jury trial is scheduled for Oct. 15 in Indianapolis.

In Indiana, reckless homicide is a Class C felony and punishable by two to eight years in prison. If he's convicted on all three counts of reckless homicide, Sturman could face a maximum of 24 years behind bars, if ordered to serve the sentences consecutively.

The charges are the result of a four-year investigation by the Marion County prosecutor's office's Grand Jury Division and the Indiana attorney general's Licensing Enforcement Section and Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. The probe found that while Sturman operated a clinic at Indiana University Hospital, 35 patients died in his care, and of those, 15 died within 30 days of receiving a prescription from him.

Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry decided to pursue reckless homicide charges in connection in the deaths of three patients, who died from drug intoxication, overdose or related causes. In those instances, the patients had filled a prescription from Sturman within 30 days before their death.

According to court records, Sturman became board certified in neurology in 1979, and certified with a sub-specialty in pain management in 2001. He practiced in California from 1984 to 2008.

On March 28, 2003, the California Medical Licensing Board filed a public letter of reprimand against him for failure to obtain supporting documentation for conditions producing chronic pain and failure to document a treatment plan for a patient's addiction to a Schedule IV controlled drug.

In 2008, Sturman joined the IU Health Physicians group as an employee and began treating pain patients at a clinic located in IU Health Hospital in Indianapolis. He lost his admitting privileges in 2012, after he failed to complete medical charting and documentation of patient visits.

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