Judge threatens contempt for alleged fib 

A federal judge in Springfield is threatening to hold a Normal doctor in contempt of court for misleading testimony about his credentials during a May trial.

The trial ended with a $300,000 jury verdict in favor of Vincent Trimble, an inmate who claimed that he had received poor medical care at Taylorville Correctional Center (“Pay up,” May 19, 2016). The case, however, has lived on as U.S. District Court Judge Sue Myerscough is demanding answers from Dr. Dru Hauter, a defense expert who presented himself as board certified during trial and filed a curriculum vitae with the court stating that he held board certification.

“Are you board certified in any areas?” Michael Kokal, defense attorney, asked Hauter at the beginning of the doctor’s testimony.

“I’ve been board certified in internal medicine,” Hauter answered. “I’ve also been certified by the American Board of Independent Medical Evaluators.”

But Hauter’s board certifications had expired – records at the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation show that his board certification for internal medicine ended in 2013. Myerscough grew suspicious during a lunch break midway through the doctor’s testimony. When court reconvened, she announced outside the jury’s presence that she’d been told by an attorney not connected with the case that Hauter wasn’t certified as a medical evaluator and asked the doctor if that was true. Hauter answered that he didn’t hold board credentials as a medical evaluator or in internal medicine.

Myerscough has set a July 7 hearing date to determine whether Hauter should be held in criminal contempt of court. She has the power to order a jail term.

Under questioning from Myerscough during last month’s trial, Hauter said that he had once been board certified in internal medicine but had twice failed board exams, once in 1991 and again in 2013. The judge called Hauter’s testimony about his credentials misleading, “if not an outright lie,” and she warned both the doctor and Michael Kokal, attorney for the defense, that they could both be in trouble.

“Doctor, I trust we will meet again,” the judge said outside the presence of the jury. “I hope that you will have a clearer CV at that time. I’m going to think about whether action should be taken. Whether you should be reported to anyone. Whether Mr. Kokal should be reported to anyone.”

Myerscough during last month’s trial also told Hauter she believes that his credentials were misrepresented on a different curriculum vitae that was filed in her court during a 2013 trial on a lawsuit filed by a different inmate, who alleged that he had received poor medical care at Logan Correctional Center after a prison van in which he was a passenger struck a light pole.

“Doctor, I want to tell you and Mr. Kokal, I’m very close to finding you in contempt of court for misleading the court and the jury,” the judge said while the jury was outside the courtroom last month. “I’m very concerned that this goes on in other courtrooms and in other depositions, and that it was done willfully.”

After Myerscough raised concerns, Hauter acknowledged in the jury’s presence that his curriculum vitae wasn’t accurate. Myerscough granted a plaintiff’s motion and ordered the jury to disregard testimony that went beyond the doctor’s written report, including opinions about Trimble’s neurological condition. During closing arguments, Pamela Hart, Trimble’s lawyer, told the jury that Hauter had misrepresented his credentials. She asked for an award of at least $200,000. The jury deliberated less than two hours before awarding $300,000. Wexford Health Sources, the company that holds the contract to provide medical care in state prisons, is responsible for paying the verdict.

After the verdict came in, Myerscough ordered Kokal to file an accurate resume for Hauter that included all current certifications for the physician as well as the dates of any lapses. Kokal subsequently filed a resume, but Myerscough wasn’t satisfied with the document, which included years but not specific dates showing when board certifications were granted and when they ended. The new resume also didn’t include dates showing when certifications had lapsed. Myerscough ordered the lawyer to file an updated resume with that information prior to the hearing set for July 7 in which she will hear testimony on whether the doctor should be held in contempt.

Contact Bruce Rushton at [email protected].