LAWRENCE CO.—The appearance of Dr. John Heidingsfelder this morning in the murder trial of Tyler McQueen, 21, has prompted quite a few questions to arise about Heidingsfelder’s character, if not his ability to testify, in trials in Illinois.
No. Not THAT kind of “swingin”
Disclosure only recently learned that Heidingsfelder, who is the regional pathologist out of Evansville who handles autopsies and pathology exams for downstate Illinois and has for a number of years, was sanctioned by Departments of Professional Regulations years ago and across two states (Illinois and Indiana) for, among other reasons, prescribing narcotics to a woman who at first was in his employ in Indiana, then became a “patient” of his, then moved in with him…and subsequently committed suicide because of Heidingsfelder’s negative influence over her life, including the narcotics and a discovery that the man was into “swinging.”
We learned in 2006 that Heidingsfelder suddenly became “unavailable” to many counties in southern Illinois and Indiana who had utilized his services in autopsies of murder victims and other death cases. Federal authorities contacted by Disclosure that year advised that Heidingsfelder had “gotten into a little trouble with the IRS” and had “run off to the Cayman Islands.” As a result, Heidingsfelder was unavailable to testify in a very crucial case: the retrial of Julie Rea Kirkpatrick Harper, who was convicted of murdering her son Joel in 2002, but exonerated in 2006…largely due to the fact that her case was “sanitized” by her defense, cleansed of facts from the state’s case by both defense motions, but also by the absence of key witnesses—Heidingsfelder being among them.
Heidingsfelder testified on the stand today (04.30.13) that in 2006-08, he had been EMPLOYED in the Grand Caymans at that time…but the federal agents with whom we spoke beg to differ. The upshot is that there isn’t any evidence to prove it one way or another unless we get his tax documents (we’re working on that.)
What there IS evidence of, however, are the sanctions and disciplinary action taken against Heidingsfelder shortly after his arrival back from the islands.
Through HealthGrades, Disclosure learned that Dr. H has had kind of a rough way to go these past seven years or so…and it’s all of his own doing.
As it turned out, it was announced in 2009 that Dr. H had been sanctioned by the Illinois Department of Professional Regulations, this based on a serious Indiana case originating in 2001.
According to a case filed with the Indiana Department of Regulation through the Indiana Attorney General’s office, the facts in the case were that Heidingsfelder, being a licensed medical doctor in Indiana and forensic pathologist serving in the Vanderburgh County Coroner’s office, began a personal relationship with a patient (known only in documents as GM) in the fall of 2001. GM moved in with Dr. H and was also assisting him in his practice.
She, however, registered a complaint with the DPR in 2003. In it, she claimed that the relationship with Dr. H was “stormy.” She went into a depression because she found out that he was unfaithful to her and subscribed to an internet swinger’s site. So, he prescribed “antidepressants” to her—Lorazepam and Hydrocodone.
She also claimed that Dr. H wanted her to “lose weight” and prescribed narcotics for that purpose. According to the documents, his weight-loss program certainly was one that worked: she went from a size 16 to a size 4 in three months, thanks to these drugs.
An investigation into Dr. H’s prescribing habits revealed that a large number of prescriptions for GM were written by Dr. H.
However, when confronted by the professional regulation’s medical board, Heidingsfelder seemed to excuse it all, using as the reasoning for the report that GM had “locked him out of his own house” on or about August 8, 2003, and this forced him to have to contact the Vanderburgh County sheriff’s office to evict her from his residence; and that she was drunk at the time and had a history of belligerence toward him when in that condition. So he initiated legal proceedings against her a few days later (Aug. 11) and had an order entered for her to cease and desist using his credit cards and to remove all her belongings and vacate his premises by Aug. 14. There was no mention, in his response, of the narcotics he prescribed for her, nor the stress he put her under as a result of those drugs and of his wayward bizarre lifestyle; this was ironic, as his court testimonies are always so cut-and-dried…but this situation with his personal case was nothing but shades of gray. He asserted that his behavior in regard to GM didn’t violate any medical or ethical standards.
Then, on or about December 30, 2003, GM committed suicide in Frankfort, Kentucky.
Still insisting he didn’t violate anything medically or ethically, Heidingsfelder was brought up on Indiana Code violations of engaging in a course of lewd or immoral conduct in the course of professional services or activities. The state also found that he knowingly prescribed, sold or administered any drug classified as a narcotic, addicting dangerous drug to an addict or habitue.
This became cause for disciplinary sanctions, per state code, and he was brought up on six separate counts by the Indiana attorney general’s office. This was resolved through the DPR. No criminal charges—the type of which any other physician NOT working for the state would have received—were ever brought against Heidingsfelder. He was just very quietly allowed to accept his punishment (which is more succinctly outlined in the HealthGrades website) of sanctioning and prohibition from prescribing/acting as a physician and no one was ever the wiser. In fact, when we called his office repeatedly during that time frame (2006-08), we could never get a straight answer out of anyone; the level of hedging about Dr. H’s whereabouts was epic. Must be nice to have that kind of stroke as to be enveloped in a cloak of secrecy about very public misbehaviors, problems and outcomes, most of which should have gotten him locked up. Instead, as of 2011, most of this is all behind him now, with his probationary periods over. And he’s back to testifying in court of all the autopsies/pathologies he’s handled for us in downstate Illinois, just like nothing ever happened.
The biggest problem we here at Disclosure have with this situation is, of course, that each of our downstate counties employ Dr. H, through the coroner’s office, to have him on call for autopsies and pathology reports. That means he’s likely retained on an annual fee, much like David ‘Rollover’ Rands is (his cost to the counties for his “services” through the appellate prosecutor’s office is a wambo $7,000 annually—paid by TAXPAYERS). We don’t know how much Dr. H is paid per county. But yours, mine and our tax bills are impacted by it, don’t doubt it for a second.
And we intend to find out just by how much. Count on it.
So… how does this play into Tyler McQueen’s case?
It doesn’t change the facts: Bob Westall was murdered in his bed. He was stabbed numerous times and his neck was slashed deeply, photos of which we viewed today. In our opinion, the wounds inflicted on Bob don’t look like they could have been made by just one person. And judging by Heidingsfelder’s testimony, it’s really beginning to appear that way.
That will be something we’ll examine tonight during podcast, as well as venting our outrage over Heidingsfelder’s status in our area. Be checking back frequently.