Convicted Plum physician Bernard Rottschaefer’s most recent, and likely last, bid for a new trial was denied Dec. 28 by U.S. District Court Judge Gary Lancaster.

Rottschaefer was convicted in 2004 of illegally prescribing narcotics to five patients whom prosecutors alleged didn’t need the drugs. Four of the five women claimed they received the drugs in exchange for sex (see City Paper Main Feature, “Bitter Pills,” May 25, 2006).

In this most recent legal move, after losing an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, the doctor’s attorneys had claimed that testimony given by his former patients in depositions for a civil trial contradicted testimony they gave at Rottschaefer’s criminal trial. However, Lancaster ruled, “[T]here was sufficient evidence independent of the patients’ testimony to uphold Rottschaefer’s conviction.”

In denying the motion, Lancaster rescheduled Rottschaefer’s re-sentencing for Feb. 9. The original six-year sentence was tossed out by the appeals court because Rottschaefer was originally sentenced under federal guidelines that were later ruled unconstitutional.

This article appears in Jan 11-17, 2007.

11 replies on “Drugs for Sex Case Appeals Nearly Exhausted”

  1. I was just wondering are the women he made the deal sex for drugs,were they charged? If not why? I was under the understanding that would be prostituion. In this countny with the D.A. did he make the deal to let them go for more high profile headlines? In my opion he made a bad dececion, did he force them to do drugs? Did he take an add out an add that said this month only sex for drugs? They were doctor shoping, the doctor is wrong and should have to answer for what he did., but are the so called victims in the same boat?

  2. Question: I was just wondering are the women he made the deal sex for drugs,were they charged?

    Answer: No, actually the women were facing separate charges for drug dealing. All these individuals’ charges were dropped by the U.S. Attorney in exchange for these witnesses changing their initial statements to investigators and collaborating the government’s case. The charges ranged from drug dealing to armed robbery.

    Also, the alleged deal for sex for drugs was never proven in court. No evidence has ever surfaced that the sex occurred other than the accusations raised by five individuals who were seeking leniency in their court cases and knew that the US Attorney was targeting Dr. Rottschaefer.

    Question: If not why? I was under the understanding that would be prostituion. In this countny with the D.A. did he make the deal to let them go for more high profile headlines? In my opion he made a bad dececion, did he force them to do drugs? Did he take an add out an add that said this month only sex for drugs?

    Answer: Actually, the US Attorney played up the sex for drugs allegations throughout the trial and made the case into a media frenzy. The case probably would have ended after the trial if not for the evidence that has surfaced proving that the alleged victims lied. See Article Bitter Pills.

    Question: They were doctor shoping, the doctor is wrong and should have to answer for what he did but are the so called victims in the same boat?

    Actually, I do not believe the doctor is wrong here. He prescribed a legal medication for ailments these individuals had. During the criminal proceedings, the alleged victims simply provided false testimony by altered their original statements and saying they had no ailments. After the criminal trial, the witnesses changed their statements back to the original version that they had ailments the doctor said he prescribed to.

    As for the sex accusations, these alleged allegations surfaced after the US Attorney had raided the doctor’s office. After the doctor’s trial, the doctor’s legal team uncovered hand written correspondence by one of the alleged victims outlining how the accusations were false and had been planted by the DEA investigator. With these correspondence that were written by the prosecution witness in the months preceeding the doctor’s trial, the doctor’s legal team sought a new trial and asked for the US Attorney’s support.

    Unfortunately, the US Attorney, Mary Beth Buchanan, reversed her original course and said the sex accusations were neither proven or required to be proved in order for the verdict to stand. In Ms. Buchanan’s opinion, the doctor was guilty for simply prescribing a legal medication and sex never had to be proven.

    Now with sworn statements further outlining that all five material patient witnesses the prosecutor utilized in the trial withheld evidence and outright lied, the doctor again sought a new trial. Judge Lancaster has denied this request.

    To date, the only individual who has not changed his story is that of the doctor. The five felons that were granted get out of jail free passes by Ms. Buchanan’s office have continued their criminal careers.

  3. So let me get this straight. Five individuals came into one courtroom and lied. The judge was shown the statements these individuals made were false and even has letters from one witness documenting her discussions and motives for trading perjury for a get out of jail pass, and a new trial is not warranted.

    Mary Beth Buchanan and her staff should be going to jail here not the doctor. God help this nation when you have a US Attorney more worried about headlines than either truth or justice. It is sad that an innocent man, Dr. Rottschaefer, will have to pay the price for Ms. Buchanan’s incompetence and ego.

  4. The medications in question are low doses of xanax, Oxycontin, and Duragesic. I thought these are legal medications in America. I thought a doctor is allowed to prescribe these medications.

  5. Well that is Mary Beth Buchanan for you. Guess you did not read the Risha case where Ms. Buchanan’s staff knowingly put false testimony before the court. In that case, Ms. Buchanan’s crack team overlooked the fact that they offered the witness a deal in exchange for favorable testimony in the prosecution’s case.

    Best thing that happen to criminals in Pittsburgh was Ms. Buchanan. Seems she can’t stop utilizing her authority to let felons out of jail in order to further her political career. I think this poor doctor is caught in the cross hairs of another one of Ms. Buchanan’s screw ups.

  7. After reading through this case, I AM OUTRAGED. The prosecution was given airtight evidence that the sex allegations by the witnesses were lies. The prosecutor actually should have realized these statements were lies when the felons (sorry patients) changed their statements in exchanged for get out of jail passes. The prosecutor and crack investigators did not even polygraph these people. They did attempt to utilize the patients to entrap the doctor, but unfortunately for them no sex occurred or was discussed during these sessions. Guess the sex that the patients said was needed for the medications happens at every other visit and not the ones the government is monitoring? Could it be the sex did not occur?

    So each time the doctor’s defense team argues the sex did not occur, the prosecution team runs from the accusations and says sex did not have to occur and did not have to be proven. The prosecutor, Mary M. Houghton and Mary Beth Buchanan, simply say that prescribing the medications, which are legal, was wrong. Understand that Ms. Buchanan and her team came to the understanding that the medications were not required medicine well before they ever consulted any medical professional to review Dr. Rottschaefer’s practice. Guess Ms. Buchanan is a doctor as well as a prosecutor?

    When the doctor’s legal team brings up evidence that the medications were properly prescribed, the prosecutors play the sex card in the media. Who do you think branded the case the SEX FOR DRUGS case in the media? Ah…the prosecution. Yeah, this is fair.

    Very ugly and disturbing on the part of Mary Beth Buchanan.

    Oh, I forgot to mention that Ms. Buchanan or shoud we call her Dr. Buchanan also brings up the fact they found 1 doctor to go along with their story. Of course, Ms. Buchanan found this doctor well after the initial indictment of Dr. Rottschaefer and the press coverage with the sex for drugs headlines.

    So with money in hand and marching orders to prove the government’s case, Dr. Clough went to work on his opinions. Although, Dr. Clough’s expertise is highly suspect. Dr. Clough, their alleged expert, admitted under cross to post dating controlled substance prescriptions which is illegal at the time of Rottschaefer Trial and may constitute fraud. Along with the fact that Dr. Clough only reviewed a small sampling of medical records excerpts and never the patients, he’s opinion is heavily suspect. Recall Senator Frist doing is diagnostic of Terri Schiavo via television. Frist at least saw the patient.

    So Dr. Rottschaefer now goes to jail for prescribing a legal medication for ailments the patients did admit to. Ms. Mary Beth Buchanan is now discussing her political next steps. As for the five witnesses who have been shown to have mislead the court and committed perjury, they are continuing their criminal careers. I’m do happy justice here was served….NOT.

  8. After reading through this case, I AM OUTRAGED. The prosecution was given airtight evidence that the sex allegations by the witnesses were lies. The prosecutor actually should have realized these statements were lies when the felons (sorry patients) changed their statements in exchanged for get out of jail passes. The prosecutor and crack investigators did not even polygraph these people. They did attempt to utilize the patients to entrap the doctor, but unfortunately for them no sex occurred or was discussed during these sessions. Guess the sex that the patients said was needed for the medications happens at every other visit and not the ones the government is monitoring? Could it be the sex did not occur?

    So each time the doctor’s defense team argues the sex did not occur, the prosecution team runs from the accusations and says sex did not have to occur and did not have to be proven. The prosecutor, Mary M. Houghton and Mary Beth Buchanan, simply say that prescribing the medications, which are legal, was wrong. Understand that Ms. Buchanan and her team came to the understanding that the medications were not required medicine well before they ever consulted any medical professional to review Dr. Rottschaefer’s practice. Guess Ms. Buchanan is a doctor as well as a prosecutor?

    When the doctor’s legal team brings up evidence that the medications were properly prescribed, the prosecutors play the sex card in the media. Who do you think branded the case the SEX FOR DRUGS case in the media? Ah…the prosecution. Yeah, this is fair.

    Very ugly and disturbing on the part of Mary Beth Buchanan.

    Oh, I forgot to mention that Ms. Buchanan or shoud we call her Dr. Buchanan also brings up the fact they found 1 doctor to go along with their story. Of course, Ms. Buchanan found this doctor well after the initial indictment of Dr. Rottschaefer and the press coverage with the sex for drugs headlines.

    So with money in hand and marching orders to prove the government’s case, Dr. Clough went to work on his opinions. Although, Dr. Clough’s expertise is highly suspect. Dr. Clough, their alleged expert, admitted under cross to post dating controlled substance prescriptions which is illegal at the time of Rottschaefer Trial and may constitute fraud. Along with the fact that Dr. Clough only reviewed a small sampling of medical records excerpts and never the patients, he’s opinion is heavily suspect. Recall Senator Frist doing is diagnostic of Terri Schiavo via television. Frist at least saw the patient.

    So Dr. Rottschaefer now goes to jail for prescribing a legal medication for ailments the patients did admit to. Ms. Mary Beth Buchanan is now discussing her political next steps. As for the five witnesses who have been shown to have mislead the court and committed perjury, they are continuing their criminal careers. I’m do happy justice here was served….NOT.

  9. I reposted the previous posters comments, for I agree with them.

    I find this case outraging. Ms. Buchanan needs to get off her high horse and look at this case. She keeps on attempting to rationalize her screw up on this one and find new ways to justify her actions.

    Sorry Mary, you got this one wrong. You utilized your pen to let five felons out of jail. Four, the ones who said sex, admitted in court that they openly mislead the doctor and were part of a drug dealing ring which the doctor was unaware of.

    Mary, you could have targeted these individuals who are the criminals, yet you and your staff hashed up this BS sex story as a means of gaining headlines and money. Yes, Mary’s crack staff is surely utilizing these convictions to take the doctor’s assets.

    So if anyone flagrantly broke the law or misused their position of trust on this one, it is MARY BETH BUCHANAN.

  10. This case has been such a blackeye for the area. It has been picked up by the NY Times and National Advocacy Groups as examples of prosecutorial abuse. It is sad that Mary Beth Buchanan has refused to correct the error she and her staff executed upon the area and the doctor.

  11. Dear Mr. Dietrich,
    Having followed the details of the Doctor’s investigation, trial, and resulting motions, I have always been shocked about how one sided the press coverage has been on this case (until I read your article Bitter Pills and John Tierney’s Op Ed piece). It is such a travesty of justice that the prosecution utilized its press connections to publicize these allegations. The truth is just so much worse than what the paper makes out.
    While it is true that the government’s lead witness recanted all her testimony in hand written correspondence between her boyfriend and her prior to the trial, it is equally disturbing that the correspondences portray a prosecutor, Mary M. Houghton, actively involved in putting forth false testimony. I was saddened to see that Judge Lancaster gave Ms. Houghton and Ms. Buchanan a pass twice on this trial. Something truly stinks here.
    I realize many who do not follow this case do not believe the allegations the Dr’s legal team has raised; however I ask them to look at the facts of the case. All five patient witnesses changed their original testimony to investigators only after each one was in trouble with the law. In response to these changes in testimony, the Assistant US Attorney in charge of the Dr’s case also oversaw all the prosecutions of the witnesses. Each witness was compensated with either a dismissal of the charges and/or no jail time for multiple felony charges they plead guilty to.
    Now I realize that this is probably the norm in these types of cases; however the fact that neither Ms. Buchanan nor Ms. Houghton have ever sought to investigate the lead witness who outright lied in the courtroom is disturbing. The fact that all five witnesses are now suing the doctor for malpractice for not treating the ailments, which required these medications, is also disturbing in the fact the witnesses denied these ailments were real in the criminal courtroom.
    In the courtroom testimony, the five witnesses for the prosecution admitted to lying about their symptoms and concealing information from the Dr. in order to get the medications. Now if the accusations were true, why would the lies be required?
    In the end, I am shocked by this case and the filings. The US Attorney keeps making this slight of hand. In the appeals arguments before the third circuit, the US Attorney said the case had nothing to do with sex, yet in her response to the second appeal, she argues the sex accusations as a means of upholding the conviction. This double talk is just wacky and no one seems to care.
    As for Dr. Rottschaefer, he was a well respected member of the Oakmont and Plum community. It is a very sad event that thirty years of involvement in the community, a clean record, and extensive work within medicine means nothing against a unjust prosecution based on the accusations of five known liars compensated by individuals in the prosecution who have obvious conflicts of interest. I just hope that the five criminals let go by the prosecutor do not inflict more harm on our community.

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