A star UPMC surgeon under legal fire and targeted by a sweeping federal investigation testified in a malpractice case Monday about his longtime use of painkillers, rejecting allegations that he was impaired and pushing back on attempts by a hostile lawyer to label him as a drug abuser.
“I never used illegal drugs. I never purchased drugs on the street,” said James Luketich, a renowned cardiothoracic surgeon and 27-year UPMC veteran. “Never once was there evidence of abuse.”
Earlier in the day, Common Pleas Judge Philip A. Ignelzi closed his courtroom and barred the media from listening to a tape recording purportedly of a key 2018 conversation between Dr. Luketich and his prescriber, Dr. David Wilson, another UPMC physician, about Dr. Luketich’s suboxone prescription.
Lawyers for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette objected to the hearing’s closure but were overruled. Earlier in the day, they persuaded the judge to unseal a portion of a transcript from a recent hearing in the case.
Dr. Luketich, one of UPMC’s most esteemed and highly paid surgeons, testified under cross-examination in a lawsuit that accuses him of negligence and recklessness — and that has exposed intense turmoil within the state’s largest private employer.
Allegations that Dr. Luketich engaged in dangerous surgical practices also led to a U.S. Justice Department investigation and pending federal lawsuit accusing him and UPMC of fraudulent billing and severe patient harm in one of the largest scandals to unfold in decades at the $24 billion hospital system. Both sides have agreed to try to settle the case before it goes to a trial.
UPMC and Dr. Luketich have denied accusations of wrongdoing.
In the state malpractice case, Bernadette Fedorka and her husband, Paul, of Aliquippa, claim UPMC surgeons botched Mrs. Fedorka’s lung transplant in 2018.
Although Dr. Luketich did not operate on Mrs. Fedorka, she and her husband allege that his suboxone use rendered him unfit for duty and caused him to make poor staffing decisions that had devastating consequences for her.
Dr. Luketich told the court in June that since 2008, he has been prescribed suboxone — a drug used to treat chronic pain and opioid addiction — to ease the pain of a herniated disk in his back, a condition caused by long hours in the operating room.
He took suboxone instead of other painkillers because of past problems with opioids while he was being treated in the 1980s for a shoulder injury while in medical school. He practiced under a two-year probationary license after getting treatment, according to evidence introduced in court.
“I wouldn’t call it abuse of narcotics. I would call it concerns by me,” Dr. Luketich testified. “I felt I was developing signs of dependence. I was concerned that it was going nowhere good.”
Dr. Luketich said he remained under treatment for 15 years and took 1,000 urine tests.
Efrem Grail, one of Dr. Luketich’s attorneys, is trying to suppress the audio recording. The hearing Monday focused on their contention that the tape was made illegally and without permission — and therefore should be tossed out because it violated state laws against illegal wiretaps.
Copies of the tape, a purported transcript of the conversation and a letter were sent in 2018 to several people, including two former UPMC thoracic surgeons: Jonathan D’Cunha and Lara Schaheen. At least one copy was turned over to the FBI, which only recently allowed Dr. Luketich’s lawyers to access it.
Dr. Luketich recruited Dr. D’Cunha in 2012, and both served as mentors to Dr. Schaheen.
Dr. Luketich eventually placed Dr. D’Cunha in charge of lung transplants and tapped him to get UPMC out of trouble in 2015 when a national organ transplant group placed the hospital system’s lung transplant program on probation. The two once had a good relationship — Dr. Luketich even said on the stand Monday that he was wearing a tie that Dr. D’Cunha had given him as a gift.
But a bitter feud later erupted between Dr. Luketich and the two subordinates. He accused his former colleagues of having an affair, engaging in research misconduct and trying to ruin him as part of a vendetta.
For their part, Dr. D’Cunha and Dr. Schaheen filed numerous complaints, some anonymous, against Dr. Luketich over concerns about his surgical practices. Dr. D’Cunha identified Dr. Luketich’s suboxone use as a problem.
One of Dr. D’Cunha’s lawyers, Robert Barnes, grilled Dr. Luketich about taking suboxone and repeatedly used the word “abuse." Dr. Luketich vigorously pushed back against that characterization.
It is unclear whether the tape is a true representation of the conversation between Dr. Luketich and Dr. Wilson, and no one has testified about who made the tape, how or why. Mr. Grail has tried to pin the blame on Dr. D'Cunha and Dr. Schaheen.
The doctors have denied making the recording, according to court documents, and have said they overheard the conversation through an open door.
Just before the courtroom doors were locked and the tape was played, Judge Ignelzi said he was barring everyone except the litigants and their legal teams to comply with state wiretap laws that strictly control how illegally recorded conversations are made public.
The judge said he did not see how he could determine whether the 10-minute recording was made illegally and complies with the wiretap law’s restrictions without barring the public.
“That is my ruling. It may be wrong,” Judge Ignelzi said. “But at this point, I’m going to exclude all the public.”
Dr. Luketich testified Monday that he intended the conversation with his physician to be private.
Jonathan D. Silver: jsilver@post-gazette.com; Twitter @jsilverinpgh.
First Published: August 22, 2022, 5:24 p.m.
Updated: August 23, 2022, 3:29 a.m.
