Dr. Anna Chacko: Problem Magnet or Whistleblower? Part 3

More on the tumultuous past of Dr. Anna Chacko, Part 3

Dr. Anna Chacko has had a tumultuous past. Now, Chacko has re-appeared as part of an inquiry into the Pittsburgh VA hospital. Is Chacko a whistleblower–or a magnet for the problems? Michael Volpe attempts to get to the answer as he continues his investigation into Chacko’s past in Part 3.

“I went to therapy as I felt that I was at the end of my emotional ability to handle what was happening to me. I could no longer protect my employees or myself and I went to battle every day. With Dr. Chacko, it was like being under siege. She complained and manufactured things on such a regular basis that I could no longer function under the attack. I was having an emotional breakdown and my counselor and the human resource officer at work told me I should take some time off. I feared for my employees during the two leaves that I took as I felt there was nobody to stand up for them while I was gone but I realized I was not effective so it did not matter anymore.“

That’s how Kristi George describes the culmination of being caught in the cross hairs of an almost yearlong nonstop professional attack that she suffered at the hands of Dr. Anna Chacko, while both worked at St. James Hospital in Butte, Montana between the summer of 2007 and the fall of 2008.

George would eventually sue St. James Hospital, and it’s parent company the Sisters of Charity. The suit would accuse Dr. Anna Chacko of systematically engaging in a campaign to force George to quit or be fired and accuse St.James of not doing enough to protect George from this mental assault.

5[1][1].29.09 Second Amended Complaint and Demand for Jury Trial

Here’s George on this campaign, “Dr. Chacko constantly went to James Kiser (then CEO of St. James Hospital) and Susan Kerschen (then VP of Nursing at St. James) complaining about me until they started to believe some of her accusations. One example is that she wrote a letter complaining that I had let a physician into her office to gain access to her personal computer. She wrote this letter pretending to be John Burns (PACS administrator) and threatened his job if he did not sign it. John signed it and Dr. Chacko took that letter to James Kiser as an example of my being a traitor. I did not tell John to give the physician access to Dr. Chacko’s computer and the accusation was completely false. James Kiser stated that he believed her. This was a calculated action against me manufacturing false evidence.”

This suit was eventually settled with an undisclosed dollar amount as well as confidentiality. George was barred from making any “disparaging remarks” against Dr. Chacko and St. James. She has been careful with her public statements since the settlement and so this is the first time she has gone public with her ordeal. George says that Dr. Chacko began to question her (George’s) professional abilities even though Dr. Chacko arrived at St. James while Kristi George was in the middle of a vacation.

“Dr. Chacko criticized me to Jerri Doyle (Radiology supervisor reporting to me) while I was on vacation. Jerri reported to me that it was so extensive that she had to finally tell her that I was her friend and she couldn’t talk like that. Looking back on that comment, it was most likely true that Chacko criticized and untrue that Jerri stood up to her. Dr. Chacko complained to Susan Kerschen and James Kiser that I had not prepared her office and done remodeling. They let me take the blame for it even though it was their decision as management and I was just doing what I was told. They had started the wheels in motion by the time I got back to completely remodel the office space taking down walls into a luxury office space.”

Besides engaging in mental torture against George, Krist George also says that Dr. Chacko violated basic codes of medical ethics while at St. James.

“I reported that Dr. Chacko was allowing her husband to sit in her office and have access to data, be privy to personal conversations concerning patients and allowing him to make inappropriate conversation surrounding patients. I reported this finding through the internal mechanisms offered by my employer.”

Linda Murphy, who served as Dr. Chacko’s secretary while at St. James, concurs. Murphy said that Chacko engaged mental reign of terror that included calling her (Murphy) as late as two and three in the morning until Murphy picked up the phone.

That is the description that the child of another of Chacko’s secretary’s, this one at Lahey Clinic, where Dr. Chacko worked from 2001-2005, also had, “My mom worked for this tyrant, as her admin, for 3.5 years. She absolutely sucked the life out of my mother. She finally got relief when AKC (Chacko) was removed from Lahey Clinic. I was not aware that anyone knew how evil this woman is and am relieved to know that the word is spreading. My whole family suffered as a result of the way she treated my mom as well as other co-workers.”

Dr. Chacko has spent thirty three years in medicine in the United States. The first twenty-two were in the military and the last nine in private practice. Yet, Kristi George is a rare breed of former colleagues. She’s willing to recount her experiences with her on the record.

What is documented is a trail of destruction left at every hospital that she works for. Dr. Chacko spent five years, 2001-2006, at Lahey Clinic in Burlington, Massachusetts, but when her contract ended she infamously had to be carried out by security, because she refused to leave willingly, all while screaming, “kiss my big Indian ass!!”

Despite the embarrassing way that she left, it appears that there was some sort of financial settlement between herself and Lahey, as this email sent my administration to Lahey staff about six months after her departure suggests, “Reference is made to the resignation of Dr. Anna Chacko from Lahey’s Department of Radiology in April of 2006. Further to the discussions that I have had with a number of you, and in accordance with the requirements of an agreement that Lahey reached with Dr. Chacko in connection with her resignation from the Clinic, I write to remind you that you are not to make any disparaging comments about her.”

She next moved on to the Boston University Medical Center, where allegations of sexual harassment ended that stay about a year after it started. Her stay at St. James, July of 2007 to September of 2008, was marked by watching the radiology department fall deep into the red and four different lawsuits, like that of Kristi George.

Another individual to file suit in relation to Dr. Chacko at St. James is Dr. Jesse Cole, also a radiologist like Dr. Chacko. He has been reluctant to speak until recently. That’s because on November 9th, 2010, Dr. Cole settled with St. James in a suit that awarded him $4 million. While the suit also stipulated that neither side admitted wrong, Dr. Cole would only agree to the settlement with no confidentiality agreement.

I recently spoke with him about his ordeal. Dr. Cole says that the substance of his suit begins long before Dr. Chacko arrived at St. James and she became only a supporting player in it, however, there is one incident that Dr. Cole wanted to set the record straight about. In November of 2006, while Dr. Chacko was still being courted by St. James, Dr. Chacko claimed that Dr. Cole threatened her on a phone call. After making this complaint, a Butte judge ordered a restraining order against Dr. Cole and forced him to stay 500 feet away from Dr. Chacko.

“That’s a lie. I never threatened her. That conversation lasted less than fifteen seconds and she simply made up those threats.”

Dr. Cole says that this fabricated telephonic threat was one of several attempts by St. James and its allies to smear his reputation as part of a “harebrained” attempt by the hospital to monopolize image reading in Butte, Montana. Dr. Cole says it failed, Dr. Chacko’s term at St. James was nothing less than disastrous, and both are reasons why the hospital was forced to settle for such a hefty amount.

Despite this, Kristi George said she witnessed a phone call when the final terms of a monetary settlement were worked out between Dr. Chacko and St. James, after her departure-much like a settlement was reached between Dr. Chacko and Lahey Clinic.

From St. James, Dr. Chacko moved on to the Pittsburgh VA starting in September of 2008. By March of 2009, an administrative board of investigation at the Pittsburgh VA, recommended Dr. Chacko’s termination. Dr. Chacko successfully appealed came back to work August 1, 2009, was again put on administrative leave at the end of September, and officially terminated on March 26th, 2010.

Most of Dr. Chacko’s colleagues from the Pittsburgh VA are still employed there and none would speak on the record. One former colleague did answer question with the promise of anonymity.

“People were so scared of her, they would talk behind closed doors. If Chacko walked into the room, they would pretend to discuss patients. If she were off, people would celebrate as if it were a holiday. The atmosphere is much more relaxed since she has left. We do not have to wonder every day getting to work, what new thing she will come up with to torture people.”

And it continued.

“Actually it’s Dr. Chacko who played favorites. Dr. Chacko harassed anyone who did not agree with her. She tried to find people’s weaknesses and then harassed them. She magnified their little mistakes which were of no consequence and spread lies about them in the whole hospital.”

While details of Dr. Chacko’s tenure in the military remain sketchy, there was one former colleague, a senior retired military doctor, who said this, “In reading the article on Dr. Chacko’s issues at the VA Hospital in Pittsburgh on Aunt Minnie.com and the subsequent readings of your articles on line I can assure you this is not a new pattern of behavior exhibited only after her retirement from military service. Her history in the military is identical to the reported civilian incidents during her tours at Fitzsimmons Army Medical Center and Brooke Army Medical Center. She is the foulest-mouthed and most vile person I have ever known in my 28 years of federal service and 14 plus years as a civilian. Yet, she can also be one of the sweetest and thoughtful people at the same time, so long as you don’t cross her.”

These are Dr. Chacko’s former colleagues and most don’t know each other. Yet, they, who should know her best, paint the picture of someone who is nothing short of a psychopathic monster.

The real story is the difference between what her former colleagues recall and the perception that the media, mainstream and otherwise, as well as powerful politicians have of her.

For instance, when Dr. Chacko left St.James, the local Montana Standard quoted her as saying, “like working for the veterans, so this will be great for us,” of her impending move to the Pittsburgh VA. There’s scant coverage of any of Dr. Chacko’s antics at Lahey and the BU Medical Center.

What’s really disturbing is the sort of political and press coverage she received during and after her time at the Pittsburgh VA. For instance in May of 2009, Congressman Brad Miller, of the 13th District of North Carolina, wrote to the head of the VA, General Eric Shinseki, on behalf of Dr. Chacko.

Senate Letter 2009-05-19[1][1][1] –

“Dr. Chacko, who was brought in as the fourth head of radiology at VAPHS (the Pittsburgh VA)in five years in September 2008, complained to superiors about Dr. Melhem’s conduct in the radiology department. Dr. Chacko alleged that it was improper and potentially compromised patient care including ordering an x ray on an employee that Dr. Chacko believed to be not eligible for VA care, purchasing unsustainable radiology equipment and materials. Subsequent to those complaints, Dr. Chacko received notice of an Administrative Board of Investigation.”

Congressman Brad Miller is not the only politician to portray Dr. Chacko as the victimized whistleblower. Congressman Joe Sestak, in introducing his Transparency for Heroes Act, said this in July of 2010, “Dr. Grey joins Dr. Anna Chacko, formerly of the Pittsburgh VAMC and Dr. Robert Van Boven formerly of the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System in alleging retaliation for exposing practices they believed affected patient care.”

Politicians weren’t the only ones to characterize Dr. Chacko as a whistleblower. In the Pittsburgh Tribune, Wally Roche wrote this on August 2nd 2010, “Van Boven’s case appears to mirror that of radiologist Anna Chacko, who says that VA officials ousted her from her post at the Pittsburgh VA facility in Oakland after she questioned spending and treatment practices.

Van Boven and Chacko are seeking to reverse their removals, as members of Congress question whether existing law and procedures adequately protect whistleblowers.”

Writing in the radiology website, Aunt Minnie, Brian Casey said this of Chacko: “Anna Chacko MD claims the administrators at the Pittsburgh VA harassed and ultimately fired her after she criticized the way the hospital’s radiology department was run. In addition to her termination, Chacko claims that someone in the system retaliated against her by leaking confidential details of her employment and personal life to a blogger for a self-styled government watchdog website — impugning her character and jeopardizing her chances to find a new job.”

None of the charges that Dr. Chacko made against anyone at the Pittsburgh VA had any proof besides her word. In fact, one was investigated: the charge that the VA was using thallium rather than technetium and this was exposing patients to dangerous radiation. This charge proved to be without merit.

What’s more, neither Congressman Miller nor Congressman Sestak have ever answered numerous attempts for comments to explain their supposition that Dr. Chacko was acting as a whistle blower at the Pittsburgh VA. Brian Casey, of Aunt Minnie, referred to Chacko’s past as “colorful”.

It’s hard to believe that someone could spend their entire professional life as a monster, the one described by named and unnamed colleagues, and then suddenly become a whistle blower. So, either the politicians and most of the media that’s covered her, are wrong, or all her former colleagues are lying. The consequences of each are enormous. That’s because according to a source at the VA, “she (Chacko) has sued the VA.”

Also, a special counsel from the federal office came to investigate her complaint of harassment due to whistle blowing charge.”

So, once again, Dr. Chacko winds up in court.

by Michael Volpe
images: dbkp file

Michael Volpe is an investigative journalist and regular DBKP contributor.

Michael writes regularly at The Provocateur and Chicago Elections 2011

Back to DBKP Front Page.

Your Ad Here