Federal Judge Dismisses Patient Death Charges in Opioid Trial of Dr. Thomas Sachy
Macon Physician Dr. Thomas Sachy Secures Dismissal of Charges that he Caused the Death of Two Pain Patients
Dr. Thomas Sachy, a free man after securing dismissal of opioid death charges
Dr. Thomas Sachy, a neuropsychiatrist who worked near Macon Georgia, was indicted in 2018 for operating a “pill mill” and causing the deaths of two patients. Both charges carry a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison - each. After a hard fought victory, Dr. Sachy will walk out of the federal courthouse in Columbus, GA a free man on May 11, 2023 after a five year battle with the federal government and DEA.
His attorneys, Ronald W. Chapman II and Meggan Sullivan are grateful that they could secure freedom for yet another physician targeted by the DEA.
The once well respected neuropsychiatrist was an expert forensic psychiatrist in many high-profile Georgia murder cases, physician board reviewer for the Georgia Board of Medicine and guest speaker for the Georgia Bar.
But in 2016 the DEA received an anonymous tip from a patient’s sister that spawned a DEA investigation. The investigation would land Dr. Thomas Sachy in the crosshairs of the federal government and a five year legal battle for causing the death of two patients and over-prescribing opioids to a Bibb County Deputy Sheriff.
Dr. Sachy Indicted and Jailed for Unlawful Distribution
In 2018, agents from the DEA burst through the door of the neuropsychiatrist’s practice and, as one patient would describe, held patients and staff at gunpoint. Dr. Sachy, the prominent Georgia Physician was arrested along with his 80 year old mother, his wife, and a nurse that worked at the practice.
After an undercover patient visit was unsuccessful in securing a prescription for opioid pain medication, the DEA pivoted and alleged that Dr. Sachy caused the death of two patients. Both patients suffered from significant heart issues. Dr. Sachy was jailed for nearly three years after his arrest and was only able to secure his release after the landmark Supreme Court decision in Ruan v. United States which clarified the standard for when a physician could be convicted of unlawful distribution.
Under the new standard, Dr. Sachy proceeded to trial in the Middle District of Georgia in May of 2023.
The Trial of Dr. Sachy
The Government opened its case with the testimony of family members of the deceased who provided emotional testimony about their loved ones and their use of opioids. Federal prosecutors, however, ran into problems during the technical aspects of their case.
First, an expert anesthesiologist for the Government, Dr. Barry Straus testified that the standard for drug trafficking for a physician is the same as the standard applied by the Georgia Board. During his thorough cross examination by Ronald W. Chapman II he attempted to convince the jury that any physician prescribing over 200 morphine milligrams per day of opiates that is not board certified in pain should be prosecuted. No such standard is found anywhere in the law or regulations surrounding opioid prescribing.
Defense Secures Exclusion of Expert Forensic Toxicologist Stacy Hail
The Government then attempted to establish that the opioids prescribed by Dr. Sachy caused the death of two patients - an effort that would later fail resulting in dismissal of the two death charges.
The dismissal came immediately after the testimony of Forensic Toxicologist Stacy Hail was excluded from trial. Dr. Hail began her testimony on the morning of May 9th armed with a whiteboard and marker, engaged in a preformative display in front of the jury where she described how opioids can cause death. Her testimony was abruptly halted by an objection from Ronald W. Chapman II after she testified that medication bottles was found near the body of one of the deceased patients. This was untrue and prosecutors would later admit that the error was due to Stacy Hail mixing up one of her many other assignments as an expert toxicologist.
The objection spawned defense arguments before District Judge Clay Land ultimately resulting in the exclusion of testimony from the medical examiner who conducted the “limited autopsy”. The defense objected to the introduction of toxicology reports that lacked a foundation laid by the lab tech preparing the report. Prosecutors admitted that prior to trial they had not secured the testimony of the lab tech and did not intend to call the person who tested the sample during their case - a violation of Dr. Sachy’s sixth amendment right to confrontation.
Late in the afternoon, its case dismantled by the exclusion of two important witnesses, the prosecution rose to admit that it lacked the basic foundational toxicology evidence needed to move forward with the charges.
The Government rested its case shortly after.
On May 9, 2023, seven days into the trial that was expected to last nearly a month, Judge Clay Land of the Middle District of Georgia dismissed two charges of the indictment which alleged that Dr. Sachy distributed controlled substances causing the death of two patients.
The Defense Calls Patients of Dr. Sachy Who Suffered from Debilitating Pain
Still remaining were charges that Dr. Sachy ran a drug involved premises, engaged in a conspiracy to unlawfully distribute, and unlawfully prescribed to three specific patients.
The next day the defense called 10 witnesses including former patients of Dr. Sachy who described their debilitating ailments, family members of deceased patients, an addictionologist who evaluated pain patients for Dr. Sachy. The defense began to erase a picture created by Federal Prosecutors that tolerance equates to addiction and that aberrant behaviors require dismissal. The brother of a patient who later committed suicide due to untreated pain provided emotionally charged testimony. The patient was abruptly refused pain medication following the arrest and indictment of two of his physicians. The witness described Dr. Sachy as his brother’s savior and told the jury that Dr. Sachy gave him some semblance of his life back.
Two other patients, a husband and wife, both testified after allegations by the Government’s expert Dr. Barry Straus, that it was inappropriate to see patients residing in the same household. The husband and wife duo testified that they both had severe pain, one suffering from fibromyalgia and another suffering from pain as a result of an accident that required him to be cut out of his car by EMS. Meggan Sullivan lead the examinations and walked the jury through the debilitating pain that Dr. Sachy’s patients suffered from.
Prosecutors Agree to Dismiss the Remaining Charges of Drug Conspiracy, Unlawful Drug Distribution, and Money Laundering
At the end of the first day of the Defense case that was expected to last three days and culminate in the testimony of Dr. Sachy’s expert witness Dr. James Murphy, the Federal Prosecutors approached Dr. Sachy with a resolution. The resolution would result in the dismissal of all charges in the indictment related to opioid distribution, no jail time, and the return of $1.2 million in assets seized by the Federal Government.
As a result of the agreement, Dr. Sachy walked out of the Federal Courthouse in Columbus Georgia a free man.
The result was secured by significant efforts from Dr. Sachy’s investigators CCG Healthcare, his attorneys Ronald W. Chapman and Meggan Sullivan and the hard working staff at Chapman Law Group.
Ronald W. Chapman II is a federal defense attorney, author of “Unraveling Federal Criminal Investigations” , and frequent TV news commentator who regularly defends physicians facing allegations of unlawful distribution. He is also the president of CCG Healthcare a healthcare consulting firm devoted to aiding physicians and health care practices with compliance to avoid career ending federal investigations and charges related to health care fraud and opioid distribution.