“Captain Fontana, this court finds you, of all charges and specifications, not guilty,” Col. William Burd announced Saturday at Lackland AFB.
According to testimony in a five-day court-martial, Air Force investigators had questioned witnesses about “mercy killings” by an “angel of death” in the summer of 2008 at Wilford Hall Medical Center, the Air Force's largest hospital.
Capt. Michael Fontana
Fontana was accused of giving deadly doses of morphine or fentanyl, a painkiller, to three elderly patients on end-of-life care in the hospital's medical intensive care unit.
The death of Dorothy Gray, a stroke victim, was ruled a homicide by the Bexar County medical examiner's office. Fontana, 36, of San Antonio, was removed from the unit and assigned to the hospital's medical library after Gray died on Aug. 5, 2008.
But his defense team and expert witnesses challenged allegations that the pain-killing drugs caused the patients' deaths. They criticized doctors' medication orders as unclear, and questioned the decision by the staff, in consultation with family members, to remove Gray from a ventilator, without giving her time to recover.
After the verdict, Fontana said he never dishonored “my God, my country, my family or my patients' families.”
“Through all these events, I would've never changed the care I gave for those patients,” he said.
Fontana said he wants to stay in nursing, and will meet with his command staff Monday to discuss his future with the Air Force.
In a release, Wilford Hall's 59th Medical Wing said it will conduct a clinical care evaluation to determine Fontana's “competency to continue to serve as a nurse” in the service. The review had been put on hold while the criminal case was pending.
“Based on the high standard of proof required in a court-martial, we have great confidence in our military justice system and we believe a fair verdict was reached today,” the release stated.
Fontana's civilian lawyers, Carol Birch and Elizabeth Higginbotham, said the wing commander, Maj. Gen. Tom Travis, should have continued the internal evaluation of records and medical evidence, rather than putting their client though a lengthy criminal process.
“He should have asked, and he should have reviewed it,” Birch said.
Travis had no comment beyond the release, which stated that “our medical professionals had reason to believe that criminal conduct had occurred.”
Fontana hugged his parents and girlfriend in the courtroom, and spoke of the encouragement they'd given him. Paramedics in Austin who he used to work with and colleagues at Wilford Hall also stood behind him, he said.
“My parents have been monumental figures in my support,” Fontana said.
Government prosecutors had accused Fontana of killing Gray, 74, with two large doses of morphine. Another deceased patient, Ordie Despain, 87, died the same day. The third patient, Silvestre Orosco, 83, died on June 1, 2008. The charges alleged that Fontana killed Despain and Orosco with injections of fentanyl.
But the defense team said the case was weak, and based mostly on autopsy reports on Gray, toxicology reports on Orosco and circumstantial evidence in all three deaths.
Birch and Higginbotham said they hoped the case would prompt Wilford Hall to adopt strong peer-review standards. But they were worried about the effect the stigma of being accused of murder will have on their client's future.
“These charges can't help but have an impact on his career,” Birch said. [rc]
Portions © 2009 San Antonio Express-News.
November 21, 2009
USA: Former Air Force Nurse Pronounced Innocent of Mercy Killings
.
SAN ANTONIO, Texas / San Antonio Express-News / November 21, 2009
By Scott Huddleston - Express-News
In a few fleeting seconds, a military judge ended a nearly 16-month ordeal for Capt. Michael Fontana, an Air Force nurse on trial for murder.
“Captain Fontana, this court finds you, of all charges and specifications, not guilty,” Col. William Burd announced Saturday at Lackland AFB.
According to testimony in a five-day court-martial, Air Force investigators had questioned witnesses about “mercy killings” by an “angel of death” in the summer of 2008 at Wilford Hall Medical Center, the Air Force's largest hospital.
Capt. Michael Fontana
Fontana was accused of giving deadly doses of morphine or fentanyl, a painkiller, to three elderly patients on end-of-life care in the hospital's medical intensive care unit.
The death of Dorothy Gray, a stroke victim, was ruled a homicide by the Bexar County medical examiner's office. Fontana, 36, of San Antonio, was removed from the unit and assigned to the hospital's medical library after Gray died on Aug. 5, 2008.
But his defense team and expert witnesses challenged allegations that the pain-killing drugs caused the patients' deaths. They criticized doctors' medication orders as unclear, and questioned the decision by the staff, in consultation with family members, to remove Gray from a ventilator, without giving her time to recover.
After the verdict, Fontana said he never dishonored “my God, my country, my family or my patients' families.”
“Through all these events, I would've never changed the care I gave for those patients,” he said.
Fontana said he wants to stay in nursing, and will meet with his command staff Monday to discuss his future with the Air Force.
In a release, Wilford Hall's 59th Medical Wing said it will conduct a clinical care evaluation to determine Fontana's “competency to continue to serve as a nurse” in the service. The review had been put on hold while the criminal case was pending.
“Based on the high standard of proof required in a court-martial, we have great confidence in our military justice system and we believe a fair verdict was reached today,” the release stated.
Fontana's civilian lawyers, Carol Birch and Elizabeth Higginbotham, said the wing commander, Maj. Gen. Tom Travis, should have continued the internal evaluation of records and medical evidence, rather than putting their client though a lengthy criminal process.
“He should have asked, and he should have reviewed it,” Birch said.
Travis had no comment beyond the release, which stated that “our medical professionals had reason to believe that criminal conduct had occurred.”
Fontana hugged his parents and girlfriend in the courtroom, and spoke of the encouragement they'd given him. Paramedics in Austin who he used to work with and colleagues at Wilford Hall also stood behind him, he said.
“My parents have been monumental figures in my support,” Fontana said.
Government prosecutors had accused Fontana of killing Gray, 74, with two large doses of morphine. Another deceased patient, Ordie Despain, 87, died the same day. The third patient, Silvestre Orosco, 83, died on June 1, 2008. The charges alleged that Fontana killed Despain and Orosco with injections of fentanyl.
But the defense team said the case was weak, and based mostly on autopsy reports on Gray, toxicology reports on Orosco and circumstantial evidence in all three deaths.
Birch and Higginbotham said they hoped the case would prompt Wilford Hall to adopt strong peer-review standards. But they were worried about the effect the stigma of being accused of murder will have on their client's future.
“These charges can't help but have an impact on his career,” Birch said. [rc]
Portions © 2009 San Antonio Express-News.
“Captain Fontana, this court finds you, of all charges and specifications, not guilty,” Col. William Burd announced Saturday at Lackland AFB.
According to testimony in a five-day court-martial, Air Force investigators had questioned witnesses about “mercy killings” by an “angel of death” in the summer of 2008 at Wilford Hall Medical Center, the Air Force's largest hospital.
Capt. Michael Fontana
Fontana was accused of giving deadly doses of morphine or fentanyl, a painkiller, to three elderly patients on end-of-life care in the hospital's medical intensive care unit.
The death of Dorothy Gray, a stroke victim, was ruled a homicide by the Bexar County medical examiner's office. Fontana, 36, of San Antonio, was removed from the unit and assigned to the hospital's medical library after Gray died on Aug. 5, 2008.
But his defense team and expert witnesses challenged allegations that the pain-killing drugs caused the patients' deaths. They criticized doctors' medication orders as unclear, and questioned the decision by the staff, in consultation with family members, to remove Gray from a ventilator, without giving her time to recover.
After the verdict, Fontana said he never dishonored “my God, my country, my family or my patients' families.”
“Through all these events, I would've never changed the care I gave for those patients,” he said.
Fontana said he wants to stay in nursing, and will meet with his command staff Monday to discuss his future with the Air Force.
In a release, Wilford Hall's 59th Medical Wing said it will conduct a clinical care evaluation to determine Fontana's “competency to continue to serve as a nurse” in the service. The review had been put on hold while the criminal case was pending.
“Based on the high standard of proof required in a court-martial, we have great confidence in our military justice system and we believe a fair verdict was reached today,” the release stated.
Fontana's civilian lawyers, Carol Birch and Elizabeth Higginbotham, said the wing commander, Maj. Gen. Tom Travis, should have continued the internal evaluation of records and medical evidence, rather than putting their client though a lengthy criminal process.
“He should have asked, and he should have reviewed it,” Birch said.
Travis had no comment beyond the release, which stated that “our medical professionals had reason to believe that criminal conduct had occurred.”
Fontana hugged his parents and girlfriend in the courtroom, and spoke of the encouragement they'd given him. Paramedics in Austin who he used to work with and colleagues at Wilford Hall also stood behind him, he said.
“My parents have been monumental figures in my support,” Fontana said.
Government prosecutors had accused Fontana of killing Gray, 74, with two large doses of morphine. Another deceased patient, Ordie Despain, 87, died the same day. The third patient, Silvestre Orosco, 83, died on June 1, 2008. The charges alleged that Fontana killed Despain and Orosco with injections of fentanyl.
But the defense team said the case was weak, and based mostly on autopsy reports on Gray, toxicology reports on Orosco and circumstantial evidence in all three deaths.
Birch and Higginbotham said they hoped the case would prompt Wilford Hall to adopt strong peer-review standards. But they were worried about the effect the stigma of being accused of murder will have on their client's future.
“These charges can't help but have an impact on his career,” Birch said. [rc]
Portions © 2009 San Antonio Express-News.
