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The feds say Dr. Angelo Chirban and his ex-wife used money they scammed from the state health care program to buy an Arabian horse like the one pictured above.

​A federal grand jury returned an indictment this morning alleging that a Queen Creek pain management doctor billed the state health care program for patients he never actually saw. The scammed money, the feds say, was used to buy several pricey items, including an Arabian horse.

The indictment also alleges that the doctor's ex-wife used his name to write thousands of prescriptions for various narcotic pain medications.

According to the 130-count indictment, between 2008 and 2010, Marilyn Chirban, the ex-wife of Dr. Angelo Chirban, was working as an administrator in his office. With no medical training, Marilyn Chirban would write patients prescriptions for drugs like methadone, Oxycodone, Morphine, Hydrocodone, and other pain medications. She would sign the scripts with her then-husband's name.

Dr. Chirban, the indictment alleges, knew what his wife was doing, and even helped her do it by leaving prescription pads unsecured at their home and his office. 

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www.legaljuice.com

The miracle cure.

​Figuratively speaking, a lot of guys take a lot of shit from their wives. Jerry Grant, 33, is literally taking shit from his wife -- and it will likely save his life.

Grant's had some poop problems for the past several months -- bleeding rectally, and what not -- and the procedure that will likely "save his life" involves taking his wife's feces and transplanting it into his body.

Grant suffers from a condition called clostridium difficile, an intestinal disease that causes severe diarrhea. Potentially, it can be fatal.

Transplanting his wife's feces into his body will replace some of the digestive bacterias his body lacks.

See 12News' video of Grant and his wife discussing the poop transplant -- and a doctor explain how it works -- below. 

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Peter Normann's headed to prison.

​Peter Normann, the Anthem doctor convicted of murder in the deaths of two of his patients, and manslaughter in the death of another, was in a Maricopa County Superior Court this morning where he was sentenced to a total of 25 years in prison.

Normann's sentencing hearing was delayed last week because one of his attorneys had a family emergency.

Judge Paul McMurdie sentenced Normann to 10 years in prison for each of the murder convictions, and five years in prison for the manslaughter charge. The sentences will run consecutively.

Normann was convicted in July of two counts of second-degree murder and one count of manslaughter in the deaths of Ralph Gonzalez, 33, Leslie Ann Ray, 53, and Alicia Santizo Blanco, 41, each patients of Normann's who suffered complications after botched plastic surgery procedures.
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Peter Normann

​Peter Normann, the Anthem doctor convicted of murder in the deaths of two of his patients, and manslaughter in the death of another, was supposed to be in court this afternoon for his sentencing hearing. The hearing, however, has been delayed, a court spokesman tells New Times.

Normann was convicted in July of two counts of second-degree murder and one count of manslaughter in the deaths of Ralph Gonzalez, 33, Leslie Ann Ray, 53, and Alicia Santizo Blanco, 41, each patients of Normann's who suffered complications after botched plastic surgery procedures.

Court officials say one of Normann's attorneys had a family emergency, which is why the hearing was delayed. The spokesman says the hearing will not happen today, but will be rescheduled.

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ladybunny.net

If this is what your martinis look like, you may want to make a trip to the Chandler Police Department on April 30.

​Instead of getting high off those expired, unused, or unwanted prescription drugs you have at home, give them to the Chandler Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

At an April 30 event, Chandler police and the DEA will accept any of your prescription drugs -- no questions asked.

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arizona, chandler police department, DEA, drug enforcement agency, prescription drug take-back

​The big question this afternoon at a press conference regarding the disgusting conditions at three Phoenix assisted living facilities was where the hell was the Arizona Department of Health Services to shut these places down? Turns out, at least one of the facilities was "on [DHS'] radar" since last February.

Since our earlier post, in which we describe the nastiness at the facilities, we spoke to Alan Oppenheim, the DHS' program manager for assisted living licensees, who says that conditions in Fiesta Village -- one of three facilities owned and operated by 42-year-old Melissa Pacheco (click here for all the dirt on nurse nasty) -- were so bad in February of 2010 that it was placed on a "provisional license" that went into effect in May.

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www.aspiresrelationships.com

​State and county health officials have confirmed a case of measles in Maricopa County.

Authorities say the disease was contracted by a man living in the area who recently traveled abroad. They say he spent time in the community before being diagnosed, and county health officials are worried others may have been exposed.

Most people are vaccinated against the disease. However, Measles, these days, is only slightly more common than Polio, so it's a bit unnerving to know that the disease could be circulating in the Valley's air supply.

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​Arizona Governor Jan Brewer this morning signed a bill that gives her the authority to request a waiver from the federal government that would temporarily remove nearly 300,000 of the state's neediest people from the Medicaid program.

The governor's plan would remove about 280,000 low-income adults from the program, saving the state more than $500 million.

The $540 million that the program is expected to save would take a big chunk out of the state's projected $1.1 billion budget shortfall this year -- all while eliminating vital services for some of the state's neediest residents.

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​The problem of sewer water leaking on surgical patients at the Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center in Phoenix began as early as April of 2009, a newly obtained report shows.

 

Until we received the report today, we'd been under the impression that two incidents of water leaking into the open surgical wounds of patients happened within weeks of each other last summer.

The anonymous letter-writer who first tipped us off in October mentioned that he or she had heard of two instances of water dripping on patients during surgery "in the last six months." Officials at the VA agreed there were two such occurrences, and seemed to concur about the timing. At least, the VA made it seem as though it was on the ball in a written statement to New Times:

This happened on two separate occasions.

(Hospital staff) responded immediately with corrective actions and sealed the penetration points between the 4th and 3rd floor directly above OR 5 alleviating any further such outcomes.

Gee, "responded immediately" makes it sound like there's just no way the first incident could have occurred a full 16 months before the second incident, right?

Yet that's just what happened.

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​
The Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center in Phoenix has finally confirmed what an anonymous source told us back in October:

Backed-up toilet water really did drip into the open surgical wound of a veteran on an operating table.

Still, we're not terribly impressed with the records received from the VA hospital. Not only did it take the VA two months to satisfy our records request, but many of the documents we requested were completely blacked out.

Annoyingly, the hospital only released a written brief on one of the "drip" incidents, despite issuing an October press release that explained how the problem occurred on two separate occasions, to two separate patients.

Our records request had asked for all documents related to the drippings, so it looks like the VA is holding back records related to the second incident. As we mentioned in October, an anonymous source tells us that water drips actually occurred four times.

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