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- [00:00]
Narrator/Host (Laura Beale)
Gracie and I want to thank you for listening to Only Fantasy. We hope you enjoyed listening to the show as much as we enjoyed making it. On behalf of everyone on the team, we're so grateful that you've taken this journey with us. Now that you've reached the end of this show, there's another podcast that we think you'd love. It's called Dr. The Cowboy. Similar to Only Fantasy, Dr. Death examines human behavior and the why behind people's actions, but perhaps with a bit more criminal behavior. In this all new season of Dr. Death, Laura Beale follows the career of John Schneider, a doctor who promised relief to patients suffering in Wyoming and Montana. He seemed like the hero they needed, but when surgeries go wrong and a strange letter exposes a bitter feud, medical professionals and government officials search for the truth about this cowboy doctor. They discover claims of broken bodies, bullying, fraud and lawsuits. From Audible, the fifth season of the hit series doctor Death returns with the Cowboy, the story of a surgeon who took advantage of a broken system and the fight to bring him to justice. I'm about to play you the first episode of Dr. Death the Cowboy. Stay tuned. Listen to Dr. Death the Cowboy wherever you get your podcasts or binge. All episodes of Dr. Death the Cowboy ad free right now on Audible. Start your Audible subscription in the Audible app or on Apple Podcasts.
- [01:32]
Narrator/Storyteller
It's a chilly Wednesday in December when Julie Mossbacker pulls up to the post office in Meteetse, Wyoming.
- [01:39]
Kathy Ewan
We don't get home mail delivery, so we all have to go to the post office.
- [01:45]
Narrator/Storyteller
Matitse, population 300, give or take, is an outpost on the Greybull river in one of those wind whipped Wyoming counties that has more cows than people. Just around the corner from the post office stands the Cowboy Bar, a saloon that served renegades and ranchers for more than 100 years. Butch Cassidy once got arrested as he was leaving there and sent to jail for horse theft. Today you can still find men on bar stools with their cowboy hats pulled low, perched next to tourists in sensible shoes on their way to Yellowstone. Julie Moss Becker has lived here for almost 15 years. She's a nurse at a hospital in Cody, about a half hour up the road. On this chilly day, she's sifting through the usual stack of envelopes. There's bills, bills, junk mail, another bill, a few Christmas cards, and then something odd fall. A small folded scrap of paper. Julie opens it up to find a photo of a man staring back at her. He's middle aged, with the stunned expression of someone who's just been caught doing something he shouldn't. It's a police mugshot. And then, above, in big bold letters, the word alert. Julie scans through the text. My name is Rita and I broke my ankle this summer and this doctor did a terrible job. I looked up this doctor and found this recent arrest. He's already been investigated for drunkenness when on call at the hospital and has a dozen lawsuits that he lost. How can they let someone like this practice? Julie stares at the note. She knows this man. He's a surgeon at West Park Hospital, the same hospital where she works.
- [03:43]
Kathy Ewan
My first thought was, whoever did this is full of shit.
- [03:47]
Narrator/Storyteller
She throws it in the trash and drives off, convinced that someone is playing some kind of childish game. But when she walks into the hospital's nursing station, it's the only thing folks are talking about.
- [03:59]
Kathy Ewan
Everybody was like, did you get one? Did you get one? We were all finding out how widespread this mailing was.
- [04:08]
Narrator/Storyteller
It wasn't just Julie or the staff at the hospital. Thousands of people were getting the letter. 14,000 to be exact, all morning in towns scattered across the Bighorn Basin, from Powell to Lovell to Grable and Shell. And now the hospital's phones won't stop ringing. The people of northwest Wyoming might be shocked to learn that a doctor's been accused of harming patients drunkenly. But it's not the doctor in the photo that residents would need to worry about. It was another man, an outsider. Like so many stories from the Old west, he'd come to town looking for a fresh start. And he would leave families devastated, searching for answers, trying to comprehend what had gone wrong and who he really was. From audible originals, I'm laura beale, and this is the fifth season of Dr. Death the cowboy. I probably spent too many hours as a kid watching reruns of TV Westerns Gunsmoke, alias Smith Jones Bonanza. I decided I wanted to be a girl with a horse. And for a while I was. I rode a spotted gray Appaloosa named Salty Mama. The TV cowboys of my childhood were tough and independent, often a little reckless. They were usually the good guys, but even the heroes had an edge, a kind of dangerous charm. The American frontier always had a mythical aura, but it was and remains a real place. Today. Many of the folks in these old frontier towns are older. A lot of them have made a living with their hands and backs, and in their bones they carry the pain that comes from a lifetime of hard work. For relief, they often have to drive long distances across vast open country to find a surgeon to Help them. This is the story of a doctor who fashioned himself as a cowboy. He rolled into Wyoming in his dress boots, ready to saddle up and be a hero. But the legend he left behind was one of broken bodies, lawsuits, bankruptcy and fraud. This is episode one. Paper Trail. Over an hour northeast of Meteetse. Kathy and Jerry Ewan lived on an old family ranch. The nearest town was Shell, a town so small it doesn't even have a stoplight.
- [07:25]
Jerry Ewan
He was gorgeous. It was a little piece of heaven. Had a big deck that faced the mountain.
- [07:32]
Narrator/Storyteller
Jerry had grown up there putting out hay every morning for the sheep on his parents farm.
- [07:38]
Jerry Ewan
And we could see 10 miles in either direction and all the way to the mountain.
- [07:44]
Narrator/Storyteller
He and Kathy met when they were children back in the 50s.
- [07:50]
Kathy Ewan
He was kind of a shy farm kid. He didn't really have a whole lot of social skills.
- [07:59]
Narrator/Storyteller
In high school, Jerry worked up the courage to ask Kathy out on a date.
- [08:03]
Kathy Ewan
His best friend was dating my friend. And John, our friend, had to literally twist his arm behind his back and say, call her. And so I get from Jerry, you wouldn't want to go out Friday, would you?
- [08:19]
Narrator/Storyteller
Their first date was a trip to the movies. They saw the Pink Panther. Three years later they were married. Jerry flew helicopters in the Vietnam War and later worked as a carpenter. Kathy trained as a nurse and then a physician assistant specializing in rural medicine. They had three children. By 2008, two years before Julie Mossbacker found the mysterious flyer in her mailbox, Kathy and Jerry were in their 60s. The high school sweetheart still lived busy and active lives. One day they were hiking in the mountains with some friends. They'd set up camp and it was Kathy's turn to cook.
- [09:02]
Kathy Ewan
I was kneeling down in front of the fire, cooking, when it dawned on me that I'm not sure I can get up.
- [09:12]
Narrator/Storyteller
The pain was excruciating. A sharp burn that radiated across her middle and lower back.
- [09:19]
Kathy Ewan
I took so much aspirin on that trip that my ears were just ringing.
- [09:24]
Narrator/Storyteller
She and Jerry decided they would head home early. By the time they reached the ranch, it was clear this wasn't just a strain. Whatever it was, the pain wasn't going away. Over the coming months, Jerry could see just how badly his wife was suffering.
- [09:45]
Jerry Ewan
Kathy's always been a gardener. She loves to be outside. And we had some trees and Kathy liked to plant flowers. And it was becoming very painful for her to do that.
- [09:57]
Narrator/Storyteller
So Kathy asked her doctor for some advice. He told her there was a surgeon who had set up in the area. His name, Dr. John Henry Schneider. He'd started a clinic called Northern Rockies Neurospine in 2005, specializing in spinal complaints. He had a signature look, cowboy boots. Even in the operating room for Kathy, he was a convenient choice. Most of the nearest alternatives were all the way across the state line in Billings, Montana.
- [10:28]
Kathy Ewan
I made an appointment there just based on the fact that he was a new man in the community. And it was kind of supportive on my part.
- [10:39]
Narrator/Storyteller
Soon, Kathy was sitting in a dim examination room. A dark haired man in his late 40s came in wearing dress pants and an open necked shirt. He got straight into it.
- [10:50]
Kathy Ewan
He said, we're going to have to operate.
- [10:54]
Narrator/Storyteller
He paced up and down studying Kathy's scans.
- [10:58]
Kathy Ewan
He said, I could probably put in a little piece of metal about that big and that might be all you need.
- [11:04]
Narrator/Storyteller
Dr. Schneider told Kathy she had degenerative disc disease, common for women with 60 something bones. The MRI confirmed that her spine had worn down in places, causing bones in her back to shift and press on the nerves, which led to pain and weakness.
- [11:21]
Kathy Ewan
And so I'm thinking, well, if that's something that's that minor, let's do it because I gotta get some of my life back. I wanna do stuff. Still.
- [11:37]
Narrator/Storyteller
On a mild September day, Kathy and Jerry set off from the ranch in their old white Lincoln to Cody's west park hospital. On the long drive, the couple held hands. Kathy did her best to reassure Jerry. It was all going to be okay.
- [11:52]
Kathy Ewan
I told him I will be back on my feet well enough for you to go, you know, you go camping, you take the grandkids or whatever and you go, it's no biggie.
- [12:10]
Narrator/Storyteller
At the hospital, as the nurses tended to Kathy in the prep room, Jerry remembers Dr. Schneider walking into the room in his surgical scrubs.
- [12:20]
Jerry Ewan
He said that he had all this additional hardware that was set aside that he would use if he found to be necessary. In case we find something that we hadn't planned on and we need these parts, they'll be there. In the operating room, a question began to form in my mind. Why do you have this extra stuff when you've already done the diagnosis? It seemed a little odd, but I dismissed it.
- [12:51]
Narrator/Storyteller
With that, Jerry kissed his wife goodbye. Kathy was wheeled into the operating room where Dr. Schneider was waiting.
- [13:00]
Kathy Ewan
He was, you know, all gowned and gloved and he just said, we don't know exactly we, what we're going to find, but I'm prepared for whatever. And he says, I'll talk to you when you wake up.
- [13:21]
Narrator/Storyteller
While Kathy lay unconscious, Dr. Schneider made an incision into the midline of her back. He carefully dissected the muscles to reveal Kathy's spine. With the soft tissue cleared, Dr. Schneider got to work. Using a drill and other tools, he removed parts of Kathy's spine and ligaments. He widened the nerve passageways, relieving the pressure. He then set about stabilizing Kathy's spine. Using the hardware he'd set aside, he implanted screws and a metal rod. Finally, a deep drain was placed at the base of Kathy's spine to collect any excess spinal fluid in the days ahead. When Kathy opened her eyes in the recovery room, Dr. Schneider was standing over her.
- [14:25]
Kathy Ewan
He said that everything went well. It was a bit more extensive than he anticipated, but everything had been cared for. Everything was okay. They're going to take you up onto the floor and you'll be here a couple days.
- [14:41]
Narrator/Storyteller
Kathy dozed in a private room for a few hours, and then at about 3am she suddenly woke up with a jolt.
- [14:51]
Kathy Ewan
And I was ringing the bell.
- [14:53]
Narrator/Storyteller
The pain in Kathy's back now consumed her entire body.
- [14:58]
Kathy Ewan
And I said, you guys, I don't know when I had meds last, but now's the time I want them, please.
- [15:06]
Narrator/Storyteller
Kathy says the nurse has left to go get her chart, but they came back looking apologetic.
- [15:11]
Kathy Ewan
They came in and said, kathy, we're sorry, but there's no pain medication written for you. And that's when I said, well, call him.
- [15:21]
Narrator/Storyteller
Kathy waited and waited, but she says the nurses could not get ahold of Dr. Schneider. All she could do was lie there. It wasn't until the morning when Dr. Schneider surfaced with a prescription for pain meds. Later, he arrived with an update on Kathy's condition. He was happy with her progress and said she could be discharged the following day. When Jerry came to pick Kathy up, he was shown the drain that had been implanted at the base of Kathy's backbone. It would be Jerry's job to drain the device of fluid, which he collected in a small blue cup. Back at the ranch, Kathy rested in the rocking chair and looked out onto the mountainside. Each day, Jerry would help her into the shower and empty the drain. He did his best to keep it clean and sterile. As instructed, Kathy expected the drainage to gradually stop. But as each day passed, the clear fluid kept flowing. After a couple of days back home and four days after the surgery, Kathy started to worry. As a physician assistant, she could tell that something wasn't right.
- [16:46]
Kathy Ewan
I kept telling him, you don't leave a drain in more than four days.
- [16:50]
Narrator/Storyteller
But Jerry kept Reassuring her, he said, just relax.
- [16:55]
Kathy Ewan
It's okay. You know, just relax. Go sit in the rocking chair. I remember calling over to the hospital and telling Dr. Schneider's crew that I was still draining and that I thought it was time for those drains to be pulled. And being told that we don't have time today. Dr. Schneider's very busy and we're all really busy. I kept saying, these are supposed to come out. These have to come out. And then I started really getting fuzzy headed. I knew I was losing periods of time.
- [17:31]
Narrator/Storyteller
Kathy could feel herself slipping, and yet it seemed like no one was listening to her. Jerry was no doctor, and he was following the only instructions he says he was given, to keep clearing the drain until it stopped. But it didn't stop.
- [17:50]
Kathy Ewan
I told him, I'm getting sicker, honey. I'm getting sicker. We have to do something.
- [17:56]
Narrator/Storyteller
Kathy was becoming increasingly concerned about just what was coming out of the drain. The spinal fluid looked different.
- [18:04]
Kathy Ewan
It was getting creamy by then. And that. That unnerved me.
- [18:09]
Narrator/Storyteller
While Kathy panicked, Jerry, determined to do his best, kept on clearing the drain.
- [18:15]
Kathy Ewan
And he kept dumping that out. He didn't have any medical training, really.
- [18:21]
Narrator/Storyteller
A week went by and the milky discharge just kept coming. Until one day I woke up one
- [18:28]
Kathy Ewan
morning and took my temperature, and I was over 104. I said, let's go out and see Dusty. I don't care what we're doing. We gotta do something.
- [18:37]
Narrator/Storyteller
Dusty was their family doctor. Jerry helped Kathy into the car and they drove over to see him.
- [18:43]
Jerry Ewan
He said, this isn't right. This drain is still here. I remember him asking me, what did they tell you to do with this?
- [18:52]
Narrator/Storyteller
Jerry did his best to explain that he'd done everything he was told, but it was all no use. Jerry didn't know why Kathy's condition had deteriorated so badly.
- [19:02]
Jerry Ewan
He was very concerned, and his orders were I was to take her immediately to the hospital in Cody.
- [19:10]
Narrator/Storyteller
Jerry raced back home to get some clothes for Kathy. He had no idea how long she might be in the hospital.
- [19:17]
Jerry Ewan
We packed a bag for her, and Kathy was convinced at that point that she was going to die. And we actually had to stop on the way out the door so she could show me the dress that she would be buried in.
- [19:34]
Narrator/Storyteller
Kathy and Jerry were preparing themselves for the worst. They headed for the hospital. Prior to praying she would make it out alive. Kathy and Jerry Yuen arrived at West Park Hospital. They've been dealing with complications since her surgery with Dr. Schneider. The hospital saw her right away. They told her it was a Severe infection, a rare and life threatening combination of meningitis and encephalitis. Soon she was back in the operating room with Dr. Schneider. Schneider reopened the wound. He scraped and cleaned it with three liters of antibiotic. Kathy was sent to the ICU to recover, hooked up to an IV with a cocktail of still more antibiotics. For three days, Jerry sat by his wife's side. He held her hand and spoke softly to her as she drifted in and out of consciousness.
- [20:53]
Jerry Ewan
She was definitely not in her head. You know, she wasn't in her right mind because she imagined that there were flowers on the wall and she was reaching out to pick them. I was scared. I just sat by her and held her hand and said, it's going to be okay. Things are going to be fine. We're going to get through this. I've been through a lot of things in my life. I spent a year in Vietnam as a medevac helicopter pilot. And I saw people die every day and people wounded in the worst possible way. And it was hard to have that experience. And I think this is right up there with those things.
- [21:44]
Narrator/Storyteller
As he sat by her bed, Jerry prayed that she would make it through.
- [21:49]
Jerry Ewan
I had faith, you know, we're people of faith and personally able to put this in the Lord's hands and say, okay.
- [22:02]
Narrator/Storyteller
The kind of bacteria Kathy had kills up to one in four people who get it. With Jerry by her side, Kathy's immune system fought until she started to come around. But as she slowly regained her faculties, she started to notice the doctors and nurses who cared for her making curious comments.
- [22:25]
Kathy Ewan
The hospitalist would come in and look at my back and he would say, well, I think you're very lucky to be alive. And I said, yeah, I think so too. This is a miracle. And he said, I'm sorry that you had to go through any of this. And he looked at Jerry like this was uncalled for.
- [22:49]
Narrator/Storyteller
Before long, she was moved out of the ICU and into a regular hospital room. Then Jerry and Kathy heard someone Approaching her room. Dr. Schneider had come to check on his patient.
- [23:05]
Kathy Ewan
He came just as far as the door and he stood at the door and he said, well, it looks like you're doing fine. And I said, I'm getting better.
- [23:17]
Jerry Ewan
He said that he gets one or two infections a year and it was her misfortune to be one of them.
- [23:26]
Narrator/Storyteller
From a chair in the corner of the room, Jerry eyed Dr. Schneider warily. A seed of doubt was in his mind. He was questioning not just the infection, but all that extra hardware. Dr. Schneider had set aside and put into Kathy's back.
- [23:42]
Jerry Ewan
What was it you saw or you found after you started the operation that you didn't find on your diagnostics? He wouldn't answer me, but he said to Kathy, I don't think your husband trusts me. I thought, well, hell, no, I don't trust you. Look at what happened.
- [24:04]
Narrator/Storyteller
For his part, Dr. Schneider recorded his perspective on Kathy's condition and dictated medical notes. In Dr. Schneider's view, Kathy's back surgery was, quote, extremely effective. He says that until she developed meningitis, she'd been doing extremely well. The surgery, as he saw it, was successful. After seven days in the hospital, Kathy finally went home. The infection was under control, but she was still in pain. When she asked Dr. Schneider, he told her not to worry. It would get better with time.
- [24:46]
Kathy Ewan
He said, your surgery was pretty extensive, so you do have pain, but it will go away.
- [24:51]
Narrator/Storyteller
But it never did.
- [24:53]
Kathy Ewan
I never got to the point in my recovery where I was out of pain, not for one single day, not for one hour. It destroyed our life as we knew it.
- [25:07]
Narrator/Storyteller
So after two years of daily struggle, she finally decided to get a second opinion. She said she went to a doctor in Billings, Montana. She showed him where Schneider had operated.
- [25:18]
Kathy Ewan
He looked at my back, and he was very shocked at how scarred up I was. It's a huge scar. And he said, we need to get some pictures here. But he said, this is pretty extensive. When he got the MRI and the X rays, he had this almost a bedazzled look on his face and said, well, there's. There's a lot of hardware in you, but some of it's not attached to anything.
- [25:52]
Narrator/Storyteller
Kathy sat rooted to her chair in shock. Dr. Schneider had insisted her pain was just an unavoidable hurdle on the long road to recovery.
- [26:02]
Kathy Ewan
He said, I think we need to take out all of that stuff that's floating around in your back.
- [26:12]
Narrator/Storyteller
Once her second operation was over, Kathy was relieved to discover that the pain she'd been suffering had finally subsided. The surgeon sat her down to tell her what he'd found.
- [26:24]
Kathy Ewan
He brought this bag of the titanium rods, all those screws, the crossbars, everything that had been put into my back. He said, your back has been cut to ribbons. He said, those screws, the screws that were floating around there have just ripped up your. Your nerves. And those titanium rods have been poking you because they're loose. I was angry. I was angry what it did to my family. And I realized that all of this time, I was being patient, waiting for the healing with all that stuff. And it was what was causing me not to heal.
- [27:12]
Narrator/Storyteller
It was more than enough to make her furious. All that time she'd lost. We did hear from Dr. Schneider when we reached out to him about Kathy's case. While he wouldn't speak with us directly, his lawyer told us that the series appears to focus disproportionately on a handful of negative outcomes and patient complaints, while disregarding the thousands of successful cases and positive testimonials from colleagues and patients. The series must acknowledge the inherent risks of neurosurgery and the fact that adverse outcomes do not in themselves constitute malpractice or unethical conduct. On a dry December day, back when Kathy had been recovering from her infection, Jerry was driving home in his truck when he checked the mailbox.
- [28:06]
Jerry Ewan
Shuffle through it and oh my gosh, what is this?
- [28:11]
Narrator/Storyteller
A small piece of paper folded down the middle with a picture of a man's mind. Mugshot. My name is Rita and I broke my ankle this summer. And this doctor did a terrible job. How can they let someone like this practice? Jerry jumped in the car and went straight home to show Kathy because he knew exactly who the doctor in the mugshot was, and so did Kathy. It wasn't Dr. Schneider in the photograph, but it would eventually reveal to Kathy and Jerry the lengths that Schneider could go to when someone questioned his decisions.
- [28:49]
Kathy Ewan
It really disturbed me on so many levels. What have you done?
- [29:12]
Narrator/Storyteller
That strange flyer was in mailboxes all over the county that morning. Word spread quickly about the possibility of a dangerous doctor in the area. And soon someone at the local newspaper was asking questions.
- [29:25]
CJ Baker (Reporter)
This wasn't a flyer that just went to one person, so it was obviously newsworthy. We were getting quite a few people that are just like, what is this? Is it real? Is it legitimate?
- [29:33]
Narrator/Storyteller
C.J. baker is a classic old school local reporter with wire rimmed glasses and a stubble beard. He knew a story when he saw it.
- [29:42]
CJ Baker (Reporter)
We need to figure out, is this true? Is any of it true? Which parts of it are true?
- [29:46]
Narrator/Storyteller
CJ had heard of the doctor at the center of the controversy, the one in the mugshot. He was an orthopedic surgeon named Dr. Jimmy Biles. Dr. Biles was from Texas. He was tall and burly with swept back, sandy hair, just like Dr. Schneider. He often wore cowboy boots. Texas, you know. And it seemed Dr. Biles had recently, just that past October, been arrested for a dui.
- [30:17]
CJ Baker (Reporter)
That was right around the time that our sheriff's office had started putting booking photos online. And so I recognized it as a legitimate booking photo. And then listed an arrest date of October 17, 2010. And then lists charges of actual physical control with a blood alcohol level over 0.18. Loot act with resisting arrest, illegal possession, controlled substance, felony investigation.
- [30:44]
Narrator/Storyteller
The more CJ looked over the information, the more he questioned it. The mug shot of Dr. Biles was real, yes, but the information underneath it and the laundry list of crimes seemed pretty implausible.
- [30:57]
CJ Baker (Reporter)
For example, it listed his alleged blood alcohol hall level, which is not information that is ever put on the sheriff's office site.
- [31:05]
Narrator/Storyteller
And then there was the charge itself.
- [31:08]
CJ Baker (Reporter)
It said that he was charged with lewd act, with resisting arrest.
- [31:12]
Narrator/Storyteller
CJ had covered the courts for a couple years and never heard of that charge. He called up a prosecutor to double check.
- [31:19]
CJ Baker (Reporter)
Am I out of my mind? Or is there no such thing as lewd act with a resisting arrest? But it was like, yeah, that's not a thing. Under Wyoming law, no one could ever be charged with what's listed there.
- [31:31]
Narrator/Storyteller
CJ couldn't help but wonder what else on the flyer was made up. Kathy Yuen knew Dr. Biles very well. He worked at West Park Hospital, the same hospital as Dr. Schneider. In fact, Kathy had known Dr. Biles for years. They shared an office together, the same office that she was now driving to. And their families went back even further, had even paid for her father in law's honeymoon. So when Kathy got the letter, she wanted to ask him about it directly.
- [32:04]
Kathy Ewan
People were saying, well, boy, if it comes out in the mail like that, there's truth behind this. So then people were starting to call the hospital and say, am I supposed to keep my appointment with him today? Or, you know, are we supposed to be concerned? Is my care provider a drunk?
- [32:20]
Narrator/Storyteller
When Kathy had been in the hospital with her infection, she, Dr. Biles had come to visit her.
- [32:26]
Kathy Ewan
And he said, I have been so concerned about you, Kathy. He said, I've been here. I've been checking on you.
- [32:34]
Narrator/Storyteller
As Kathy and Dr. Biles had talked about her ordeal, she noticed an undertone to his gravelly drawl.
- [32:43]
Kathy Ewan
If you knew Dr. Biles, you would know his tones are very monotone when he's speaking and you have to listen carefully. But I picked up an edge of anger in him which very few people would see. I knew he was angry that I had been so sick. He started really saying, this should not have happened to you. There was no doubt he was angry, livid.
- [33:10]
Narrator/Storyteller
But now it was her old friend who was being accused of being a danger to patients. Kathy had to know Was any of it true? Within minutes, Kathy pushed open the door of Dr. Jimmy Biles clinic. He looked up as Kathy put three copies of the flyer down in front of him.
- [33:29]
Kathy Ewan
And I said, was this a joke? I said, if it is, it's not funny.
- [33:33]
Narrator/Storyteller
Dr. Biles read the note in silence.
- [33:37]
Kathy Ewan
I just felt so guilty maybe for being the one that brought him the bad news.
- [33:44]
Narrator/Storyteller
He stood up and shut the office door.
- [33:47]
Kathy Ewan
He just could not go out and face his patients knowing that probably some of them had seen that that day. It was like he just went numb when he saw that. I mean, I wanted to hug him because I knew how this would be, ripping him up. That story is not that man. Not the man I know. Not at all.
- [34:13]
Narrator/Storyteller
Later that evening, Dr. Biles called Kathy. The whole thing was still on his mind.
- [34:19]
Kathy Ewan
He said, I just want to let you know from my mouth that this did not happen. This is not real. I don't know where it's coming from.
- [34:31]
Narrator/Storyteller
Kathy didn't know who sent the letter, but whoever sent it, she felt like it wasn't just some kind of prank. CJ Baker had enough to go on for his story, which ran under the headline Doctor Disparaged.
- [34:47]
CJ Baker (Reporter)
It was kind of wild how many things in the flyer appeared to be completely false.
- [34:54]
Narrator/Storyteller
In the very same edition, Dr. Biles, in West Park Hospital bought an ad declaring that the accusations in the flyer were, quote, simply not true. But one mystery remained. Who was Rita, the patient whose name was on the flyer? CJ tried to track her down and came up empty until the day that Dr. Biles identified her in a lawsuit. She was a woman living more than a thousand miles away in Indiana. But that wasn't the only detail that caught CJ's attention. Dr. Biles claimed that she hadn't acted alone. She'd been working with someone else, a doctor, a doctor named John Schneider.
- [35:46]
CJ Baker (Reporter)
Once this complaint was filed and the allegations made that this was another medical professional who had been behind this whole disparagement campaign. I guess whatever you want to call what the flag flyer was certainly escalated the newsworthiness.
- [36:02]
Narrator/Storyteller
The allegation that Dr. Schneider had orchestrated the letter campaign hit the headlines. Schneider denied that he had anything to do with it. He launched a countersuit. Now it would be up to the courts to decide. Sitting in her rocker, the one that overlooked the mountains, Kathy Ewan's brow furrowed as she digested the news.
- [36:34]
Kathy Ewan
I was very puzzled about, why would Dr. Schneider do that? What was the why of that that drove him to go to such lengths? Who was Dr. Schneider? Really? Who was he really?
- [36:50]
Narrator/Storyteller
Kathy wasn't the only one. Other patients and their families would ask the same questions. Schneider, of course, had his own response. He says he had a highly successful career setting up medical practices and in Montana and Wyoming and making what he called significant contributions to the field of neurosurgery. And that success, he says, it made him, quote, a target for professional and personal attacks. Years later, in a blog post, he would set down his own version of who he was. This is not his voice, but they are his words.
- [37:39]
John Schneider (Dr. Death)
I've lived the life of Icarus. As with every hero's journey, the Greek tradition ends in tragedy. I have lived well and laughed at the lawyers, beating drums and soliciting my accusers, satisfied that they will never find peace. If their ancestors are in heaven or hell, I will find them and torment them as they have tried but failed to torment me.
- [38:04]
Narrator/Storyteller
John Schneider liked to write his own man as a Greek hero. But the reality about what kind of man he truly was and how far he was willing to go was only beginning to surface. Coming up this season on Dr. Death.
- [38:27]
Kathy Ewan
It's inexcusable. What he did I consider inexcusable, and I will never, ever, ever forgive him.
- [38:34]
Jerry Ewan
He was just one of the best.
- [38:37]
Narrator/Storyteller
Very easily, top 10%, very intense, kind
- [38:40]
Jerry Ewan
of like the fifth grade teacher that scares the shit out of you members of the committee.
- [38:46]
Narrator/Storyteller
Dr. Schneider never should have been hired to treat our veterans.
- [38:50]
CJ Baker (Reporter)
It's not a very long leap to think, how far could this go? He's hurting people. How far is the this guy willing to go to hurt us?
- [39:22]
Narrator/Storyteller
This has been an Audible original. I'm your host, Laura Beale. Executive producers are Russell Finch and Marshall Louie. Our senior reporter is Zachary Stouffer. Tom Wright is our senior producer. Our associate producer is Mohamed Ahmed. Joe Wheeler is the senior story editor. Senior development producer is Rachel B. Doyle. Our production managers are Cherie Houston and Sarah Mathis. Our associate director of production is Latha Pandya. Fact checking by Jacqueline Coletti. Sound design and mixing are by Nicholas Alexander and Mark Pittim. Sound supervisor is Marcelino Villapando. Music supervision by Scott Velasquez for Frison Sync Production services provided by novel. Executive producer for novel is Max o'. Brien.
- [40:23]
Narrator/Host (Laura Beale)
Audible subscribers can binge all episodes of Dr. Death the Cowboy wherever you get your podcasts or binge all episodes of Dr. Death the Cowboy ad free right now on Audible. Start your Audible subscription in the Audible app or on Apple podcasts.