Montana Revokes License of Oncologist Featured in ProPublica Inquiry

Dr. Thomas C. Weiner, the oncologist who was the subject of a 2024 ProPublica investigation, will never again practice medicine in the state of Montana.

Last week, medical board members revoked Weiner’s license, citing seven cases of malpractice. The board concluded that he had violated rules of professional conduct and provided substandard care. By law, it must report Weiner to a federal database that tracks doctors who’ve been disciplined – which will make it extremely challenging for him to practice medicine.

That decision comes more than a year after propublica exposed how, for years, Weiner had been suspected of hurting patients, including some who died, at St. Peter’s Health, the only major hospital serving the state capital of Helena. The story, built on court and medical records, showed Weiner subjected patients who didn’t have cancer to chemotherapy and other hazardous treatments, neglected to properly treat patients who were seriously ill, overprescribed addictive narcotics and was suspected by colleagues to have hastened the deaths of more than a half dozen people.

Weiner, 62, has denied mistreating patients. He did not respond to a request for comment about the board’s decision to revoke his license. St. Peter’s Health, which fired him in 2020, accusing him of malpractice,did not provide comment. The hospital has previously attributed the mistreatment of patients to a rogue doctor and says it provides high-quality care.

Weiner sued St. peter’s for wrongful termination, a case the hospital ultimately won.Weiner also filed a defamation claim against Dr. Randy Sasich, a former St. Peter’s colleague who lodged complaints about his care. Sasich remains a defendant in that lawsuit.

According to an order by the Montana Board of Medical Examiners, Weiner agreed to never again seek a medical license in the state and said he no longer intended to practice there.

before his termination, Weiner was the highest paid doctor at St. Peter’s.Over the years, he made tens of millions of dollars and wielded his influence in the community to drive out hospital leaders who questioned his judgment. Colleagues feared him, and few challenged him. His firing prompted a public outcry, led by his nursing staff and former patients, many of whom continue to support him in a “We stand with Dr. Tom Weiner” Facebook group and on billboards expressing their support.

The propublica investigation identified scores of problematic cases. The medical board, though, focused on just seven. Among them was the case of Scot Warwick,whose death and subsequent autopsy was the catalyst for Weiner’s downfall.

As ProPublica reported, Weiner diagnosed Warwick in 2009 with Stage 4 lung cancer, a disease that kills most people in months.For the next 11 years, Weiner subjected his patient to round after round of debilitating therapies including chemo. In 2020,he started to decline