Doc Gave Patients Recalled CPAPs ‘Fixed’ by His Own Children

Eric Haeger, MD, of Washington state, was sentenced to a year in prison for his role in a scheme involving recalled Philips breathing devices, federal prosecutors announced.

Haeger will also have to pay a $60,000 fine and nearly $350,000 in restitution, and he’ll have a year of supervised release once he’s released from prison, according to the press release.

Late last year, the family physician and sleep medicine specialist pleaded guilty to adulterating and misbranding medical devices with the intent to defraud or mislead. Prosecutors said that between July 2021 and July 2023, Haeger purchased over 500 used and recalled Philips continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) and bilevel positive airway pressure (BiPAP) devices through online resellers.

The devices had been recalled because the polyester-based polyurethane sound abatement foam could degrade and ultimately be breathed in by the user, and that it could also off-gas certain chemicals.

After he bought the recalled machines, he and others — including his own children — would open the devices, attempt to remove the foam using screwdrivers, hooks, and other tools, and put them back together, prosecutors said. They did this in locations that weren’t clean rooms.

Haeger would then provide the devices to Medicaid patients and staff at his clinic, Central Washington Medical Associates, would bill Medicaid under false pretenses that they were in good working order, prosecutors said. The Court concluded that Haeger had adulterated and distributed 440 devices, billing Medicaid more than $600,000 and ultimately being reimbursed almost $440,000.

“Putting recalled and unsafe medical devices into the hands of vulnerable patients is an egregious violation of the trust our healthcare system relies on,” Robb Breeden, special agent in charge of the Pacific Area Regional Office for the HHS Office of Inspector General, said in a statement. “Our investigation underscores a simple truth: when providers put profits ahead of patient safety, we will hold them accountable.”

Jeffrey Coopersmith, an attorney for Haeger, took issue with the government’s $440,000 reimbursement figure and said Haeger will repay $350,000 as he “takes full responsibility for not doing enough to ensure that Medicaid was properly billed.” Coopersmith also disputed feds’ statements that his client “put profits over patients.”

“Dr. Haeger has demonstrated over a long career that he cares deeply about his patients. Fortunately, there is no evidence in this case that anyone was harmed, which the government has admitted after an extensive investigation,” Coopersmith said in an email to MedPage Today.

Haeger “sought legal advice before modifying any devices and was told that he could do so after removing the sound-insulating foam, if in his medical judgment the patients needed devices,” he added.

Philips initiated the class I recall of more than 5 million CPAP and BiPAP devices in June 2021. Some 2 years later, the company announced problems with some of the replacement devices — including not delivering the appropriate therapy, and potentially overheating.

In April 2024, Philips was required to overhaul its manufacturing and quality control systems as part of a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice. That same month, the company said it would pay over $1 billion to settle hundreds of personal injury lawsuits involving the devices.