Published: 2012-01-23 11:15:35
Author: Susan Frick Carlman
A Downers Grove man accused of overstepping his medical authority, after completing his sentence for the same offense less than two years ago, has passed away before the latest charges could bring him back to the court room.
Eugene L. Miller, 76, was scheduled to appear Tuesday morning for a jury trial before DuPage County Circuit Court Judge Blanche Hill Fawell on six counts related to allegations that he illegally presented himself as a physician. Miller faced four class 4 felony counts of practicing medicine without a license, a class 3 felony charge of theft by deception, and an additional related count.
Miller was sentenced in July 2005 to 30 months in prison and 30 months of probation after a plea arrangement resulted in his conviction on two counts of practicing medicine without a license and one count of theft by deception.
Authorities said Miller treated dozens of people for cancer and other ailments, although he had no license to do so.
According to then-State’s Attorney Joseph Birkett’s office, Miller’s activity initially was reported by a female patient who had been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. Informed by her medical doctors that they no longer could treat her illness through traditional medical means, she turned to Miller when an acquaintance provided his name. The woman underwent treatments several times in Miller’s apartment that included magnets, nebulizers and doses of “Doc Miller’s Classic Formula,” according to Birkett’s office. The woman’s elderly mother paid Miller $5,000 for the treatments, which were not effective in preventing her death.
In another case, a patient suffering from diabetes and chronic back pain paid Miller $3,250 for magnet therapy and magnetized water treatments. Miller was arrested after an undercover officer posing as a cancer patient secretly recorded conversations about medical treatment with Miller and paid him $2,500 for his services.
A former chiropractor, Miller lost his license in 1972 after improperly referring pregnant women to physicians providing abortion services prior to the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized the procedure 30 years ago, authorities said.
The date and cause of Miller’s death could not be immediately confirmed. Paul Darrah, spokesman for DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin, said the current case was closed Nov. 17.