CBS News '48 Hours' features Dr. Anthony Garcia's quadruple murder case

Yesterday, CBS's "48 Hours: Resident Evil" featured the story of the two double murders in Omaha, Nebraska committed out of revenge by Dr. Anthony Garcia, which has infamously come to be known nationwide as the "Creighton killings."

Garcia was convicted last October of the two sets of double murders, involving ties back to his old medical residency program at Creighton University, and now awaits a hearing by a three-judge panel to determine if he will face the death penalty for his crimes.

Dr. Anthony Garcia ruled to be competent for death penalty sentencing, but court then grants defense a last minute postponement

Judge Gary Randall agreed again to delay Dr. Garcia's sentencing today

UPDATE: March 30, 2017

In a surprise, eleventh hour move today, Judge Gary Randall granted the defense a postponement of Dr. Anthony Garcia's death penalty hearing after Dr. Garcia's attorneys filed an emergency motion to discuss Anthony Garcia's mental competency.

Garcia's death penalty phase of his sentencing was to be heard by a three-judge panel today; however, Garcia's attorneys filed a last-minute emergency motion on Wednesday evening, arguing they needed more time to explore Dr. Garcia's history of mental problems as a mitigating factor against being sentenced for the death penalty.

Judge Randall called the latest move by Garcia's defense team "disturbing." However, he also said Garcia's rights to due process needed to be protected, so he begrudgingly appointed a statewide group of public defenders, the Nebraska Commission on Public Advocacy, to work with Garcia's defense team in the sentencing portion of his case. The Judge said reluctantly, "I'm going to go ahead and appoint the Commission of Public Advocacy."

Dr. Anthony Garcia's death penalty hearing likely delayed after Judge orders mental competency exam for 'Creighton Killer'

Convicted Creighton Killer, Dr. Anthony Garcia, sat in court catatonic, refusing to answer the Judge in court

Convicted murderer Dr. Anthony Garcia sat mute during a mandatory preliminary death penalty sentencing hearing this morning and remained non-responsive to any questions from the Judge or his legal team.

Judge Gary Randall ordered a mental evaluation for Dr.
Anthony Garcia before proceeding with the death penalty
phase of the Garcia murder trial

When Judge Gary Randall repeatedly asked Dr. Garcia questions during the hearing, Dr. Garcia simply remained silent throughout the entire hearing, rocking back and forth in his seat with his eyes gazing downward avoiding any eye contact with anyone in the courtroom.

“Dr. Garcia if you do not respond to me, you leave me with no choice but to follow the third thing we discussed at the hearing last week [sic] was to have you sent to the Lincoln Regional Center to determine whether or not you’re competent,” Judge Randall said in court.

After getting no response from the defendant, the Judge then promptly ordered Dr. Garcia for another mental evaluation at the Lincoln Regional Center to determine if he is competent to take part in the death penalty phase of his murder trial.

Garcia had already refused to attend a sentencing hearing in person last week in Douglas County.

His legal team asserts that Garcia's catatonic behavior today is similar to what they experienced with the convicted murderer for months when they tried to meet with him in confidence to discuss issues before the court. Apparently, Dr. Garcia had not even spoken at all to his attorneys during his 3 1/2-week quadruple murder trial.

Dark secrets in Dallas, part I: Nebraska Medicine's PM&R chairman and his hidden past of Medicare fraud in Texas

Dr. Samuel Bierner during his time at Parkland Hospital
and UT Southwestern when the feds, news media, and  
medical board were coming down on him and four other 
UTSW PM&R faculty members over charges of Medicare 
fraud and patient endangerment

In September of 2016, we uncovered a very big scandal brewing at Nebraska Medicine involving its recently appointed chairman of its fledgling Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation department (PM&R), Dr. Samuel Michael Bierner of Elkhorn, and his secretive, dark and enigmatic history, back at his old haunts at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, Texas.

Parkland is best known as the hospital where President John F. Kennedy was brought after he had been fatally shot in the head by a sniper's bullet on November 23, 1963 in Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas.

Kennedy died shortly after arriving at the hospital, and it is no secret that the Kennedy's top aides and Secret Service detail had a very violent tussle with Parkland's medical staff in the aftermath of the President's death over who had legal jurisdiction over performing an autopsy on the President's body. (See video below on Parkland the movie.)

From what we have learned since those articles about Dr. Bierner last September and October from our inside sources, what we've shown so far is only the tip of the iceberg on his deeply troubled past as a physician in Texas, which included an on-going investigation by the state's medical board.

Opening of new CUMC University Campus downgrades trauma services of the old Creighton University hospital after struggling to maintain its trauma rating for years

The second floor of the new community health center offers only outpatient medical services

Creighton University Medical Center (CUMC), formerly known as the old St. Joseph Hospital, will soon close its doors in August 2017, but a new, scaled-back, 86,000-square-foot, $36.5 million community health center at 24th and Cuming Streets, which opened this past week, will kind of take its place.

CUMC (formerly known as St. Joseph Hospital) is closing its doors in August,
but its replacement is curiously scaling back medical services from its previous
inpatient trauma designation

The newly dubbed CHI Health University Campus at 2412 Cuming Street opened its doors for the first time Monday morning to some confusion and questions from the public.

The old CUMC was a full service, inpatient trauma center that at times struggled to maintain its Level-1 Trauma certification from the state's Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS.)

Back on October 21, 2014, the DHHS denied the hospital an application for Level-1 Trauma designation, citing CUMC for safety deficiencies in meeting four areas of comprehensive patient care standards: 1) clinical capabilities in general surgery, 2) clinical qualifications in neurosurgery, 3) clinical capabilities in orthopedic surgery, and 4) having enough verified or equivalent registered nurses or trauma nurses staffed in the emergency department.

Nebraska Medicine is expanding its emergency medicine department

The ER at the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, NE

Nebraska medicine announced plans on Wednesday to begin a $2.2 million expansion of Nebraska Medical Center's current emergency department, starting on January 3rd.

Dr. Michael Wadman, chairman of the emergency medicine department at the
University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, NE

The expansion is intended to accommodate an anticipated increase in patient volume as Omaha's population ages.

The medical center will add seven private exam rooms, extra workstations, and complete minor upgrades to eight existing critical-care emergency department rooms at the Nebraska Medical Center emergency department. The medical center also plans to add two emergency room doctors and several nurses to its existing staff.

Existing administrative office spaces, a staff lounge, and a conference room in the current facilities will be demolished to make room for the expansion.

Existing patient care areas will not be affected during construction, and the expansion construction project is expected to wrap up by early June.

"The timing is right," said newly appointed University of Nebraska Medical Center's emergency medicine chairman Dr. Michael Wadman, M.D. “The ED expansion will allow us to accommodate an anticipated increase in patient volume over the next several years. Our mission is to provide timely, high quality emergency care for all of our patients, and this project will provide the space we need.”

Officials designate Omaha, NE as possible flashpoint for the next impending zombie apocalypse

Government officials have designated Omaha as a dumping ground for taking people infected with BSL-4 agents

An emergency medical drill took place on Friday, designating the City of Omaha as one of only a handful of cities across the nation willing to accept multiple patients infected with the world's most deadly contagious infectious diseases.

Nebraska Medicine's willingness to take in more than one patient at a time infected
with a BSL-4 agent is taking a big risk of losing containment of the contagion

It sounds like a science fiction fantasy scenario of the beginning of the next zombie apocalypse as seen on TV shows like The Walking Dead, but as one of only a handful of bio-safety level 4 (BSL-4) containment centers around the world willing to take in more than one patient infected with the world's most deadly infectious diseases at a time, Omaha may be a likely potential flash point or hot zone for the spread of the next global pandemic of epic proportions.

Only two years ago, Omaha's Nebraska Medicine was on the front lines taking in and treating patients from West Africa infected with the deadly Ebola virus during the worst outbreak of the virus in recorded history. Three patients diagnosed with the virus were brought into Omaha, and two survived. Luckily for us, the virus didn't break containment.

Jury says 'Creighton killer,' Dr. Anthony Garcia, eligible for death penalty

Dr. Anthony Garcia is eligible for the death penalty for his crimes

Update 11/9/16:

A historic election that swept underdog Presidential candidate Donald Trump into office, also overwhelmingly reinstated the death penalty in the State of Nebraska yesterday, nullifying a previous repeal of the death penalty in 2015 by the state legislature.

Much like the Trexit rebuke that swept across the state and the nation, the Rust Belt carried the initiative by a 4 to 1 margin outside Lincoln and Omaha.

That means the Supreme Court will assemble a three-judge panel to determine if Dr. Anthony Garcia will receive the death penalty, expected some months down the line, for committing two double-murders in the "Creighton murders" from 2008 and 2013.

Original Article:

A Douglas County jury reconvened for only 45 minutes today to determine if there were aggravating factors in Dr. Anthony J. Garcia's murder case to make him eligible for the death penalty.

Jury finds Dr. Anthony Garcia guilty on four counts of first-degree murder

Dr. Anthony Garcia was found guilty on four counts of first-degree murder by
a jury today at 1:30 p.m. and first death penalty phase hearing will start Friday

Of late, we have not been reporting a lot of positive and uplifting stories from the medical field in the Omaha area as we had originally intended when we first created this blog back in 2013.

The sordid stories of intrigue, controversy, and scandals coming out of the medical profession in Omaha in recent months simply haven't fit that bill for what we intended to highlight as the best aspects of the medical profession, especially for the community in a quiet and squeaky-clean Mid-Western town, like Omaha, Nebraska, nestled in the heartland of America.

Frankly, some of these disturbing stories reported in recent months have simply been black eyes on the medical profession in the Omaha metro area, but for better or worse, the it is what it is, and we still have to report on it.

Dr. Travis Teetor named Young Physician of the Year by Nebraska Medical Association

Dr. Travis Teetor named NMA's Young Physician of the Year

Anesthesiologist, Dr. Travis Teetor, M.D., of Boys Town National Research Hospital, was named the 2016 Nebraska Medical Association's (NMA) Young Physician of the Year.

Dr. Teetor was nominated by the Metro Omaha Medical Society and awarded on September 16, for his contributions to the medical profession in the Nebraska area.

Dr. Teetor continues to be an active advocating force in the medical field, sharing his knowledge of medicine and advocating his views on public health with patients, peers, and community health organizations.

He obtained his Bachelor of Science in Education with degrees in both Exercise Science and Athletic Training from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, graduated medical school and completed his residency training at University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC.)

Dr. Teetor is board certified in both anesthesiology and pediatric anesthesiology.

Nebraska Medicine holds drill for an inevitable disaster scenario in Omaha: a mass shooting event

Actors posing as mass casualty victims at the Doubletree Hotel help out in a frightening drill for Nebraska Medicine

Nebraska Medicine held a drill to prepare for a growing, frightening, and very real phenomenon that's happening all across the nation, an act of terrorism, which even a quiet Mid-Western town, like Omaha, isn't immune to these days.

The drill was held to prepare Omaha for another worst
case scenario

Hundreds of doctors, nurses, and staff from Nebraska Medicine attended a seminar and practice drill at the Doubletree Hotel to simulate exactly such an event on Friday to prepare for such a worst-case scenario.

The possibility is very real these days, even in Omaha, because it's happened before even in a city as quiet and serene as Omaha, Nebraska.

In 2007, one such event occurred at the von Maur Mall where an active shooter left nine people dead in a deadly shooting spree.

"Doing a drill is the best way to prepare everyone for the real-life event," said trauma program coordinator Ashley Emmel. Those who attended went through scenarios that showed the real-life struggles that could one day be back on their doorsteps.

"There wasn't a lot of practicing," said Emmel. "This is what it would look like. Of course, the victims will be praying and screaming and asking you to help them."

The drill was organized by Emmel and is a reminder to everyone to prepare for a new wave of very disturbing mass casualty events that is not only a recent national phenomena, but one that has become more and more a global one that could happen anywhere in the world.

As Madonna Rehab Hospitals holds grand opening of its new Omaha campus, controversy still swirls around new UNMC PM&R chairman's troubled past in Texas

A little over two years after breaking ground on Sept. 4, 2014, construction on Madonna Rehabilitation Hospitals new $93 million campus in Omaha is now officially completed, and the hospital is ready for business.

Madonna's grand opening celebration on Thursday kicked off with
only one glitch on Thursday: How will they address UNMC
founding PM&R chairman Dr. Samuel Bierner's (seen on
the left) scandalous past?

So hospital officials hosted a private grand opening event and ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday for the Omaha metro area's first and only hospital dedicated entirely to rehab care at its newest location across from the Village Pointe Shopping Center at 17500 Burke Street, located just south of 175th and Dodge.

Self-guided tours were provided to former patients, Madonna staff, and state and local dignitaries who attended the grand opening event on Thursday morning.

Just before the ground breaking on the new facilities in 2014, Madonna Rehabilitation Specialty Hospital opened a 32-bed unit on the fourth floor of Nebraska Medicine-Bellevue to address the acute inpatient rehab needs of hospitalized patients with complex medical conditions who were ready to be discharged from the hospital but not quite ready to take care of themselves at home.

Madonna plans on merging the 32-bed unit at Bellevue into its new campus after the Omaha campus officially opens.

Texas Medical Board investigation about Kowalske, Bierner, Gabriel, Hudak, and Knapton by Michel Schwalbe