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We don’t usually accept these kinds of cases, but a friend and frequent co-counsel asked us for help and we felt strongly about this one… At the end of the day, we keep hearing that good trial lawyers should be able to try any kind of case, and we also felt like this would be consistent with our usual passion for defending good medical care and calling out those who try to interfere (in our other cases, usually an insurance-hired “expert” who gives incorrect testimony for money, but a little bit different in this case…).
Until 2022, Defendant Shan Hager ran a now-closed practice called “Answers to Health!” He called himself a “Functional Medicine Doctor” and a “Certified Chiropractic Clinical Neurologist,” but actually had no such certifications, other than a general chiropractic license. He’s since let his license expire to become a pastor.
Lenny’s partner started as Defendant’s front desk person in late 2019. In June of 2020, Lenny filled out some forms and gave a saliva sample for an unrelated test. He listed concerns about “Diabetes” (turns out it’s related to his family hx, but the form didn’t state that) and increased frequency urinating.
It’s disputed whether Defendant talked to Lenny in June, but undisputed that there was an unrelated visit in July. There was no documentation of any diabetes discussion, Defendant ordered a blood panel that would have shown diabetes. But there was no follow-up by anyone, and the test was never done.
In mid- to late August of 2020, Lenny texted a picture of a nonhealing ulcer to Defendant. Defendant said it looked like a diabetic ulcer and told Lenny to put some organic coconut oil on it, wrap it with non-stick gauze, and get a blood test.
Labs came back late August of 2020, showing Type II diabetes. Defendant told Lenny to go to urgent care, who said the prognosis was still good and told Lenny to start up with podiatry (wound care) and primary care. Lenny did both, and got a prescription for metformin from the excellent primary care provider he saw.
But on September 11, 2020, Defendant brought Lenny into his office for a “review of findings” to talk about the blood test. He had Lenny record it so he could go back and listen later. He told Lenny metformin has an increased risk of heart attack “massively,” that metformin has its own diagnosis code for “metformin induced heart attack” and that this is why he told Lenny partner “we need to get him off the sauce.” None of this was true.
From there, Defendant did everything he could to keep Lenny deathly afraid of metformin and other prescription medications for diabetes, having him come back to Defendant instead. Lenny would regularly report his qualified providers’ recommendations, and Defendant would talk him out of following them. Lenny new primary care provider even tried to call Defendant to talk about teaming up and caring for Lenny together. But when she called the Defendant, he berated her and talked down to her until she gave up and hung up.
On May 26, 2021, Lenny got a severe foot infection, had to be hospitalized, went on to have several foot surgeries and lose part of his left foot. But he also realized he’d been duped by Defendant and started taking care of his diabetes as recommended by his qualified providers.
Today, Lenny is doing great. His blood sugar is under control, and he has had no ulcers for about a year.
Attorneys Sean Dormer, Amy Rogers, and our co-counsel Sean Watkins took the case to trial in Boulder County District Court, before Judge Michael Kotlarczyk. It turned out to be a hard-fought trial against attorney Kari Hershey, an experienced local defense attorney. Trial lasted about a week and a half, with one afternoon interrupted by a snow closure. The jury deliberated for about 5 hours, and eventually returned a verdict in our client’s favor.
The verdict totaled $390,816.25, resulting in a judgment after interest of around $527k. Costs of up to $116k remain pending, our motion to increase the verdict remains pending, and the court also entered sanctions on a discovery issue in the amount of about $5,200.