The Associated Press
VA doctor accused of conflict of interest
By Lisa Rathke
May 12, 2009

Federal prosecutors have filed conflict of interest charges against a VA hospital psychiatrist, alleging that he supervised contracts in which he had a financial interest.

Dr. William Weeks of Lyme, N.H., is accused of misconduct in five contracts between the White River Junction VA hospital and Dartmouth College. He acted as both a VA representative responsible for approving payments to Dartmouth and as Dartmouth’s principal investigator performing work on the contracts, prosecutors say. If convicted of the misdemeanor charges, he faces a year in prison and fines of up to $100,000 for each charge. He also faces up to $1.3 million in penalties in an 11-count civil complaint.

In court papers filed Friday, Acting U.S. Attorney Paul Van de Graaf said Weeks sought $1.1 million in contracts from the VA for Dartmouth, and then did the work for significantly less by hiring fewer people and at lower rates. An estimated $567,000 was left over and deposited into an account at Dartmouth in Weeks’ name.

Weeks also is accused of participating in other contracts with the VA and Dartmouth while holding the dual positions.

His lawyer, Robert O’Neill of Burlington, said Weeks did nothing wrong.

He was appointed to a position in the VA and simultaneously appointed to a position at Dartmouth, he said.

In August of 2003, he was contacted by one of his supervisors and asked to put together a contract to provide services related to evaluating a program on patient safety, O’Neill said. When the focus of the study changed, he returned the excess money, he said.

Weeks could not be reached for comment.

Knowing he was under investigation, Weeks sued federal officials on April 9. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for a warrantless search of his office and seizure of his computer hard drive, emotional distress and lost salary, and it demands that he be reinstated as director of the VA’s Rural Health Resource Center in White River Junction.

Weeks has suffered substantial economic loss and severe emotional distress, including clinical depression from the government’s improper and illegal actions, the lawsuit said. Weeks attempted suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning in May 2008 and was rushed to the hospital after his son found him unconscious, the lawsuit said. He was treated for four days in the psychiatric ward for severe depression, the lawsuit said.

Dartmouth, where Weeks serves as associate professor of psychiatry and of community and family medicine, and the VA Medical Center have declined to discuss the case, citing the ongoing litigation.

Dartmouth has a process that its researchers must follow when applying to receive outside grants or contracts, Van de Graaf wrote in his 16-page complaint. Proposals for such grants or contracts must be prepared by a principal investigator and approved by the head of the department where the research occurs.

Weeks, who started working at the VA as a physician in 1992, later worked on research and as an administrator of VA programs. He has become nationally known for his work in rural health care for veterans, said Andy Lacasse, a spokesman for the VA Medical Center.

His first court appearance has been scheduled for May 29.