Judge Delays Court-Martial of Navy Doctor

A military judge ruled today that the Navy erred in its handling of the pretrial investigation of Dr. Donal M. Billig, a heart surgeon accused of manslaughter in the deaths of five patients.

The unexpected ruling means the Navy cannot proceed with Billig’s court-martial next month as it had planned. The judge, Lt. Col. Hugh S. Atkins, ruled that the Navy must appoint a new investigating officer to review the evidence in the case and once again formulate recommendations on the specific charges on which Billig should stand trial.

The ruling comes just four days after the Navy thought it had finally ended the legal jockeying over Billig’s court-martial. Last Thursday, the chief of the Naval Medical Command, Rear Adm. Joseph Cassells, formally proffered the five manslaughter charges against Billig.

The defense victory this morning can be traced to the manner in which the Navy initially brought charges against Billig, a 54-year-old physician who for more than a year served as the chief heart surgeon at the Bethesda Naval Hospital.

A Navy board of review recommended in June that Billig be court-martialed for negligence in the deaths of four patients. Similar charges involving a fifth patient were developed last month.

Billig’s defense attorneys successfully argued that under military law, he was entitled to a formal pretrial investigation and the right to cross-examine his accusers, and that the Navy could not rely solely on the review board’s report.