Military Court Frees Jailed Navy Doctor : Heart Surgeon Was Convicted of Manslaughter in Patient Deaths

A military court of review has overturned the manslaughter conviction of Navy heart surgeon Donal Billig, clearing his release from prison, restoring back pay and reinstating him into the Navy, a Pentagon spokesman said today.

Billig, a Navy commander and former chief of heart surgery at Bethesda Naval Hospital, was convicted in March, 1986, on 2 counts of involuntary manslaughter, 1 count of negligent homicide and 18 counts of dereliction of duty. During his court-martial, he was described as technically incompetent, lacking in judgment and dishonest.

Navy Lt. Brian Cullin, a Pentagon spokesman, said a six-man panel of the U.S. Navy-Marine Corps Court of Military Review ruled unanimously that it “did not find sufficient evidence to dispel any reasonable doubt” and dismissed the charges.

“They were not satisfied by a reasonable doubt that the evidence in the record supported the findings of guilty,” Cullin said of the 20-page decision the court handed down Wednesday.

Cullin said Billig will be released from the military prison at Ft. Leavenworth, Kan., where he had been serving a four-year sentence, will be reinstated into the Navy with his rank of commander restored and will receive all back pay he had forfeited.

The government now has 20 days to file for a reconsideration before the same court of military review that overturned the conviction.

Elizabeth, N.J., Mayor Thomas Dunn testified at Billig’s court-martial that he was operated on by Billig in 1972 and that President Nixon had told him once that Billig “was the best in the business.”

Dunn said today: “That’s the best news I’ve heard in years. What a travesty of justice that was.”

During his monthlong court-martial, Billig attempted to prove that he was not only a competent surgeon, but also to disprove that his 20-400 vision hindered his ability to operate. At one point, Billig demonstrated his skills by sewing a piece of rubber glove to a sponge with 40 stitches.

Billig, 57, joined the Navy in 1982, shortly after being dismissed by a private medical group in Pittsburgh. He had been forced to leave the Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch, N.J., in 1980 after losing his operating privileges there.

Testifying at Billig’s trial were relatives of three of the patients who died while in Billig’s care.