Doctor Admits Inflicting Wounds on Self in Hoax

A California physician who appeared to have been beaten and shot before being dumped on a Glendale sidewalk “fabricated the entire incident,” including his disappearance almost a month ago, a police spokesman said today.

Dr. Robert McCormick, a prominent pediatrician in Redlands, Calif., was found by police Tuesday after a passer-by reported seeing him lying on a sidewalk in an industrial area.

He had no identification on him but identified himself to police after undergoing emergency surgery in Phoenix, said police spokesman Marshal Downen.

McCormick said he had no memory of events since Nov. 13, when he was discovered missing when Redlands police tried to contact him about a burglary at his office.

Today, however, Downen said McCormick admitted to police that his disappearance and apparent bullet wounds were part of a plan he had been working on for months.

The physician staged the burglary at his office in Redlands, motorcycled to Arizona and traveled around the state “looking for a site to be discovered as a victim of an abduction and attempted homicide,” Downen said.

Simulated Wounds

At a Glendale motel, McCormick bruised his skin with a grinding tool, then anesthetized his head and abdomen and jammed a rod into the areas to simulate gunshot wounds, Downen said.

He then inserted a .32-caliber bullet into the wound in his abdomen, Downen said.

McCormick walked to the Glendale site where he was found, injected himself with Demerol “to create a stuporous appearance,” bound himself and waited to be discovered, Downen said.

He said McCormick told police that he had been going through a divorce for two years.

He said his purpose was to receive disability insurance that would allow him to quit his medical practice and retain an income.