Doctor Who Reneged on Promise Must Pay $400,000

A former San Diego doctor who welshed on a $73,657 federal scholarship must now repay the government more than $400,000, a federal judge ruled Monday.

Judge Gordon Thompson Jr. of the U.S. District Court in San Diego entered a summary judgment against physician Gary Dean Hatcher, a former Santee resident who has moved to Modesto. Hatcher could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Hatcher received the four-year medical school scholarship in 1980 in exchange for his promise to practice in an area with a shortage of physicians for four years after graduation. But he balked when the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) assigned him to Texas rather than to the California locations he preferred, court documents show.

Under federal law, the government may collect treble damages for NHSC scholarship defaults. Since Hatcher must also repay the interest on the original scholarship, his total liability exceeds $400,000, according to Assistant U.S. Atty. Robert H. Plaxico.

Plaxico, who prosecuted the case, said he hopes the judgment deters other doctors in the program.

“If Dr. Hatcher had served his four years, he would not have owed the government a penny, but no, he chose not to, and so the penalties are entirely appropriate,” he said.

Hatcher argued in court that the NHSC discriminated against him by sending him information about potential assignments late. But Thompson blamed Hatcher for the confusion which led to the delay. Furthermore, “ . . . it was made clear to Hatcher from the beginning that he had no guaranteed right to placement in the location of his choice,” Thompson wrote in his opinion.

Last year, in an attempt to settle the suit, the NHSC offered Hatcher a choice of assignments if he would agree to serve out his obligation, according to Catherine A. Strohlein, head of the U.S. attorney’s debt-collection unit. But Hatcher refused, she said.

After the NHSC determines the precise amount of damages, Hatcher will have 60 days to appeal the decision, Strohlein said.

But eventually, he will have to pay, Plaxico said. “It’s a simple matter of an individual not being willing to return a quid pro quo. “