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San Jose ALS fraud trial against physician

December 01, 2006

When Roger Parker of Simpson, La., was told by doctors at Tulane University in the fall of 2002 he had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, called Lou Gehrig's disease, he and his wife Barbara hoped for an alternative diagnosis.

An Internet search turned up similarities to symptoms of Lyme disease, and Barbara Parker spoke with family members in South Jersey who had suffered with that tick-borne illness.

They referred her to the Egg Harbor City doctor who had helped them, Charlene C. DeMarco, 44.

The physician talked about research she hoped to do with stem cells, using them to slow the progression of Roger Parker's disease.

"You would have to be in our family shoes to know how desperate we were. A lot of questions should have been asked,"
By RENEE WINKLER
Courier-Post Staff
CAMDEN

Barbara Parker testified Tuesday in the ongoing fraud trial of DeMarco and her assistant and housemate, Elizabeth Lerner, 38.

The two women are charged with conspiring to defraud families of patients by soliciting payment for stem cell treatment when they knew they had neither the ability to perform nor federal go-ahead for the procedure. They also are charged with money laundering.

In an opening statement to the jury Monday, Assistant U.S. Attorney R. Stephen Stigall said he will present evidence to show that DeMarco and Lerner diverted money paid by families of ALS patients to bank and money management accounts for their personal use. He did not include a total figure of the alleged fraud in his comments.

Parker, whose husband died Dec. 5, 2003, was the first victim of the alleged fraud to testify in the trial before U.S. District Judge Joseph H. Rodriguez.

Parker said DeMarco told her the procedure had two major obstacles -- obtaining the stem cells and winning approval from the federal Food and Drug Administration.

However, in May 2002 and again in July 2002, in a case involving another patient, DeMarco was notified by the FDA she could not proceed with clinical trials on stem cell use, according to the indictment against her and Lerner.

DeMarco also told Barbara Parker she would not ask to be paid for her services, but would have to pass on costs associated with obtaining and testing the cells before they would be injected.

DeMarco estimated the cost of each set of injections at $1,800, Parker testified, and said her husband might need 20 to 30 objections. Her husband "was discouraged at the cost," the witness said, but also said he told her, "Do it now. I'm going to die anyway."

In early April 2003, Barbara Parker got an e-mail from a jubilant DeMarco, saying she had received stem cells from a source in California.

In her last face-to-face visit with DeMarco on April 8, 2003. Barbara Parker went to the doctor's office, prepared to pay $1,800. Instead, DeMarco asked for, and received, a check for $5,190.

After the Parkers returned to Louisiana, DeMarco contacted them to say the FDA was not willing to approve her suggested process for a single patient. DeMarco asked if the Parkers knew of other people suffering with ALS.

Barbara Parker sent DeMarco the names and phone numbers of three people, two of whom allegedly paid DeMarco and Lerner $35,000.

Reprinted with Permission: Courier Post.