From: dsholtsi@csl36h.csl.ncsu.edu (Doug Holtsinger)
Subject: Abortion doctor builds small empire through his practice 
Followup-To: talk.abortion
Reply-To: dsholtsi@csl36h.csl.ncsu.edu (Doug Holtsinger)
Organization: North Carolina State University
Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1992 23:51:43 GMT

The following article is about a North Carolina abortion doctor 
who was recently sentenced to jail for income tax evasion. The 
article contains some tidbits about the enormous profitability 
of his practice. What's interesting to note is that this doctor
started out offering a full range of obstetrical and gynecological
services at his clinic, but later he stopped doing obstetrics 
and concentrated on performing abortions.

The article contains allegations (among others) that he asked 
sedated patients to get up off the operating table and pay more 
money for the abortion after it's discovered that the patient is
further along upon examination. 

   ----
   Abortion Doctor's Empire Crashes 
   The Raleigh News and Observer,
   Saturday, October 3, 1992 reprinted w/o permission


   CHAPEL HILL -- For most doctors, performing abortions is  no  way
   to  make  a buck. The work is too fraught with protesters, teary-
   eyed patients and moral turmoil.

   But for Dr. William E. Brenner,  55,  director  of  the  Triangle
   Women's Health Center, doing abortions was a way to build a small
   empire.

   Profits from his successful clinic went into a $700,000  Hatteras
   yacht,  a  beachfront  condo in the Bahamas, office buildings and
   rental houses and empty lots waiting for development.  Some  went
   into an offshore bank account, shielded from the Internal Revenue
   Service.

   But on Sunday, he will report to the Cumberland  County  Jail  to
   begin  serving  a four-month sentence for federal income tax eva-
   sion. The Internal Revenue Service says the  Chapel  Hill  doctor
   and  former University of North Carolina professor owes more than
   $1 million in unpaid taxes, interest and penalties.

   Meanwhile, the state Board of Medical Examiners is  investigating
   allegations  that  Brenner  overstated  the  age of fetuses so he
   could overcharge women for abortions. As a result of that charge,
   or  his  felony  conviction,  the  board could revoke his medical
   license.

   For now, the clinic remains open, staffed by another physician.

   Dr. Takey Crist, a Jacksonville doctor who was on the faculty  at
   UNC-CH  during  Brenner's tenure there, watched as Brenner's life
   traced an arc from bright researcher to rich  doctor  to  federal
   convict.

   ``I can't judge Bill Brenner,'' Crist says. ``But I feel  like  I
   knew  him  and  what bothers me is -- Why? What happened to Bill?
   Can it happen to any of us? ... When something like this happens,
   it takes a little bit from all of us.''

   Abortion was part of Brenner's career even before it was legal in
   most states. While a professor at UNC-CH during the 1970s, he was
   known for his research on using prostaglandins, hormone-like sub-
   stances, to terminate pregnancy.

   He also studied fetal development, developing  with  his  mentor,
   Dr.  Charles  Hendricks,  a fetal-growth chart that obstetricians
   still use today. During his 12 years at UNC-CH, Brenner published
   more than 100 papers and traveled the world lecturing.

   ``He was a very bright, very articulate obstetrician-gynecologist
   who  did a lot of original research,'' Crist says. ``His patients
   liked him, the residents liked him, the students liked him.''

   But by the late 1970s, Brenner, who declined to  be  interviewed,
   was beginning to alienate colleagues in the department.

   In a letter asking a judge for leniency  in  sentencing  Brenner,
   Grover  C.  McCain  Jr.,  a  Chapel Hill lawyer, said Brenner was
   resented because he often testified against other  physicians  in
   malpractice suits.

   ``For this Bill has been punished by his colleagues  and  profes-
   sion,''  wrote  McCain,  who  declined  to  be  interviewed. ``It
   eventually led to a worsening of his relationship with the  then-
   chairman  of  the department and ... to Bill quitting his tenured
   position there to accept the chairmanship at  the  University  of
   Nevada.''

   Brenner left for Reno in late 1981, but he wasn't gone  long.  In
   the spring of 1982, he returned to Chapel Hill to open the Trian-
   gle Women's Health Center.

   In the early years, the health center offered  a  full  range  of
   maternity  and gynecological services. Brenner offered deliveries
   and routine gynecological care as well as abortions.

   But over time, abortion became a bigger  part  of  the  practice.
   Brenner  stopped  doing obstetrics. In November, Brenner said the
   clinic performed about 2,300 abortions the previous year,  making
   it one of the largest abortion providers in the Triangle.

   Patients have looked to the clinic as a safe, clean place to have
   an abortion. Its location on the fourth floor of a medical office
   building makes it a difficult target for pro-life protesters.

   The clinic's fees are a little lower than its  competitors:  $225
   for first-trimester abortions as opposed to $250 to $300.

   Court records show the practice was profitable. Between 1984  and
   1987,  gross  receipts  amounted to about $800,000 a year. During
   that time, Brenner received a salary of about $350,000, according
   to records.

   He had other income as well.

   Beginning in 1983, when his son, Billy,  took  over  as  business
   manager,  Brenner started to invest in real estate in the Caroli-
   nas and the Bahamas.

   Beverly Brenner, the doctor's ex-wife, says  she  and  her  then-
   husband  often  would  spend  10 days out of every month at their
   marble-floored beachfront condominium in the Bahamas.

   In 1986, Brenner cut his hours at the health center  and  started
   working  one  day  a week at the Fayetteville clinic. In 1987, he
   earned $66,000--more  than  $1,200  a  day--for  doing  abortions
   there.  All  the money was sent to a Bahamas bank account and not
   reported on Brenner's tax returns, according  to  court  records.
   The scheme would become the centerpiece of the IRS case.

   On March 1, 1988, Beverly Brenner  left  her  husband.  In  court
   records, she said Brenner was abusive.

   Friends of Brenner's say he was devastated by his  wife's  depar-
   ture.

   In a letter to the judge who sentenced  Brenner,  Dr.  John-Henry
   Pfifferling,  a friend, wrote, ``When Dr. Brenner's wife left him
   ... I was aware of the immense trauma it imposed on him.  He  was
   severely stressed and I was very concerned about him.''

   Soon after Mrs. Brenner left her husband, the IRS began an inves-
   tigation.  She  says  she  didn't  turn  her  husband in, but did
   cooperate with investigators.

   And information that came out during  their  lengthy  and  bitter
   divorce proceedings helped the IRS case.

   Divorce records reveal the scope of Brenner's holdings. In  1989,
   records  show  he  owned rental and undeveloped properties around
   the Triangle, a beach house in South Carolina, a condominium  and
   building lots in the Bahamas and lakefront property on Hyco Lake,
   North Carolina.

   A financial statement released  during  the  divorce  proceedings
   estimated  Brenner's net worth in 1988 at more than $3.2 million,
   Mrs. Brenner says.

   In 1990, as the IRS investigation intensified, the state  Depart-
   ment  of Human Resources suspended Brenner's abortion license for
   a month, citing staffing problems, improper disposal  of  aborted
   material  and overbilling of insurance companies. One patient was
   charged $320 for an abortion, according  to  department  records;
   her insurance company was billed $1,269.

   In addition, employees told investigators that  ``if  the  doctor
   determines  the  patient  to  be  further  along upon exam in the
   operating room, patients are then asked to get up from the  table
   and go to the front office to pay more money,'' after being given
   a sedative, according to agency records.

   In 1991, the IRS case came together and Brenner was  indicted  on
   two counts of tax evasion. In a related case, his son, Billy, was
   charged with trying to hide $136,700 from the IRS.

   Earlier this year, the doctor pleaded guilty and was sentenced to
   prison and fined $15,000. That's the sentence he will begin serv-
   ing at noon Sunday.

   Billy Brenner pleaded guilty in July 1991 and last month was  put
   on  three  years  probation--including  two  months  in a halfway
   house, followed by two months of house arrest.

   Beyond the criminal case is a thorny civil battle with  the  IRS,
   which claims the elder Brenner owes $1.3 million in unpaid taxes,
   interest and penalties.

   Publicity about Brenner's problems has led some local health care
   providers--including   the  UNC-CH  Student  Health  Service  and
   Planned Parenthood of Orange and Durham counties--to stop  refer-
   ring patients to his clinic.

   In addition, there is the problem with the state Board of Medical
   Examiners,  which  has  charged Brenner with ``regularly and con-
   sistently'' recording  advanced  ages  for  fetuses  he  aborted,
   allowing for overcharges.

   ``If anyone in the United States would know the age of a fetus by
   weight,  it  would  be  my father,'' Brian Brenner, who worked as
   marketing manager for his father, said in an interview in August.
   We  don't  have  any  incentive to overguess gestational age. The
   public trust is important to us.''

   Friends of Brenner's say they think the  federal  indictment  and
   other events have changed him.

   Two years ago he remarried. His wife had a  baby  girl  in  March
   1991.

   ``I believe he does recognize his errors,'' McCain wrote  in  his
   letter  to  the  judge,  ``and  I  also  believe  that he has re-
   dedicated his life to his new family and things non-material.''

   As news of Brenner's problems has spread through  the  community,
   friends  and former colleagues have wondered what happened to the
   promising young professor.

   ``I remember thinking that when Bill returned to Chapel  Hill  to
   open  his  medical practice he was a changed individual,'' McCain
   wrote. ``He seemed to have forgotten his loftier  goals  when  he
   was  pursuing  research  and  seemed concentrated on business and
   money.''

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