Opinion ID: 585038
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Amendment of Charges

Text: 59 Marrese discerns malice in the defendants' amendment to the charges pending against him two months before the Fair Hearing. According to Marrese, the defendants added the unprofessional conduct charges because they realized that by abandoning the cases in the InterQual study and reverting to the cases that had initially raised the audit subcommittee's concerns, the defendants were conceding the weakness of their case against Marrese and needed the new allegations to bolster their charges. However, Marrese admitted in the settlement agreement with Deaconess that he removed x-rays from Deaconess, and he admitted in a letter to the hearing panel that he verbally abused at least one member of the medical staff. Since Marrese cannot contest the truth of the matters on which the MSEC based its charges of unprofessional conduct, Marrese is arguing that despite their truth, amending the charges itself presupposes malice. Without any more than Marrese's speculation, we cannot agree. Superseding indictments are common in criminal law and do not indicate malice so much as a discovery of new evidence. Amending the charges against Marrese two months before the Fair Hearing to encompass charges based on his conduct subsequent to the first charge letter does not by itself presuppose malice.