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Trust is the foundation of medicine. When we're at our most vulnerable, we place our lives in the hands of doctors, nurses, technicians, and pharmacists—believing they'll do everything in their power to help us heal. But what happens when that sacred trust is betrayed on a scale so massive it defies comprehension?
This is the story of Robert Courtney, a respected Kansas City pharmacist whose actions shattered the lives of thousands. Over nine years, Courtney systematically diluted nearly 100,000 doses of chemotherapy and other critical medications for over 4,200 patients. These weren't minor adjustments—many contained less than 30% of the prescribed medication, and some contained none at all. While cancer patients fought for their lives, receiving what they believed was life-saving treatment, Courtney was secretly replacing their medicine with saline solution and pocketing millions.
The case broke when Dr. Verda Hicks, a brilliant gynecologic oncologist with 30 years of experience, noticed something strange: her patients weren't experiencing the typical side effects of chemotherapy. No hair loss, minimal nausea. Working with a pharmaceutical representative who noticed billing discrepancies, Dr. Hicks ordered tests on medications from Courtney's pharmacy, uncovering the horrifying truth. She immediately reported her findings to the FBI, kickstarting an investigation aptly named "Diluted Trust." Through a carefully orchestrated sting operation, agents caught Courtney red-handed, delivering IV bags with his initials that contained only a fraction of the prescribed medication—and one with no medication at all.
The human toll is immeasurable. Georgia Hayes, who became the face of patients harmed by Courtney, received 27 doses of diluted chemotherapy. Experts testified she had missed her optimal window to beat cancer. Countless families were left wondering: Could my loved one have survived with proper treatment? Was their suffering prolonged? Did they die sooner than necessary?
Despite being sentenced to 30 years in federal prison in 2002, Courtney was released to home confinement in August 2024 through credits earned via the First Step Act—a decision that has reignited outrage among victims' families who continue pushing for murder charges. As one family member asked, "What is the difference between withholding life-saving medication and shooting someone with a gun?"
Have you ever wondered how far someone might go for profit? How vulnerable we truly are when seeking medical care? Join us as we examine this case that continues to raise profound questions about trust, justice, and the value of human life.
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segue into what we got this week.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Hey, you know what?
I got this?
I got this, guys.
If y'all know me, I'm a talker,so let's do this.
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Okay, all right.
So for today's episode thereare no trigger warnings.
I used a gazillion references.
They will all be listed in theshow notes and I guess no time
(03:09):
like the present.
Let's get into it, let's go.
Dr Verda Hicks, formerly DrHunter, is an OBGYN who
specializes in gynecologiconcology.
She has an extensiveeducational history.
She attended medical school atthe University of Illinois
College of Medicine at Chicago,completed a residency in
(03:32):
obstetrics and gynecology atMedStar Union Memorial Hospital,
with one of those years spentat MedStar Health Georgetown
University Washington HospitalCenter in Baltimore.
She then completed a three-yearfellowship in gynecologic
oncology at Duke UniversityHospital.
She has held state medicallicenses in five states, with
(03:54):
two still active in New Jerseyand Missouri.
She is board certified inobstetrics and gynecology, as
well as gynecologic oncology.
She has nearly 30 years offull-time experience at private
and employed practices in KansasCity.
She has held faculty positionsat both the University of Kansas
and University of Missouri,kansas City.
(04:15):
She closed out her career asdirector of gynecologic oncology
for Healthcare Corporation ofAmerica Hospital System in
Kansas City, followed by asimilar position in Hackensack
Meridian Health System in NewJersey.
Throughout her extensive careershe has been an active
committee board member forAmerican College of Obstetrics
(04:36):
and Gynecology, acog, includingthe Society of Oncology, sccp
and American College of Surgeons.
She received the ACOGDistinguished Service Award and
served as chair of the District7 and in other leadership roles.
Her academic career is filledwith professional presentations
and publications, with themajority of her work centered on
(04:59):
pre-invasive vulvar, vaginaland cervical disease.
Her additional trainingincludes certification of
business and medicine from JohnHopkins University, leadership
training at the Cefalo Collegeat UNC School of Medicine and
physician leadership graduate ofMoCosti.
(05:23):
Oh, my goodness, overachievemuch so.
Basically, we've set the sceneright.
We are talking about one badassmama woman who was adored by
her patients and their families.
It was honestly empowering toresearch her.
I'm like go queen, yes, um, Ican see why patients loved her.
I I feel like I love her.
I don't even know her.
(05:46):
Leanne Lance Dillman was one ofDr Hunter's many patients.
She was diagnosed with breastcancer in February of 1994.
At only 37 years old.
She first had surgery, followedby six months of chemotherapy,
which would include one oralpill a day and regular infusions
.
She fought the hard fight andfinally heard the words everyone
(06:07):
wants to hear you're inremission.
Carol Labruzzo was a spunkywoman, full of energy and a
loving mom to two daughters,vicky and Christina.
Described by family as theireverything and a tough cookie,
she was diagnosed with breastcancer at the age of 62 in
September of 1995.
(06:29):
She said to her daughter shewould quote fight the fight for
her girls.
End quote.
And she became a patient of DrHunter.
She fought the hard fight forfive years but the cancer
unfortunately metastasized intoher bones and the cancer would
unfortunately take her life.
Family of Pat Rithers notedthat they fell in love with Dr
(06:49):
Hunter upon meeting her.
They trusted her with her life.
Pat was diagnosed with uterinecancer at age 70.
She had been healthy and veryactive her entire life, so the
diagnosis came as a shock to thefamily.
Dr Hunter performed surgery andthen prescribed chemotherapy
treatments to improve quality oflife and hopefully buy her some
more time.
As Pat began her chemotherapytreatments, she was amazed at
(07:12):
how well she felt.
She was mentally prepared tofeel sick, weak and sluggish,
but she had none of those sideeffects.
She didn't even lose a singlehair on her head.
Three weeks into treatment, shestill had no side effects.
Dr Hunter had to share thehorrible news that the drugs had
not worked at all and that thecancer had spread significantly.
Her body was beginning todeteriorate and by May of 2001,
(07:37):
her cancer had spread to hercolon and liver and she was
wasting away to almost nothing.
When she arrived for treatment,there was a sign on the door
that the pharmacy was closed andshe would need to report to the
hospital for treatment.
After receiving treatment inthe hospital, she began to lose
her hair and was very sick.
It wasn't only Pat who wasexperiencing wasn't experiencing
(07:59):
illness or hair loss.
And oh you guys, I forgot tomention another award that Dr
Hunter received.
She was given the FBI's 2001Director's Community Leadership
Award for initiating thecriminal investigation into a
pharmacist charged with dilutingchemotherapy drugs for cancer
(08:20):
patients.
Oh man, so let's really getinto it now.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Oh boy.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Robert Ray Courtney
was born on September 15th 1952
in Hays, kansas.
He graduated from the School ofPharmacy at University of
Missouri, kansas City, in 1975.
In 1992, he and his first wifedivorced and he retained custody
of their two daughters.
As part of their divorceagreement, he paid her a lump
(08:51):
sum of $196,000.
He promptly began wooing anattractive woman he had known
since childhood, who at the timelived in Detroit.
When she came to visit him, heoffered the keys to his
ex-wife's Jaguar and showeredher two sons with gifts.
Two months into theirrelationship, he presented her
(09:11):
with a four-carat diamond ringand she agreed to marry him.
Just after Christmas that yearhe talked her into eloping His
second wife, who has agreed tobe interviewed, but always the
stipulation of not being namedcame to regret.
Her decision.
Gross, oh wow.
He annulled the marriage a fewmonths later and then two years
(09:49):
later, in 1994, he married histhird and much younger wife,
laura Brau.
Together they had twins.
Laura signed a prenuptialagreement and the two remain
married today.
That's just a brief backgroundon his home life, but we're
going to swing on back to 1988when he became the owner of
Research Medical Tower Pharmacyin Kansas City.
(10:13):
The pharmacy was located withinResearch Medical Center, which
was really convenient to have apharmacy located directly in the
hospital.
Robert Courtney's pharmacy hadmany contractual agreements with
providers and clinics withinthe facility.
Dr Verda Hunter was among manyof the providers who developed a
working relationship withRobert.
He would physically mix all thecompounds that were needed for
(10:35):
treatment of Dr Hunter'spatients, which was a huge
advantage for her and thembecause they could readily
receive chemotherapy in thebuilding in her infusion center.
When patients arrived forinfusions the prescription was
sent to the pharmacy where theywere hand-mixed and walked
directly over to the patients,sometimes by the pharmacist
(10:56):
himself.
Robert Courtney was a verywell-respected individual in the
Kansas City area.
He would often spend timeshooting the breeze with
families as he walked over theirIV drugs To his fellow
pharmacists in the Kansas Cityarea.
He was a respected, well-knownfigure who was active in
professional trade groups butnoted to be serious and quiet.
He was a pioneer among KansasCity pharmacists that were
(11:19):
dealing with cancer drugs.
Nurses were anxious to handlechemotherapy drugs I mean
naturally and Robert Courtneyknew it was a need that he could
confidently fill.
He was among the firstpharmacies in the metropolitan
area to mix drug compounds anddeliver them to the doctor's
office in a ready-to-use form.
Daryl Ashley was the seniorexecutive sales representative
(11:42):
for Eli Lilly's PharmaceuticalCompany.
Daryl specialized in oncologydrug therapies for a variety of
different cancers.
His job was to present clinicalinformation to the doctors
regarding the drugs in order tohelp their patients.
Taxyl and Gemzar were two of themain drugs that Dr Hunter used
in the treatments for herpatients.
Taxyl and Gemzar are the tradenames for medicines mixed in
(12:06):
solutions that are givenintravenously.
They are used mainly forcertain types of ovarian, lung
and pancreatic cancers.
When Daryl was at RMC andtalking with the nursing staff,
they reported to him that DrHunter's patients were not
seeing the hair loss with thetaxyl regimens and no nausea or
vomiting with the genzar regimen.
(12:27):
Daryl thought singly this wouldbe okay, because not everyone
experiences sickness or hairloss, but the fact that it was a
group of people that were notthat was concerning Chemotherapy
.
Drugs kill fast-growing cancercells, but can also affect
healthy cells in the process.
The damage to the healthy cellsis what causes the side effects
of hair loss, nausea andvomiting.
(12:49):
Gemsar works by killing anycells that are dividing, and
cancer cells divide rapidly.
It can be used alone or as acombination therapy.
It's not a cure for cancer.
Rather, it would give peopletime and good time.
Hopefully, gemszar resulted infewer side effects for patients.
However, the fact that therewere numerous patients without
(13:10):
any of the symptoms his redflags were raised and he
inquired about where they weregetting the drug treatments.
He was concerned that patientsmay not be getting a full dosage
of the medication.
He asked nursing staff how thepatients were reacting to the
medications.
Had they been on othermedications before?
How did they react to those?
What was it being usedalongside with?
(13:31):
People should be getting sickand should be losing their hair
not just the thinning of thehair, but losing it.
That is the way this particulardrug is designed.
One nurse commented that toDaryl that he should be so
excited because they're using somuch of his drugs.
While this could seem excitingfrom a business perspective,
(13:51):
daryl knew that the numbers werenot adding up.
He learned that they wereutilizing the pharmacy within
RMC.
He requested and received autilization report to look at
how much Gems R Tower Pharmacywas buying, and it showed that
Robert Courtney was buying farless than what he was selling.
It looked as though Robert wasgiving patients a deal and that
(14:13):
he was actually losing money.
The numbers looked like thisEli Lilly was selling the drug
for $73 to the pharmacy.
Robert was selling it to thepatients for $63, but we must
also remember that he'sproviding the tubing, the saline
and everything else that goesalong with an infusion.
This seemed to confirm Daryl'ssuspicion that he had had really
(14:35):
for the past year.
Later, when Dr Hunter was free,she called Daryl and asked what
he was discussing with thenursing staff.
He told her that it was justspeculation at this point, but
he had a strong suspicion thatthe pharmacist might be diluting
Gemsar medications, given theirlack of hair loss and sickness,
which are very common sideeffects.
(14:56):
If the drugs are dilutedthey're not getting proper
treatment of the drug.
He also told her that henoticed a discrepancy between
the amount of drugs ordered andthe amounts being billed.
Dr Hunter took action byordering tests on medications
that were supplied by Robert.
She got the test results backthat the medication had only 30%
(15:17):
potency from what she hadordered.
She immediately stopped usingRobert Courtney's pharmacy and
partnered with another.
She subsequently had the nursesin her office begin training on
compounding of the drugs, to bedone in-house.
Dr Hunter knew that she couldnot stay silent about this and,
after consulting with her lawyer, she reported Robert Courtney
(15:39):
to the FBI and on July 27th aninvestigation was started.
The investigation was namedDiluted Trust Aptly.
I might say oh my gosh, beforewe get more into that, it's time
for a chart note.
Chart note Ooh, that was nice.
Welcome to the chart notesegment, where we learn about
(16:02):
what's happening in medicine andhealthcare.
And healthcare, all right.
I found an article from earlierthis month about Tampa General
using technology to broaden thescope of viable organ donations.
Which kind of fitting after ourorgan talk last week.
But this is for good.
This is good.
Doctors at Tampa GeneralHospital are using advanced
(16:25):
technologies to improve organtransplants, leading to better
outcomes.
The OrganOxMetra is a deviceused for organ perfusion which
mimics the body to keep organsalive, like livers functioning
outside of the body for longer.
This gives surgeons more timeto assess organ viability and
prepare patients properly,reducing the need for emergency
(16:47):
late-night surgeries.
In addition, paragonixLiverGuard, a
temperature-controlled transportdevice, extends the time that a
liver can remain viable duringtransport far beyond traditional
coolers.
By using both technologies, thehospital has increased
transplant success rates and seta world record.
(17:08):
I don't know why I said worldrecord.
I didn't write world record.
It might be a world record, butit's certainly a record, with
over 700 transplants in 2023 and889 completed in 2024.
Holy moly, that's so many.
That sounds like so many.
Tampa General Hospital isranked number one in the US for
(17:29):
transplant volume in 2024,performing that record-breaking
889 transplants in a single year.
Celebrating the 50thanniversary of its Transplant
Institute, tgh now has completedover 14,000 transplants since
1974 and remains the onlyhospital in West Central Florida
(17:50):
offering all five adult organtransplants.
Key to this success is TGH'suse of organ perfusion
technology, especially theOrganox Metra which is actually
super cute, you guys shouldGoogle it and, as mentioned, it
keeps donor livers functionaloutside of the body, enabling
longer preservation, betterassessment and even real
(18:12):
rehabilitation of previouslyunusable organs.
This innovation has contributedto a 33 increase in liver
transplants and has made them aglobal leader in normal thermic
machine perfusion.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
First of all, it
seems like you were right about
the global.
The second of all, thank you somuch, for we need to Google
this organ perfusion devicebecause it's so cute.
It's cute.
Can you elaborate what it's?
Speaker 1 (18:45):
cute about.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
It looks like a
little I can think of a lot of
things, things, but cute.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
Um, well, first of
all, I love the color scheme.
It's white and orange.
Um, it's kind of like thislittle white box with a little
bit of orange detailing on it.
I don't know, it just lookedlike a little cute box that
keeps like livers and organsalive.
I guess like, um, okay, cute issubjective.
Oh, maybe you guys won't thinkit's cute no, I think you know
(19:10):
what.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Let's post on our,
our socials, and see what our
listeners think um poll.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
Do you think this is
cute?
I was the person, though, that,when we got the skull simulator
for the verifit, I was likethis thing is adorable.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
It looks like a
little robot it does look like,
so if you guys don't know what askull simulator is.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Also, you should
really look that up because it
looks so cute I love it.
You're such a nerd so, anyway,I saw this article and I was
like, well, that's kind offitting.
So we, so we just talked aboutblack market organs and body
parts and this is like, yay,people are keeping organs alive
longer to save lives.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
Yes, no, this is the
highly regulated part, but yes,
um, and that's wonderful, uh,especially since they can, it
seems like they can take somedonations that may not have been
viable.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Yes.
Uh, otherwise that's what I wasgoing to say.
I thought that was the neatpart.
Yeah, yes, otherwise, that'swhat I was gonna say.
I thought that was the neatpart.
Yeah, because then you don'thave to like, go through surgery
.
It's only gonna you end upfinding out, it's only gonna
last you a little bit and thenyou're back on transplant list.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Right, well, and
let's chip away at those lists,
because I mean, yeah, that's whythe whole international organ,
you know, illegal organ marketexists is because you know, if
you're rich enough and the listis long enough, you go, you go
elsewhere, you go underground,so um, so yeah, the more we can
(20:39):
do, the better.
So good for TGH.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Go.
Tgh, keep doing what you do.
Tgh, keep doing what you do.
Okay, back to the story.
The FBI hoped that this was anerror and that it could all be
explained away, because apharmacist wouldn't do this to
patients, right?
Dr Hunter brought severalsamples to the FBI and they were
(21:02):
then sent to the National FDAlab in Cincinnati, ohio.
Of the seven samples, theyfound that they had only
anywhere between 17 and 39percent of what the actual drug
should have had.
None of the samples had thepotency that they should have,
which meant that no one got evenhalf of the dosage that they
(21:22):
were prescribed.
Hunter said that several of herpatients had died, but that it
would be nearly impossible totell if they had died from the
cancer or if they had diedsooner and perhaps did not beat
the cancer due to the tamperedmedications.
The FBI knew then that theymight have a mass murderer on
their hands and that they'd needto do whatever possible to stop
(21:42):
Robert Courtney.
Melissa Osborne, a pharmacistand retired special agent with
the FBI, noted that if RobertCourtney would have mixed the
drugs the way that they wereprescribed, it would have cost
around $3,000.
The amount of chemotherapy thathe actually put in cost around
(22:07):
of chemotherapy and split itbetween three prescriptions,
then sold them to the oncologistfor the same price as a full
dose.
This wasn't just scamming andtrying to make a large profit.
This was affecting people'slives.
The FBI felt a strong sense ofurgency to stop him and knew
that he was a danger to publicsafety, which thank you, because
(22:30):
in cases that we've coveredbefore, it's like well, we can't
really prove that he's a dangerto society.
He's just an idiot.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
It's like no, this
guy's calculated, he knows what
he's doing I love how theyjumped to murder, like they
didn't mess around.
They were like we see wherethis is.
Yeah, it's not just uh, yeah,yeah good for them.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
On August 7th 2001,
11 days after the start of the
investigation, the FBI thoughtthat they had enough evidence
with the diluted samples, sothey went to the US Attorney's
Office for the next steps.
They were informed that theydidn't have what a judge would
call probable cause to get asearch warrant or to bring him
in, because they had no chain ofcustody for the samples that
(23:10):
were brought in.
They had to bring in samplesthat were directly made by him
because at this point theycouldn't prove that they weren't
made by someone else.
They needed to show personalresponsibility, which I get it,
but JFC.
Dr Hunter agreed to participatein a sting operation to
expediently prove Robert'stampering with her prescriptions
(23:30):
.
She sent orders for fictitiouspatients to him to make
chemotherapy IVs for her.
He personally took the IV bagsto Dr Hunter's office after
completion and handed them to anurse who then secretly passed
them to the FBI agents who werewaiting in another room.
The IV bags had Robert'sinitials.
The IV bags were then takenfrom the FBI agents straight to
(23:55):
Cincinnati to be tested, andthese were the findings.
Bag number one should have had300 milligrams of Taxol.
It had 83 milligrams only 28%.
Bag number two should have had1,900 milligrams of Gemzar.
It had 450 milligrams only 24%.
(24:17):
This order had a value of about$1,021, but with the sample
testing at only 24% of theordered drug, it was worth about
$242, for a difference of $780in this scumbag's pocket Bag.
Number three should have had2,100 milligrams of Gemzar.
It had drumroll, zero, zero,zero, percent, none, zero.
(24:44):
Oh, he's getting cocky Zero.
There were no chemotherapyagents in the mixture at all and
in this instance there isnearly an $800 difference
between the value of the drugthat was ordered and what was
provided for treatment, whichmight as well have been saline.
I mean, there was no medicationin there.
On August 13, 2001,.
(25:04):
The FBI obtained a searchwarrant.
13th 2001,.
The FBI obtained a searchwarrant.
Robert Courtney was approachedat work by the FBI, who asked
him if they could speak with himregarding an investigation of a
pharmacist and asked for hishelp, and he was like oh, of
course I will help you.
They showed him IV bags andasked if he could tell them who
had prepared the bags, to whichhe answered that he had he had
(25:26):
confessed without confessing.
He then heard the words, towhich he answered that he had he
had confessed withoutconfessing.
He then heard the words MrCourtney, you are the pharmacist
who is under investigation.
He left saying that he wantedan attorney and the pharmacy was
shut down, knowing that he hadmeans to become a flight risk.
The FBI filed a one-countcomplaint and he was charged
(25:46):
with adulteration andmisbranding of medications.
This would buy them time tobuild a case for the deaths of
the patients.
As soon as Dr Hunter beganusing a new pharmacy, her
patients started to showsymptoms of nausea, vomiting and
hair loss.
On August 15th, robertsurrendered to authorities and
(26:09):
was charged with one count ofadulterating and misbranding
drugs.
Investigators reported that,before turning himself in, he
gave $80,000 in cash and morethan 100 doses of Prozac to his
wife, although the government'sGirl's going to need it, yeah,
sorry.
Although the government'sattorney, gene Porter, did not
request that Robert be heldwithout bail, judge Robert
(26:33):
Larson issued a detention order,noting that the defendant had
more than $10 million in assetsand posed a serious risk to
fleeing.
In Larson's detention order, hewrote there is a risk that the
defendant may flee to avoiddealing with those who receive
the altered drugs or theirmembers of their families, which
, yeah, I would be straightpissed Well to say, I mean,
(26:59):
there's just no words.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
That's just so
horrible.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
The pharmacist's
success was obvious.
Success was obvious.
According to federal courtrecords, courtney owns about
$8.5 million in stocks, $900,000worth of real realty property
and two pharmacies valued atmore than $1 million.
He drove a Mercedes and owned amammoth house in the exclusive
Tremont Manor enclave situatedin the northern reaches of
(27:22):
Kansas City.
The complaint against Robertalleged one criminal count in
violation with the Food, drugand Cosmetic Act.
The maximum penalty is up tothree years in prison without
parole and a $250,000 fine.
The news of his arrest sent theKansas City area into an
understandable panic.
Many of these patients learnedof the scandal on the evening
(27:45):
news.
Many of these patients learnedof the scandal on the evening
news.
Patient Georgia Hayes said thatlearning that this could have
happened to her was worse thanthe cancer diagnosis itself.
She said quote it was likebeing hit with a bowling ball in
the gut end quote.
The FBI urged anyone who hadreceived chemotherapy infusions
from him to come forward,setting up a hotline for them to
(28:07):
call Dr Hunter's.
Patients demanded answers,wanting to know if this happened
to them.
This was the biggest story inKansas City in a long, long time
.
Robert's attorney, jean PaulBradshaw, would make a comment
to the press that his clientwould plead not guilty and was
cooperating with investigators.
(28:28):
Dr Hunter would also issue astatement to the press through
her attorney, diana Jordison.
We have cooperated withauthorities in their
investigation in every possibleway.
However, our sole focus is ourpatients.
We are attempting to contactall of our patients about the
situation and I will meetpersonally with each of them to
(28:50):
answer their questions.
Her attorney declined to say ifDr Hunter was the unnamed
physician in the governmentcredited with helping in the
case.
She simply stated that DrHunter had recently obtained
chemotherapy drugs for herpatients from Research Tower
Pharmacy but had stopped usingthe pharmacy.
Quote the minute there was aquestion raised.
(29:10):
End quote.
Spokesman for the US Attorney'sOffice, chris Whitley, said
quote all of us, as citizens,have the right to expect, when
we receive medicine from apharmacy, that what we are
getting is what the doctorordered.
End quote that what we aregetting is what the doctor
ordered.
End quote.
Georgia Hayes was a fighter.
(29:30):
She became the face of patientsharmed by Robert Courtney.
She filed the first of morethan 500 lawsuits against him in
2002, though hers was the onlycase that would ever go to court
.
Georgia received 27 doses ofdiluted chemotherapy drugs.
She missed her chance to beatthe cancer.
(29:52):
Her daughter, mackenzie,tearfully shared that her mother
would miss so many milestones.
She'd never see her graduate,get married or have a child.
Experts said that she hadalready missed her optimal
window to try and beat thecancer.
Faced with a mountain ofevidence, robert himself
supplied the FBI with a list ofthree medications that he
(30:16):
diluted, as well as a list of 34affected patients.
He claimed to have only starteddiluting drugs a few months ago
.
He openly admitted he did it topay off a $1 million donation
to the Northland CathedralBuilding Fund.
Don't donate money if you don'thave the money to donate.
(30:37):
What the hell?
On August 23, 2001, he wasindicted on 20 counts of
tampering with consumer productsand adulterating and
misbranding drugs.
He was also faced with 300suits for fraud and wrongful
death.
Current patients and survivorswanted authorities to pursue
murder charges.
(30:57):
While the FBI and FDA believedthat he was essentially a serial
killer, federal prosecutorsbelieved a murder charge would
be too difficult to achievebecause many of the patients
were suffering from late-stagecancer.
Additionally, oncology expertstold the FBI that there was no
way to prove beyond reasonabledoubt that that diluted
(31:17):
chemotherapy directlycontributed to the patient's
dying.
What they did know was that heindeed shortened people's time
on earth, but again, thatcouldn't be proven in a court of
law, unfortunately.
Oh so frustrating.
On February 26, 2002, a pleaagreement was made and Robert
(31:39):
Courtney pleaded guilty to 20federal counts of tampering and
adulterating the chemotherapydrugs Taxol and Gemzar.
Part of the plea agreement wasthat he had to disclose
everything to the FBI regardinghis crimes.
They knew that without a pleadeal, there was no way they
would even get a glimpse of themagnitude of his crimes.
He had initially admitted todiluting medications for a small
(32:01):
number of patients for severalmonths, so the FBI was expecting
I don't know, maybe 40 or 50people you know, affected Along.
With pleading guilty, he alsoacknowledged that he and his
corporation, courtney PharmacyIncorporated, had weakened drugs
, conspired to traffic andstolen drugs and caused the
filing of false Medicare claims.
(32:23):
According to law enforcementestimates and his own confession
, from 1992 to 2001, he diluted98,000 prescriptions from 400
doctors, which were given to4,200 patients 4,200 patients so
many when the FBI was expecting, like I don't know, maybe 40 or
(32:46):
50.
No, 4,200.
And who knows, those numberscould be even greater.
I don't know, maybe 40 or 50.
No, 4,200.
And who knows, those numberscould be even greater.
They just don't know.
Over nine years, yeah, I know.
He admitted to diluting 72kinds of drugs Besides
chemotherapy treatments.
He admitted to dilutingmedications for diabetes and
AIDS patients, as well asfertility treatments.
(33:08):
No, he even admitted todiluting eye drops.
He subsequently admitted thathe had been diluting drugs his
entire career.
He was quoted to say Whatever Icould dilute, I did dilute.
Piece of she.
His reasoning to begin dilutingthe medications were, according
to Robert, driven by pressureto pay a $600,000 tax bill and
(33:34):
to fulfill that Fulfill.
Fulfill that pledge that he hadmade to his church for a
million dollars.
Again, if you don't have amillion dollars, don't tell the
church you have a milliondollars.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
But also, I don't
think the church wants your
dirty money.
Yeah they don't want your bloodmoney, I mean.
I mean Exactly, they don't wantto be like oh, you know what.
This is so wonderful.
We have a million dollars, butmeanwhile you've made X amount
off of killing people, and Imean a bunch of people had to
like die, but yay, we have allthis money.
No, yay, that was what Jesuswas all about.
(34:07):
Yeah, woohoo.
No, I don't think so.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
Ugh Yup Gross think
so.
Oh yeah, he made an f-ton ofmoney for himself at the
detriment of patients.
No one wants that.
This was confirmation to thefbi of just how long this puke
had been doing this and thatthis had been going on.
Fbi personnel referred to it asblood money.
Exactly, patients and familieswould never know who received
(34:31):
half doses or maybe no dosage atall, because, of course, he
never kept record of what he wasdiluting when probed when he
started, or the last drug hediluted.
He couldn't answer.
It was just business as usualfor Robert Courtney.
He was able, though, to answerthe question of if he knew of
specific patients that hediluted medications for, and the
(34:53):
answer was yes.
Unfortunately, the ones that hecould remember were the ones he
personally knew he was doingthis to people that he knew.
I don't have words for thismonster.
In one interview that I read,he said yeah, I know that I did
this, gals, because it was myfriend's wife.
Like, how do you do this?
Speaker 2 (35:14):
I mean, how do you
get up in the morning and look
at yourself in the mirror and goabout your day?
Speaker 1 (35:18):
How do you walk these
IV bags to the infusion center
yourself and say how are youguys doing?
Oh, hanging in there.
Speaker 2 (35:28):
Here's your IV bag
that I know I messed with, like
monster To look good in front ofyour church and then to like
Money, buy extra properties andcars and yeah well, asshole
Neato mosquito, douchebag,scumbag.
Speaker 1 (35:45):
On December 5th 2002,
robert Courtney was sentenced
for the dilution of thousands ofmedications.
The courtroom was packed withpatients and their families who
wanted justice.
Everyone there had a story andeveryone has a person.
They wanted him to suffer andto pay for what he did to
innocent people.
There was not a dry eye in theroom other than Robert Gortney's
(36:06):
.
He acted as though he was onthe outside looking in on
something that he found to bemildly interesting.
At the age of 50, he wassentenced to 30 years in federal
prison, with the earliestpossible release date being
November of 2027.
In handing down a maximum30-year sentence, us District
Court Judge Ortrey Smith toldRobert your crimes are a shock
(36:30):
to the conscience of a nation,the conscience of community and
the conscience of this court.
And in a statement before hissentencing, robert apologized to
his victims and his family,saying, quote From this moment
and for a very long time to comeI will be agonizing over what I
have done.
My hope is that everyone knowsthat I apologize and I am sorry
(36:52):
For the rest of my life and anygood that I can do, any kindness
that I can show, I will do Endquote no one wants anything from
you, and your sorries are justtoo late, dude.
Seriously, 4,200 people affected.
I don't think your sorry isreally making any sort of impact
.
30 years is not enough.
No, I know, 30 years is notenough.
No, I know.
(37:13):
In the case of Georgia Hayes,Robert Courtney was ordered to
pay her $225 million incompensatory damages and $2.2
billion in punitive damages.
The judge later reduced theamount to $30.1 million and $300
million respectively.
(37:33):
Georgia said that the verdictwasn't about the money, that it
was meant to send a message.
In the end, the award wassymbolic because he had already
agreed to forfeit his assets tothe government.
Georgia sadly died five yearsfollowing the trial, after her
long battle with ovarian cancer.
She did live to see herdaughter graduate from school,
though, but unfortunately, thatwould be the last important
(37:55):
milestone the two shared.
Her daughter Mackenzie, recentlyshared quote I had a lot of
difficulty wrapping my headaround how this could happen,
how someone could value moneyover a human life.
I remember believing that mymother had been murdered when
she was still alive.
Courtney's ultimate judgmentwill come.
I'm only asking that what wasordered be carried out in its
(38:16):
entirety.
End quote.
You may be wondering why sherecently said that, because it's
2025.
It's not 2027.
So in July of 2020,.
He was considered for releaseseven years early due to the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Oh please, he was on the listof possible early release.
In his request for earlyrelease, he cited many health
(38:40):
issues.
Oh shame.
Since being sentenced, heargued that his health had
declined, suffering a stroke,three heart attacks and two
years of internal bleeding whichrequired blood transfusion.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
Oh, I wish they'd
given him like saline instead of
blood, Well here's.
Wouldn't that be poetic justice?
Speaker 1 (39:00):
Here's a kicker.
He also suffered cancer.
I don't know what kind ofcancer.
I don't know if it requiredtreatment whatever.
But, yeah, I hope you got somesaline bud.
Hello, karma.
He shared that he had been amodel inmate, turning in those
who broke the rules and leadingsinging in the worship.
Oh, I'm sure you're realpopular there at the prison
(39:21):
chapel.
Yeah, I know, I'm like snitches, get stitches, bro.
Um, so you know, his request forearly release was denied,
denied, denied.
Had this request been approved,he would have served the
remainder of his sentence onhouse arrest.
(39:41):
Federal Judge Orchery Smith,our boy, said, when denying his
request, that his crimes werevastly different than was
normally the case for defendantsseeking compassionate release.
Thank you, mm-hmm.
He would, however, still bereleased early, you guys?
No, yeah, the first step lawwas enacted which allows inmates
(40:04):
to earn credits through variousrehabilitation programs, and
these credits can be used toreduce their prison time.
Non-violent and elderlycriminals early release.
He was released to homeconfinement on august 1st 2024
oh so not that long ago.
No, families wereunderstandably disgusted and
(40:26):
outraged to learn of his earlyrelease, and some quotes from
family included.
How can you deny someonemedication that is going to save
their life?
It is like slowly stranglingsomeone to death.
Cancer didn't kill him.
Robert Courtney did.
Why can't he just serve histime.
Yeah, we have serial killersthat we don't understand.
(40:48):
This is what this man is.
He did it for money and forgreed.
Could my life be entirelydifferent if my mom would have
been treated with medication bya different pharmacist?
Would she still be here today?
My daughter was diagnosed withcancer at 22 and was willing to
do anything to fight for herlife and opted to move forward
with treatment.
Was she given diluted drugs?
Would she still be here todayif she had gotten the
(41:10):
medications that were ordered?
What is the difference betweenthat and going up to her with a
gun and shooting her?
Yeah, time has not healed woundsor softened the hatred towards
Courtney.
I hate him.
I know you're supposed toforgive people, but that's not
going to happen.
He wants to get out because ofgood behavior.
He made the decision to dilutemedication.
(41:32):
He made the decision out ofgreed instead of thinking about
people's lives.
This was from the family ofMartha Nix.
Their grandmother suffered frombone cancer which unfortunately
made for a slow and painfuldeath, and when her
granddaughter Mindy was askedwhat he should be charged with,
she replied he should have beencharged with murder.
When asked why my grandmotherdied, I always said he was
(41:53):
murdered.
She was murdered by RobertCourtney.
And lastly but certainly notleast, kat Duncan lost her
father to cancer.
She says of Courtney he shouldbe in a prison cell that is
lined with photos of the peopleof the lives he took.
Speaker 2 (42:05):
Oh for sure, yeah, I
like that one, I do too, those
poor families I know.
Speaker 1 (42:12):
All the what ifs and
the, that's what I think is the
hardest.
I mean, my sweet, sweetgrandmother, who I loved so much
and was one of my best friends,unfortunately lost her life to
pancreatic cancer.
And like knowing how hard thatwas.
But if you had to add the layerof whoa, was she actually
(42:33):
getting the medication she couldhave?
Could I still have my bestiegrandma here with me now If she
would have got?
You know what I mean.
Yeah, like that is just.
It's horrible.
But Robert Courtney claims thatyou know he's a changed man,
guys.
So he accepts fullresponsibility, brand new man.
(42:55):
He's remorseful.
He says he is no longer athreat to public safety, given
his elder age.
He is now reformed, so the 30years is just too long according
to him.
Missouri Democrat RepresentativeEmanuel Cleaver was a strong
supporter of the First Step Act,along with many other
representatives in Missouri.
(43:15):
He said he would continue tovote yes on the First Step Act,
which was signed into law byPresident Trump in 2018.
However, he firmly believesthat Robert Courtney should not
be in the population of peoplewho should be able to benefit
from the First Step Act.
He shared in an interview quoteI can guarantee that 95 of the
(43:35):
people who voted yes for thefirst stepped act would be with
him on this issue.
End quote.
Emmanuel agrees that this iswhere common sense should come
in, that tampering withmedication is violence just as
hitting someone with a bat isyeah, yeah, um.
So there is now a push formurder charges against robert
(43:56):
courtney.
Um, the families are trying topush hard, so this might not be
the end of his story.
We'll have to stay tuned andsee if anything else ever comes
of this.
He is on home confinement, but,oh yeah, he's not.
Speaker 2 (44:08):
He's not in prison,
um wow, okay, what a case, what
a tragedy and what a.
I can see the conundrum like ofhow to, because we all know
that it's attempted manslaughter.
If not manslaughter, um, if youare depriving someone of a
potentially life savingmedication, right, so just to
(44:30):
not be able to prove whetherthat was that could have saved
them, but didn't.
I don't think is is the point.
I think the point is that heset about with intent to hold
life saving medication and thatis akin to murder, at least
manslaughter.
I had a few notes here.
First of all, dr Hunter, whosename is Verda Hicks.
(44:54):
What a cute name, what awonderful woman.
I had this note here because Iremember when because my
mother-in-law, I used to takeher to her chemo infusion visits
and she would have to.
One of the reasons it took solong is that she would have to
check in um because they don'tmix the medications until
(45:16):
they're there, until the patientis actually there.
I don't know if that's becausethey're so expensive or because
they're specially ordered perpatient, and I don't even know
why I brought that up, but, um,I guess it's just extra evil
that he was there on site um,because they would have had to
have, you know the patientscheck in and then he's running
(45:37):
down the hall with what theyneed, and sometimes personally
handing them over, like that isthat is so malicious and that's
where like that sickeningpsychopath serial killer comes
in.
Speaker 1 (45:49):
For me I'm like you
just mix that and you even did
it to people's eye drops, likeyou're freaking psycho okay, and
then I have a special shout outto was it daryl ashley from eli
lily?
Speaker 2 (46:01):
yeah, I mean, here
we're talking about we always
talk about big pharma, big badpharma um, he was a senior
executive and he was lookinginto this.
So I mean, obviously it's inhis best interest to make sure
that his medications areeffective and then people will
want to buy them.
But still, like, good for himfor looking into it, because
(46:22):
they were getting these likereviews that people weren't
having horrible side effects.
Um, I don't know, I just Iguess I didn't picture a senior
executive taking that kind ofaction.
So if it weren't for him, alongwith Dr Hunter, this wouldn't
have come to light for how manymore years?
I mean, this guy was at it fornine years.
Speaker 1 (46:43):
And also, like Daryl
had said in an interview, that
was a pretty big deal of him tolike bring forward such
suspicions of a pharmacist likehe was.
Like I'm either gonna catch abad guy here or I might
potentially like ruin someone'sreputation who's done nothing
like right.
Speaker 2 (47:02):
So yeah, good, on
daryl, um, I had a question, so
okay, so dr hunter stoppedordering from tower pharmacy or
whatever he called himself hispharmacy um when the suspicions
came out and then um reported.
So I assume some time passedbetween then and when she the
(47:24):
fbi.
She reported the fbi and theycame to investigate and they
made up, they made this planthat she was going to order
these fictitious bags.
I'm'm curious why.
Maybe it wasn't a long periodof time, but wouldn't Robert
have noticed he's on thepremises that she's all of a
sudden not ordering anythingfrom him?
Speaker 1 (47:41):
Yeah, I think it was
not like within a week, like
within days.
It was not a long time.
Speaker 2 (47:48):
That's good.
I was like, yes, he's going tocatch on, when you were telling
me that I was like he would havecaught on, that she's ordering
from somewhere else.
And then, yes, he's going tocatch on when you were telling
me that I was like he would havecaught on, that she's ordering
from somewhere else.
And then, knowing that he's youknow, uh, doing something wrong
, he would have filled thosebags, the next bags, correctly.
But, um, yeah right, and thenoh my God.
And then what if he went to getcaught?
Well, you know, this is thething they say about psychopaths
(48:10):
and narcissists they just thinkthey're smarter than everybody
else.
So, um, we had that going for.
Uh, going against him, so goodfor good for him for being a
dumb ass.
Um, eventually, um, okay, thefirst penalty.
I was just gonna startscreaming about three years in
prison, that's it, but you know,then we started racking up all
(48:32):
of those other counts.
4, that's it, but you know, thenwe started racking up all of
those other counts 4,200 people,almost 100,000 prescriptions,
like at this point he doesn'teven know any other way.
Like is anyone getting propermedication?
I doubt it, I don't know.
I kind of there's a lot ofangry words on my notebook set.
(48:53):
So I mean I think we all knowhow we feel about this dude and
I really do think they shouldrevisit this.
This has got to be at leastattempted murder.
Speaker 1 (49:05):
Right.
I know It'll be interesting tosee what comes of this, because
families are very passionatelypursuant of murder charges very
passionately pursuant of murdercharges.
The tough, crappy thing, though, is what the FBI had said
before it.
That's going to be so hard toprove, unfortunately, but I mean
, the intent and maliciousnessare there.
(49:26):
That's not a word.
Speaker 2 (49:27):
But so you can't
prove that the absence of the
medication is what killed them,although it's likely.
You could probably come up witha statistical probability right
, but you can prove that hewithheld life-saving medication.
So just like that, was it ajudge, somebody that said at the
very end you were talking about, who liked the first step but
(49:50):
said that he was not a candidate, emanuel.
Speaker 1 (49:54):
Oh yeah, as a senator
representative.
Speaker 2 (49:57):
Yeah, anyway, he said
it's as violent as hitting
someone with a bat Just becausethere was no blood.
It was an assault on thisperson.
It was depriving someone oflife-giving medication.
Speaker 1 (50:14):
It resulted in their
death, whether that be sooner or
what.
Speaker 2 (50:19):
Well, I don't even
think you have to prove that it
resulted in their death.
I think that that act itselfit's just like man's attempted
murder.
You don't have to murdersomeone to show that you know.
Speaker 1 (50:29):
You stabbed them and
left them for dead and thought
they were going to die.
Speaker 2 (50:33):
Right, so I mean the
intent somehow has to be
punishable.
Speaker 1 (50:37):
Anyway, I'm not a
lawyer, but and the only reason
I had put that in there, likethe extra information about this
First Step Act and like itbeing signed into law, is
because I think it's got somework to be done.
Like maybe can we put a clausein there for this, because, like
this guy said is violent.
He is violent like, yes, on apiece of paper.
He's not meeting the bulletpoints and so he almost squeaked
(50:59):
out because of that.
Speaker 2 (51:00):
But like there
there's some great yeah, it's
not on par with, like um checkfraud, or you know um, you know
dealing weed, or you know, Idon't know, people died as a
result of nine years of hisactivities.
Like, how would we think that,even if that's rehabilitative I
mean he only had two more yearsand for the families, if
(51:24):
anything else, they're gettingvery little justice, as is.
It just seems disgusting.
You know what, robert Courtney,I don't care, I honestly do not
care if you're a changed man, Idon't care, it doesn't matter.
What's done is done and youneed to to do your time.
You know, like, why should wegive a crap?
Yup, you did the crime, you dothe time bud, but you get to go
(51:47):
into your mansion now underhouse arrest and die of cancer.
Listen, I hope they pump you sofull of fake drugs.
Speaker 1 (51:54):
Yeah, when I was
doing research I was like, oh my
God, this asshole already hadso much money and he probably
still had it invested, blah,blah, blah, blah.
And now he's going to get outof prison.
He's still going to be livingthis like luxury life, blah,
blah, blah.
But then I saw he had to turnall of his assets over.
Oh well, um, and also, is hestill married?
(52:17):
Yes, she stayed with him.
There were some like courttranscripts of like video calls
while he was in jail with herand I don't know if she's just
brainwashed or whatever.
And, like laura, if you everhear this for whatever reason
I'm not trying to talk shitabout you, but I don't know
leave.
Well, I guess he's 80 now.
She well, she was much younger,so maybe she's 30, 30 and
threading yeah, well, that wasawesome.
Speaker 2 (52:35):
Thank you for all
your research and for bringing
up such a compelling uh case.
We'll be sure to updateeveryone if there's, if there's
anything else going down, goingdown for real.
Let's get motor charges, um,should we lighten things a
little little medical, littlemedical mishap Always Awesome.
Well, this one is from listenerGina from Minneapolis.
(53:00):
Hey that's in our neighborhood,gina.
It says hi, jenna and Amanda.
First off, I love your pod somuch, thanks.
Thank you, gina.
You two have a way of raisingimportant issues and insight, as
well as are so funny andfamiliar.
I feel like we are long lostfriends.
Oh, we love you.
Speaker 1 (53:23):
Hi, Gina we are.
Speaker 2 (53:26):
I had to share this
story because it's one of my
most embarrassing and funniestmedical moments.
A few years ago, I went in forwhat was supposed to be a quick
cortisone shot for some lowerback pain, nothing dramatic.
I was just supposed to changeinto one of those glamorous
hospital gowns and wait for thedoctor.
I'm nervous by nature, and sowhen the nurse handed me the
(53:47):
gown and said undress from thewaist down and put this on, I
was trying so hard to act casualthat I really wasn't listening
anymore.
I know that feeling.
Oh, I go behind a little curtainand for some reason I take
everything off like pants,underwear, bra, socks,
everything.
Everything's gone.
Then I tied the gown in theback, but I guess I tied it
(54:09):
wrong because it basicallyframed my entire rear end like a
window display.
Oh no, dana.
Oh.
So I'm sitting there on theexam table just bare butted to
the world, when the doctor comesin and he pauses very politely,
coughs and says actually we'redoing the shot in your lower
(54:32):
back, not your lower lower.
Oh, I realized then that thegown wasn't even covering the
right half of me and I hadmooned the entire staff in the
room.
Oh well, everyone's got a buttGina.
Yeah right, they've seen it all.
We've all seen a butt.
I don't even remember gettingdressed after.
(54:53):
I think I just blacked out frompure embarrassment, but hey, my
back felt great afterwards.
Thank you, oh, we're good.
Thank you for letting me sharemy shame with the world.
Stay covered and staysuspicious, gina.
Speaker 1 (55:07):
That's so funny, gina
.
Thank you for sharing that.
I had to laugh because recentlyI also had a procedure done and
the same thing happened to me.
The nurse definitely told mewhat to take off and and to
leave on and I was like I don'tremember what she said, but my
husband my husband was luckilythere with me.
I was like are you sure, do Ikeep that on, do I take this off
(55:29):
?
So I, uh, the same thinghappens to me.
I definitely black out and I'mlike, oh shit, take this off.
Speaker 2 (55:34):
So I, uh, the same
thing happens to me.
I definitely black out and I'mlike, oh shit, what are we doing
?
Oh man, listen, if you're likeme, you need to pick me up from
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(55:56):
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coffee, coffee, coffee copy,yeah, you would have been good
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(56:17):
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all you got to do is go tostrongcoffeecompanycom and then
use our promo code staysuspicious.
All one word when you buy andyou get 20% off.
So try it today.
(56:37):
Go to strongcoffeecompanycomand use promo code stay
suspicious.
That'sS-T-A-Y-S-U-S-P-I-C-I-O-U-S.
We should make a cheer out ofthat.
Stay suspicious.
Speaker 1 (56:49):
I know I was thinking
that sounds like the
M-I-C-K-E-Y.
I know I was thinking thatsounds like the M-I-C-K-E-Y.
Jenna, jenna, yeah, come in thescreen.
Come in the screen quick and wecan send a picture to our
listeners.
Smile, oh, hang on.
Okay, I tried to make a cutemoment.
You guys, my dog hopped in mylap for recording and I was like
(57:10):
, oh, let's take a picture ofall of us.
Speaker 2 (57:13):
But she's gone's gone
, so I got pneumonia face like I
don't know.
You look cute, what are you?
Speaker 1 (57:17):
talking about.
You.
Don't even look sick, darling.
You look great, but we'll letyou go because we know you're
sick.
But uh, before you go, you haveto tell us.
What can we expect to hear next?
Speaker 2 (57:26):
week.
Okay, so you and I areaudiologists, right?
Yeah, it's a small subset ofallied healthcare practitioners
the smallest, and it's so small.
But guess what I found?
What A killer audiologist.
Speaker 1 (57:42):
Do tell.
Well, I guess you can't rightnow, but I will.
Speaker 2 (57:45):
I will tell you next
week.
Speaker 1 (57:47):
It's a Yoda.
Speaker 2 (57:49):
And it's one of us so
kind of close to home.
But yeah, so that's what youcan expect.
Okay, well, I will be lookingforward to that.
Speaker 1 (57:57):
Doozy magoozy.
All right, well, I'll take theending for you, because you're
sick.
I got you.
Okay, friends, don't miss a bit.
Actually I can't take it.
No, I can't talk today.
Let me start over.
Don't miss a beat.
Subscribe or followingDoctoring the Truth wherever you
enjoy your podcasts for storiesthat shock, intrigue and
(58:19):
educate.
Trust, after all, is a delicatething.
You can text us directly on ourwebsite at doctoringthetruth,
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and comments atdoctoringthetruth, at gmail.
And be sure to follow us onInstagram at
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(58:40):
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called edodpod E-D-A-U-D-P-O-Dat oddpod.
Don't forget to download, rateand review so we can be sure to
bring you more content next week.
Until then, stay safe and staysuspicious, and I'm so sorry I
(59:04):
couldn't read today.
Okay, bye.