Owner Of Sacred Heart Hospital Sentenced To 4 1/2 Years

(STMW) -- Ed Novak called his West Side hospital "Sacred Heart."

But federal prosectors said they found a more suitable nickname: "Our Lady of the Bottom Line."

And during the hospital owner's sentencing hearing Wednesday, those prosecutors played a secretly recorded conversation they said would "quickly and devastatingly destroy" Novak's claim that he wanted to help the blighted neighborhood around his hospital, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting.

"F— the community," Novak said on the tape. "Who gives a sh–? Who cares about the f——ing community? I mean, why — who gives a sh–? You own the place; you do what you want to do with it. F– them!"

Novak, 60, rocked calmly in his seat inside U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly's crowded courtroom as prosecutors played that recording. Hours later, he took notes as Kennelly finally sentenced him to 4 1/2 years for bribing doctors to send patients to his sub-standard and, at times, maggot-infested hospital.

"He didn't just run a hospital," Assistant U.S. Attorney Joel Hammerman told the judge. "He ran a kickback conspiracy."

A jury found Novak guilty in March of ripping off Medicare and Medicaid. He was convicted along with Sacred Heart chief operating officer Clarence Naglevoort and finance chief Roy Payawal — who the feds say came up with their preferred nickname for the hospital. Payawal and Nagelvoort are set to be sentenced later this week.

The bribes paid at Sacred Heart ensured that poor, elderly, vulnerable and most often black patients from far flung corners of the city would be driven by ambulance past far better hospitals to be admitted at Sacred Heart, which could then bill taxpayers for the treatment it provided, prosecutors said.

The case first hit the headlines when federal agents raided the hospital in 2013, alleging that doctors were essentially kidnapping patients and bringing them to the West Side hospital. Prosecutors said the quality of care provided by physicians at the hospital was, "at best, an afterthought."

In another secretly recorded conversation, the feds claim Novak described one doctor as "about 90 years old. He likes to go out with 16-year-old girls. He's a f——ing pig. But he knows how to produce patients." Later, while talking about the same doctor, Novak allegedly added, "he's a scum bucket, but he's got patients, so what the hell, you know."

Novak told the judge Wednesday that the "idea that the hospital was all about money is so wrong." He described lean years and "decades" as he tried to keep the hospital open while the savings between he and his wife dwindled to $300. He expressed frustration that a few comments could wipe away decades of help he provided to the community.

Among the most lurid allegations originally leveled at Novak — though it did not result in charges — was that he encouraged his doctors to order patients undergo unnecessary tracheotomies so that Sacred Heart could bill Medicare or Medicaid for the surgery.

Doctors would "snow" the patients by doping them up so that they couldn't breathe unassisted, then use that as justification to cut a hole in the patient's neck, the government alleged in court documents. In some cases, the surgery was fatal, the feds said.

Novak's attorney, Sergio Acosta, complained Wednesday that those allegations became public even though prosecutors never attempted to prove them. He asked the judge for community service, telling him Novak had already been punished enough by losing his "life's work."

Novak himself broke down as he told the judge what he's been through since the federal raid.

Letting down my family is the worst punishment of all," Novak said. "Now I'm a convicted felon. I can't get that thought out of my head.

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2015. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)