Former Wilkinsburg doctor gets 6 months of home detention in federal drug, fraud case
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A doctor who spent his career caring for the underserved in Wilkinsburg will serve six months of home detention and three years of probation.
Yee Chung Ho, 72, of Murrysville, was sentenced Friday by U.S. District Judge Nora Barry Fischer. Ho pleaded guilty on Nov. 9 to three counts of unlawfully dispensing controlled substances and one count of health care fraud.
He agreed to forfeit his medical license, as well as $90,000.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Gal-Or said Ho prescribed high doses of opioids to a woman attempting to get pregnant in May and June 2019 without ever having physically examined her or even doing a urine drug screen. He prescribed the medication despite having received eight separate letters from insurance companies and health plans warning that the woman was known for doctor and pharmacy shopping.
The recommended sentencing guideline range was 24 to 30 months in federal prison.
Fischer agreed to reduce the sentence based on Ho’s reputation of service and charity in the community, as well as his age and medical conditions, including diabetes. She also cited his physically small stature, saying that he could be potentially vulnerable in prison.
In addition to the probation and home detention, Fischer also ordered Ho to serve 250 hours of community service.
During the nearly three-hour sentencing hearing, the judge heard from several witnesses on Ho’s behalf and noted that she’d also received 75 letters.
“He’s going to be irreplaceable as a physician in those communities,” said Eddie Edwards Jr., who was Ho’s patient and family friend for years.
Angie Hemphill, a nurse at East End Behavioral Health in Wilkinsburg, said she began working with Ho in 2019. In his interaction with patients at the hospital, she said he was tolerant, calm and empathetic and spent time with patients who weren’t even his.
He also was known to help staff and other personnel there if they had medical questions, she said.
“I know he will continue to find a way to inspire people to be their best,” Hemphill said. “He didn’t just take care of our patients, he took care of us.”
Ho’s sentencing brief said he cared for more than 24,000 patients in his career.
The defendant’s son, Vincent Ho, who also is a doctor, called his father a “beacon of kindness, care and positivity.”
Yee Chung Ho was born in China, but at 3 months old, his parents were forced to flee the mainland and moved to Hong Kong. There they shared an 800-square-foot home with 15 people, Vincent Ho said.
His father went on to medical school before moving to the United States in 1974.
Yee Chung Ho began his career in private practice in Burgettstown before opening his medical office in Wilkinsburg in 1981 where he sought to serve an elderly and low-income community.
Vincent Ho said his father worked 10 to 14 hours per day, seven days a week and was known for inviting his oldest patients to their family dinners to ensure they felt cherished.
“He sees the best in everyone,” he said. “If I could be half the doctor and citizen he was, I’ll consider that a successful life for me.”
During the hearing, Yee Chung Ho apologized for his crimes.
“I am deeply, deeply sorry for the mistakes I made and problems I caused,” he said, especially noting his patients. “I know they deserve better, and my profession deserves better.”
Ho told Fischer that he never intended to harm any patient.
“There’s a lot I wish I could take back,” he said.
In trying to explain his client’s behavior, attorney Phil DiLucente said Ho was reckless at times and failed to keep up to date with prescription standards and regulations.
“The game passed him by,” he said. “He got snookered because sometimes he just couldn’t say no.”
The prosecutor, who was seeking a prison term in the guideline range, acknowledged Ho’s contributions to the community and the medical profession. But, Gal-Or continued, “That does not erase the very serious conduct for which he’s been convicted.”
Fischer noted the stigma and embarrassment Ho has endured from the charges against him, as well as the “tremendous punishment” he’s already received in having to give up his medical license.
“It’s a significant concession on your part,” she said.
But, the judge continued, Ho’s criminal actions breached the public trust.
In choosing not to send Ho to prison, Fischer said she gave him credit for his decision to choose to practice medicine for 40 years in Wilkinsburg with an underrepresented population, even though he could have earned more elsewhere.
“You played a vital role in that community providing medical care for those folks,” she said.
Fischer said she believed that Ho was sincere in his statement, and that it showed he was thinking about the harm he caused to his patients and the community.
“In my estimation, that shows true remorse,” Fischer said.