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[SEATJERKER]

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license
Albany-- Paul Kornak allegedly falsified medical credentials in 2 states

By CLAIRE HUGHES, Staff writer
First published: Friday, February 7, 2003

A former local medical researcher under criminal investigation for possibly falsifying patient records had his doctor's license revoked in two states and denied in a third -- in at least two of the cases for fabricating his own credentials.

Paul Kornak, one of two researchers whose activities at the Stratton VA Medical Center are being probed as the possible cause of several patient deaths, was denied a New Jersey medical license in 1990 "because he had falsified many of the documents he had filed with his application," according to a New Jersey order denying him licensure on July 5, 1990.

At the time, Kornak had a license to practice medicine in Iowa. But after New Jersey officials contacted that state, Iowa revoked Kornak's license, on Oct. 7, 1991, "for providing false information on a license application," said Kent Nebel, of legal affairs for the Iowa Board of Medical Examiners. Iowa had granted Kornak a medical license in 1987, he said.

Kornak is also listed on the Pennsylvania Department of State's Web site as having had his medical license revoked there in 1992. Information about the reason for revocation was not immediately available.

Kornak never applied to practice medicine in New York, said Kristine Smith, a spokeswoman for the state Health Department.

"He never applied here, so we have no jurisdiction over him at all," Smith said.

Federal authorities are conducting a criminal investigation of Kornak, a Stratton VA research assistant, and Dr. James Holland, the hospital's top cancer specialist, who may have violated medical standards during experimental drug trials that led to as many as five patients' deaths. The men, who no longer work at the hospital, could face charges of involuntary manslaughter if investigators conclude they were responsible for the deaths.

Investigators from the VA Office of the Inspector General and the U.S. Attorney's office are looking into whether the researchers altered medical records to enroll patients who would have been ineligible for the drug trials. To participate in such studies, patients must meet strict medical criteria established to protect them.

The state has never taken any disciplinary action against Holland, who does have a license to practice in New York, Smith said.

Attempts to reach Kornak, his attorney and Holland were unsuccessful.

According to the July 1990 New Jersey order denying Kornak a license, the researcher provided "unreliable and contradictory" testimony to the Board of Medical Examiners and included with his application altered undergraduate transcripts from the Junior College of Albany (now the Sage College of Albany) and the College of Saint Rose.

"He added courses which he had not taken, he raised many if not most of the grades which he had received, and he changed his supposed cumulative averages to reflect those alterations. He dated the transcripts to indicate that they had been issued more recently than was actually the case, and he stamped the word 'official' on both transcripts," the order states.

Kornak also submitted to the board transcripts from a Polish medical school, "which documents he had wholly created himself," according to the order.

A spokeswoman for the Stratton VA referred calls on the investigation to the Office of Inspector General. That office did not return a call from the Times Union Thursday.

Meanwhile, families whose relatives have undergone clinical trials under Holland and Kornak's supervision said they were concerned over Thursday's news reports that the researchers' actions might have harmed patients.

Kathy Daigneault, 42, of Watervliet, said she is wondering now if her father's participation in a trial for a bladder cancer drug with Holland hastened his death. William Daigneault was 74 when he died on Feb. 4, 2002, after about 18 months of participation in the study.

The manufacturer of a bladder cancer drug, Ilex Oncology of San Antonio, was among the first to notice irregularities in the Stratton VA's documentation and reported Holland and Kornak to federal authorities right around the time of Daigneault's death.

On Thursday, Daigneault recalled her father's words about Holland. "My dad always said, 'I feel like he's treating me like a guinea pig,' " she said.

Daigneault and her brother suffered a second loss last year, when their mother died in November, she said.

"We just feel like it's being thrown back in our face," Daigneault said of news reports about the investigation. "You certainly don't want to think your family suffered unnecessarily."


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