Judge appoints doctor to evaluate Hastert
A Chicago doctor will evaluate the health of former House Speaker Dennis Hastert ahead of his sentencing for financial crimes to cover up hush-money payments.
A federal judge Wednesday appointed geriatric medicine specialist Dr. Robert S. Golden, a Northwestern Medical School professor, to examine Hastert’s medical records and evaluate claims that the 74-year-old’s health began a steep decline just days after Hastert pleaded guilty to federal charges.
Hastert in October admitted illegally structuring $952,000 in bank withdrawals to evade banking rules to disguise payouts he made to a former student who had threatened to go public with allegations of sexual misconduct that occurred decades earlier, when Hastert was a gym teacher at Yorkville High School.
And his plea agreement acknowledges he lied to the FBI about the bank withdrawals when agents asked him about it.
Just days after walking out of the federal courthouse in Chicago, Hastert’s lawyers say the former speaker suffered a fall at his home and was hospitalized for spine surgery, a severe blood infection and a stroke. Hastert “nearly died” during the ordeal, and the onetime Republican powerhouse’s chances of full recovery are unclear, his lawyers have said.
Tom Green, one of Hastert’s attorneys, said Thursday both the government and the defense provided a list of doctors to the judge. Green declined to say whether Golden was on the defense list. Golden did not return a phone call from the Chicago Sun-Times on Thursday.
Appointing a single doctor to evaluate the medical records spares the judge the likely prospect of dueling testimony from physicians for the defense and the pros- ecution, said Steve Greenberg, a Chicago defense attorney.
“A doctor hired by the defense is going to say (Hastert) is near death, and a doctor for the government is going to say he’s fine,” Greenberg said. “I would guess the judge is going to appoint (Golden) and accept whatever he says.”
Hastert’s plea agreement states his sentence could include up to six months in prison, and his health has been a topic during several closeddoor meetings with U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Durkin. Prosecutors last week also sought to delay Hastert’s sentencing to allow another purported victim of sexual abuse by Hastert to testify. The sentencing hearing was postponed three weeks to April 27.
Hastert faces a fairly short sentence in any case, but his guilty plea has done permanent damage to his reputation, if not his health, Greenberg said.
“Dennis Hastert is not going back to Washington to be a milliondollar lobbyist,” Greenberg said.
“And whether he’s really sick or not, he could be out golfing in six months whatever happens, because that’s the max sentence he’s facing.”