THE CAST

Learn a little backstory about the people you’ll hear about in If the Walls Could Talk Podcast™

Dr. Maurice Mazel

Dr. Maurice Mazel (pronouced: “may-ZELL”) co-founded Edgewater Hospital in 1929 and led the hospital for the next 50+ years. During Mazel’s tenure, he was a trailblazer in cardiology and developed a form of open-heart surgery used all across the globe for years. He was the doctor to many of Hollywood’s elite and helped to develop a blood clot dissolving drug named Urokinase. Under his watch, the mercurial Mazel turned Edgewater Hospital into a sprawling campus of medical buildings and dormitories that looked and ran like a hotel. Following his death in 1980, the hospital quickly fell apart. Many blame the lack of a qualified successor for fueling the hospital’s demise.

Harriet Hodgini-Mazel

A member of the Circus Hall of Fame, Harriet was Dr. Mazel’s second wife and became a fixture at Edgewater Hospital. After his death in 1980, she took over as CEO and Chairman of the Hospital Board. With her health failing, she eventually resigned and died in 1989.

Peter Rogan

After losing his role as CEO of St. Anthony’s Hospital in Crown Point, Indiana, Peter worked as a consultant to Edgewater Hospital. With the hospital struggling financially, Peter struck a deal with the hospital board to purchase it in 1989. He paid just $1 million and became CEO. Under his ownership, the hospital made a miraculous turnaround. Just five years later, Peter sold the hospital for $31 million and somehow remained CEO. Throughout the mid-’90s, Peter continued to run the hospital and profited millions thanks to lucrative management contracts that his company had with Edgewater. With numerous investigations swirling in the Spring of 2001, Edgewater’s Board of Directors finally ousted Peter. The US Government later sued him and a judge ordered Peter to pay $64 million in damages. But Peter fired his attorneys and fled the country just days afterwards. In a separate verdict, he also was ordered to pay $124 million to the hospital’s creditor. Peter currently lives in an Indianapolis suburb and did not respond to our requests to participate in If the Walls Could Talk Podcast.

Roger Ehmen

Roger joined Edgewater Hospital in 1977 and continued working there until his indictment in 2001. Peter Rogan promoted Roger to Vice President and, among other things, he was in charge of maintaining and increasing the hospital’s patient admissions. Roger was a well-liked figure at Edgewater Hospital, but later was charged with running a kickback-for-patients scheme. Roger plead guilty and spent a handful of years in prison. Many suspect that Roger was paid to take the fall for Peter Rogan. Roger is the only member of the fraud scheme who participated in If the Walls Could Talk Podcast.

Dr. Andrew Cubria

As a child, the Cuban-born Dr. Andrew Cubria fled to the United States as part of “Operation Peter Pan“. Andrew and his family then moved to Chicago and he grew up steps from Edgewater Hospital. Andrew said it was his dream to one day become a doctor and work at Edgewater. Andrew ultimately fulfilled that dream and became one of the youngest board-certified Cardiologists in Illinois. He joined Edgewater Hospital’s medical staff in 1979 and remained there until he lost his medical license in 2001. His cardiac cath lab became the focal point of the FBI’s investigation. It was that lab where Dr. Cubria performed hundreds of unnecessary invasive procedures on his patients. The Coalition Against Insurance Fraud even named Dr. Cubria to their 2002 Hall of Shame. After losing his medical license, Dr. Cubria eventually pled guilty, was fined millions of dollars and went to prison. In 2012, Dr. Andrew Cubria died of cancer and is buried just steps from Dr. Mazel in Rosehill Cemetery.

Dr. Rogelio Maynulet

Dr. Rogelio also came from Cuba and joined Edgewater Hospital in 1971. He rose to Chief of the Medical Staff and continued to work at Edgewater Hospital until it suddenly closed in 2001. He then practiced medicine at Illinois Masonic and Grant Hospital before the stress of Edgewater’s closure took its tole. He later retired to Spain where he still lives today. He is featured prominently in If the Walls Could Talk Podcast.

Dr. Monty McClellan

The embattled doctor was the focus of a separate hospital fraud investigation at Doctor’s Hospital in Chicago. In a plea deal with prosecutors, McClellan spent most of 1997 working with the feds. He posed as an active participant in Edgewater Hospital’s fraud scheme and referred patients to the hospital — those patients were actually retired FBI agents. In doing so, he secretly recorded conversations with many players in the Edgewater scheme. He later was sentenced to 2 years in prison for his role in the fraud scheme at Doctor’s Hospital. McClellan died in 2017.

Dr. Sheshigiri Rao Vavilikolanu (Dr. Rao)

The provider of anesthesia services to Edgewater was paid to funnel patients to Edgewater. Through his “patient recruiters” and another doctor, Dr. Rao was responsible for admitting hundreds of patients to Edgewater — many who didn’t need to be hospitalized. He later cooperated with the FBI investigation and wore a wire to secretly record conversations with other members of the scheme. Through his lawyer, Dr. Rao declined to participate in this podcast and told us “not to contact him by any means”.

Dr. Krishnaswami Sriram (Dr. Kris)

The cardiologist who went by “Dr. Kris” was charged with treating and billing an inordinate amount of patients — including several who were dead. The feds labeled him “a mortal threat“, but his lawyers said he was simply a sloppy bookkeeper. In 2022, Dr. Kris was again charged — this time with tax evasion. Dr. Kris did not respond to our requests to participate in this podcast.

Sherry Coon

Sherry was part of the Chicago FBI Healthcare Fraud Squad and joined the team investigating Edgewater Hospital in the 1990s. Her investigation focused on Dr. Cubria and the massive fraud happening in Edgewater Hospital’s cardiac cath lab. She is heard throughout If the Walls Could Talk Podcast.

Jim and Georgette Ginter

Dr. Mazel’s grandchildren, Jim and Georgette Ginter, worked at the hospital. Jim left for another job in 2000, but Georgette remained working there up until the day it closed in 2001. Both are featured throughout If the Walls Could Talk Podcast.

Bruce Japsen

Journalist Bruce Japsen covered the Edgewater saga for Crain’s Modern Healthcare and the Chicago Tribune. His in-depth research and extraordinary investigative reporting exposed the fraud at the hospital and first made public the subsequent FBI investigation. Bruce authored “Inside Obamacare: From Barrack and Michelle to the Affordable Care Act” and “Walmart’s Second Opinion“. Today, Bruce covers the healthcare beat for Forbes and is heard throughout If the Walls Could Talk Podcast.