Doctor's return could take time

COEUR d'ALENE — When Dr. Stanley Toelle's felony money laundering charges were recently dismissed, his attorney, Nicholas Vieth, said his client could now return to his life as a gastroenterologist.

If he does, he won’t be automatically reinstated at Kootenai Health.

Kim Anderson, Kootenai Health’s director of communications, said Toelle hasn't been an employee of the Coeur d'Alene hospital since February 2016, the month he was indicted.

If Toelle were to return to the Kootenai Health medical staff, he would be required to go through the normal credentialing process to apply for privileges at the hospital, Anderson said. Applicants are reviewed by a committee comprising other physicians on the medical staff.

Toelle's medical license in Idaho is still active, according to the Idaho Board of Medicine.

Phone calls to Toelle for comment were not returned.

Kootenai Health initially placed the 61-year-old on precautionary leave when federal prosecutors accused him of helping fund his stripper ex-wife Loren Toelle's six-state narcotics ring. Loren pleaded guilty in November and faces up to 40 years in prison.

Toelle opened North Idaho Endoscopy in 2002, a practice that was later acquired by Kootenai Health in 2013.

Throughout the money laundering investigation, Toelle, 61, told investigators he wasn't aware of Loren's narcotics empire. Earlier this month, he agreed to a plea deal that dismissed each felony charge in exchange for pleading guilty to two counts of misdemeanor tax fraud.

Being snared in his ex-wife's operation wasn't the only adverse thing in Toelle's career.

Toelle skirted with disciplinary action by the Idaho State Board of Medicince for prescribing excessive amounts of controlled substances — namely narcotics and hallucinogenic drugs — to his patients.

Toelle waived his right to a hearing while denying the allegations. Rather than be formally disciplined, in January 2015 Toelle entered into a stipulated agreement with the Board of Medicine. The terms include an agreement that Toelle will write prescriptions for controlled substances for pain only for patients who have a confirmed diagnosis of an abdominal condition treated by gastroenterologists.