The oncologist who was fired from Bradford Regional Medical
Center earlier this year has been charged with stealing pain
medicine from a local grocery store.

Charges against Dr. Edward Miskiel, 59, of 165 Interstate
Parkway, were filed with Magisterial District Judge Dominic Cercone
Monday morning for an incident April 3 at Tops Friendly
Markets.

Miskiel was cited with one count of retail theft, a summary
offense, after allegedly stealing a 165-count bottle of Motrin
valued at $10.99, according to a spokeswoman at Cercone’s
office.

The incident happened at 5:08 p.m. April 3 at the Davis Street
store. He was charged by Bradford City Police.

The spokeswoman said that the office will send Miskiel a summons
in the mail. He has already been fingerprinted, she added, and the
fingerprints are then sent to the Pennsylvania State Police to find
out if Miskiel has any prior arrests. This procedure is set forth
in the Pennsylvania Crimes Code.

Nothing will be scheduled until the results come back. If it is
determined this is a second offense, the summary charge will be
withdrawn and a misdemeanor-level charge would be filed.

“He can’t make a plea until the results come back,” the
spokeswoman said.

In a summary charge, a defendant has the option to have a
hearing or plead guilty and pay a fine, which could be up to $145
and the cost of restitution.

Officials at BRMC fired Miskiel in January when they cited
employee confidentiality policies as the reason for not going into
further detail about Miskiel’s termination.

Since then, however, BRMC and Bradford Regional Medical Services
filed a lawsuit against Miskiel in which it is alleged that Miskiel
intentionally miscoded billing codes, did not adequately complete
patient medical records and logged onto more than 20 pornographic
Web sites on hospital-owned computers.

BRMS, an organization that operates physician practices in
McKean County, was solely responsible for Miskiel’s salary.

Miskiel, who has denied logging on to the sexually explicit Web
sites, said he was behind on keeping patient records because he did
not have enough clerical help in his office. A typist was hired in
late 2005.

The doctor, who was fired on Jan. 10, also filed a lawsuit
against BRMC and its board of directors, claiming there were no
grounds for his termination. His contract was to have run from
November 2004 to October 2007. He stated in the complaint that
there were only two circumstances that he could be terminated – by
mutual agreement or charged with certain criminal violations.

Since Miskiel’s termination, many of his patients have spoken
out in favor of the doctor, including hosting a reception and later
a rally.

In March, the medical staff at the hospital registered a “no
confidence” vote against the current hospital administration.