A physician at Evanston NorthShore Hospital has been charged with stealing nearly $200,000 worth of equipment from two of the medical group’s facilities, according to prosecutors and Evanston police.
In bond court Tuesday, Judge Marcia B. Orr ordered 34-year-old Vinay Rawlani, of the 1200 block of South Prairie Avenue, Chicago, held in lieu of $10,000 bond on charges of felony theft from NorthShore Medical Group’s Evanston and Skokie hospitals.
Evanston police Cmdr. Joe Dugan said Rawlani turned himself in to police Monday afternoon.
Prosecutors estimate Rawlani stole medical equipment valued at $177,022, which included an ultrasound machine, two ultrasound probes, a video printer, a video storage device and infusion and compression pumps.
Police said he also took an automated external defibrillator, a suction machine and a bladder scanner, among other items, between Jan. 23 and April 22. When staff at the hospital noticed the items missing, Dugan said, security personnel reviewed surveillance footage and identified Rawlani as the individual responsible for the thefts.
“Following the theft of several pieces of medical equipment at our hospital campuses earlier this year, we launched an investigation and learned that a part-time employee was involved in the theft of the equipment,” a NorthShore spokesman said. “At no time was patient care or private health information ever compromised. We have terminated his employment and are working with authorities to ensure he is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Rawlani has returned some equipment to the hospitals, prosecutors said.
In addition to working for NorthShore, Rawlani was serving as chief resident at the McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University’s plastic surgery program for 2015-16, before the center placed him on administrative leave pending an internal review, according to Northwestern University spokesman Alan Cubbage.
Prosecutors said Rawlani admitted to “accidentally” taking some equipment from the Evanston and Skokie hospitals while traveling between them. While equipment was found in Rawlani’s home, prosecutors said they have no evidence that Rawlani was storing the equipment for private use.
Rawlani, who is two months away from completing his residency, receives regular psychiatric counseling, said Barry Spector, Rawlani’s defense attorney.
Dugan said police were told Rawlani was an employee at the hospital, at 2650 Ridge Ave., but said he did not know in which department. Rawlani worked part-time caring for plastic surgery patients, a spokesman for the hospital said.
Lee V. Gaines is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press. Eltagouri is a Chicago Tribune reporter.
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