By Black Star News Editorial
Photos: Wikimedia Commons|Family
The former University of Michigan anesthesiologist whom police recommended be criminally charged after investigating allegations that he poisoned his Haitian-born wife for nearly a decade blamed his “old school” understanding of workplace conduct when questioned under oath about sexual harassment allegations that had dogged him for years.
Dr. St. Claire: He pushed another nurse’s hand that touched a fellow nurse’s rear-end and called it “funny”
The testimony raises a question that the University of Michigan, President Domenico Grasso, and the Board of Regents can no longer avoid:
Was Dr. Paul Gregory St. Claire forced out solely because of allegations that he improperly accessed and altered his wife Cassandra Fameux’s medical records? Or did years of substantiated workplace misconduct also play a role in the University’s decision to terminate one of its longest-serving physicians?
This question was posed by an attorney during divorce proceedings.
The public deserves an answer. Instead the University of Michigan executed a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) when Dr. St. Claire was fired on Feb. 28, 2024 after 35 years of employment.
Black Star News has already reported that Dr. St. Claire, 74, testified during his divorce that he was forced to resign after Cassandra Fameux, 46, complained that he had accessed and altered her medical records. According to written documentation by Ms. Fameux’s former Community Mental Health social worker, Linda Wenzel, the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) later confirmed in July 2024 that Dr. St. Claire had altered those records.
Yet instead of publicly explaining why a physician entrusted with patients’ lives was terminated, the University entered into an NDA with him.
Why?
Contrast that secrecy with the University’s highly public handling of former football coach Sherrone Moore’s 2025 termination. President Grasso issued a public statement on Dec. 11, 2025 stressing integrity and zero tolerance.
Grasso was once again at the forefront on July 20, 2026, delivering a major video-statement announcing that Athletic Director Warde Manuel would be departing at the end of the year following an investigation by the outside law firm Jenner & Block.
Where was that transparency and investigation when it came to Dr. St. Claire? Does President Grasso value football more when compared to the serious allegations of medical abuse against Dr. St. Claire? There’s an appearance of rank hypocrisy here.
The questions become even more troubling after reviewing Dr. St. Claire’s Sept. 25, 2024 deposition.
During questioning by attorney Timothy P. Young, Dr. St. Claire acknowledged that Sparrow Hospital—now University of Michigan Health Sparrow—had disciplined him repeatedly over workplace misconduct.
When asked about an operating room incident involving a nurse, Dr. St. Claire did not deny that it happened. Instead, he characterized it as “silliness” and explained that he had learned “you can’t be silly anymore.” He denied that he patted the nurse who had bent over to assist an intubated patient on her rear end. He claimed, instead, that he intentionally “hit” the hand of a second nurse whose hand then touched the first one’s rear.
He attributed the incident to what he described as an “old school” operating room culture. There was no “malintent,” he said.
“Thought it was funny,” Dr. St. Clair said, “There’s no assault…”
It was the nurse who got fired when she complained about the incident, Black Star News has learned. Dr. St. Claire claimed she was fired for other complaints against her.
Years earlier, Sparrow’s Triage Committee had already warned Dr. St. Claire about substantiated allegations involving workplace behavior that could constitute sexual harassment. He was suspended, ordered to complete ethics and boundaries training, placed on a Performance Improvement Program, and warned that future violations could jeopardize his employment.
Then another complaint followed as previously reported.
In a 2021 peer-review letter, hospital officials concluded that Dr. St. Claire had engaged in an inappropriate interaction with a female patient by commenting on her “beautiful hair and beautiful, full lips.” According to the letter, the patient became so uncomfortable that she sought assurances Dr. St. Claire would never again be alone with her.
During his deposition, Dr. St. Claire did not deny making the remarks. Instead, he offered verbal gymnastics, saying the conversation centered on the patient’s ethnic background and comparing her appearance to that of one of his daughters.
The deposition also contains another remarkable admission.
Under oath, Dr. St. Claire acknowledged having an extramarital relationship with a married University of Michigan nurse, Katherine Hicks.
That testimony arose while Mr. Young questioned Dr. St. Claire about whether he and Ms. Fameux had truly ended their marital relationship after signing the 2018 Judgment of Separate Maintenance (JOSM) or whether they continued functioning as husband and wife while living together until Dr. St. Claire filed for divorce in 2023.
The deposition further reveals Dr. St. Claire insisting that the couple remained in the same home primarily for their children and health insurance, while also giving testimony about the nature of their relationship after 2018.
Attorney Young sought to establish that even if the 2018 JOSM were somehow valid, the parties continued living together as husband and wife for another five years. If so, marital assets accumulated after the agreement could still be subject to equitable distribution.
Dr. St. Claire, however, painted a very different picture. He insisted that he and Ms. Fameux were essentially nothing more than roommates who remained under the same roof for the benefit of their children and to preserve the family’s health insurance.
Mr. Young pressed him repeatedly about whether he and his wife continued to have marital relations.
Dr. St. Claire testified that if they had sexual relations after 2018, it would have been “very, very rare.” When pressed further, he responded with an extraordinary question: “What’s the definition of sex?”
He then claimed he could not remember having sex with his wife during the previous four or five years, “Because she had gained a lot of weight,” he testified. “I wasn’t interested for a lot of psychological reasons…”
Meanwhile, the backdrop to all of this remains extraordinary.
Ms. Fameux alleges that Dr. St. Claire and psychiatrist Dr. Dominic Barberio (above) subjected her to years of unnecessary antipsychotic drug treatment despite her insistence and that of several psychiatrists that she had neither schizophrenia nor bipolar disorder.
She told Meridian Township Police that the purpose was to coerce her into signing the JOSM while she was drugged, on Feb. 20, 2018, transferring millions of dollars in marital assets and two homes to Dr. St. Claire’s control.
Black Star News previously reported that the JOSM was void because the court never appointed a Guardian Ad Litem (GAL) for Ms. Fameux as required under Michigan law. This media outlet also reported that in order to uphold the JOSM, Dr. St. Claire, his attorney Jessica Larson, and Judge Carol N. Koenig who presided over the divorce apparently fabricated the existence of a GAL. Black Star News reported the matter to local, state, and national law enforcement in addition to the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission.
Ms. Fameux told Meridian Township Police that years of monthly Invega Sustenna injections left her with a pituitary brain tumor, diabetes, a heart condition requiring implantation of a loop cardiac monitor, and infertility after surgery to stop excessive menstrual bleeding. Officer Nathan Wicks wrote in the police report that she provided medical documentation supporting those claims.
On April 10, 2025, the police recommended criminal charges against Dr. St. Claire. Prosecutor John Dewane declined.
If Ms. Fameux’s allegations are true, this would rank among the most disturbing allegations of prolonged medical abuse ever associated with a physician employed by the University of Michigan’s health system.
The allegations surrounding the football program have been investigated publicly.
Yet the allegations of medical abuse remain shrouded in secrecy, protected by an NDA the university has never explained.
That is precisely why the University’s continued silence matters.
This is no longer just about one doctor or one family. It is about whether a renowned public university will live up to the values it proclaims—integrity, accountability, and transparency.
University of Michigan students, faculty, alumni, donors, patients, and the people of Michigan have every right to expect clear answers from an institution supported by public trust and public resources.
Black Star News filed a FOIA request dated Oct. 15, 2025, and still awaits answers.
The University should release the records, explain what it knew, when it knew it, and what actions it took.
President Grasso’s silence only deepens the questions.
Because Black Star News exclusively exposed his alleged numerous egregious acts, Dr. St. Claire filed a frivolous defamation law suit against Black Star News in a desperate attempt to silence us—perhaps in his mind another version of an NDA.
Editor’s Note: Support the “Justice for Cassandra” campaign and our legal defense campaign.
