By Milton Allimadi
Photos: Facebook
A veteran anesthesiologist at Sparrow Hospital—part of $7 billion Ann Arbor-based Michigan Medical—has been suspended following an investigative report in Black Star News detailing sexual harassment allegations against him and, separately, his wife has accused him of rape and of illegally drugging her for more than three years with a powerful drug used to treat schizoaffective and bipolar disorder even though he knew she didn’t suffer from the ailment.
Dr. Paul Gregory St. Claire, 71, was the subject of an article in Black Star News detailing how hospital officials treated him with kid gloves following repeated documented sexual harassment allegations against him by co-workers and a patient. Shortly after the publication of the Black Star News article, Lansing, MI-based Sparrow Hospital suspended Dr. St. Claire pending the outcome of an investigation by the hospital, according to people familiar with the matter.
When asked about Dr. St. Claire’s employment status, John Foren, spokesperson for Sparrow Hospital in an e-mail message told Black Star News, “Following our standard policy, we cannot comment on pending legal and personnel matters.” Dr. St. Claire is also under investigation by the Michigan State Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, Black Star News has learned.
Separately, Dr. St. Claire’s wife, Cassandra Fameux, 43, in an Oct. 30, 2023 affidavit titled “Affidavit of Criminal Complaint” to the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan, Mark Totten, accused her husband of numerous abuses including rape and the intentional wrongful diagnosis and illegal drugging. Ms. Fameux’s affidavit claims her husband asked his friend, Dr. Dominic Barberio, a psychiatrist and colleague at Sparrow Hospital, to intentionally falsely diagnose her with schizoaffective disorder and bipolarism, in 2017.
Following the alleged false diagnosis, both Dr. St. Claire and Dr. Barberio started injecting Ms. Fameux with Invega Sustenna, an antipsychotic drug used to treat schizoaffective disorder, Ms. Fameux claimed. She was injected for more than three years, according to medical records reviewed by Black Star News.
When contacted for comment regarding Ms. Fameux’s allegations, Tiffany Brown, spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney, in an e-mail message said, “As long as the court proceedings and investigation is ongoing, our department policy is not [to] comment.”
Ms. Fameux’s affidavit states that in March of 2015—two years before the injections with Invega Sustenna started—she was “severely beaten and raped on different occasions,” by her husband and that she never reported the attacks to police out of fear of retaliation.
“I have been treated very cruelly and inhumanely by both my husband and Dr. Barberio,” Ms. Fameux’s affidavit states. “My basic human rights have been violated. Dr. Barberio and my husband committed malpractice and fraud, they misdiagnosed me and mistreated me. Dr. Barberio and my husband inflicted serious bodily and mental harm on me.”
“Invega Sustenna is referred to as a chemical lobotomy for a good reason,” Ms. Fameux’s affidavit added. “The drug gave me lower IQ, suicidal thoughts, worsened memory, slower thinking, chronical depression, irregular heartbeat, diabetes, weight gain, liver problems due to weight gain, high level of prolactin which contributed to my brain tumor in 2021.” Ms. Fameux now has to return to hospital every six months for an MRI scan of the brain to monitor the tumor, she said. In March, 2023, Ms. Fameux had a loop recorder inserted into her chest to monitor her heart. She attributes her condition to the Invega Sustenna injections.
Ms. Fameux’s affidavit accused Dr. St. Claire and Dr. Barberio, of “medical malpractice,” “abuse of power,” “misuse and abuse of drugs,” “falsifying documents,” and “insurance fraud.” (In a separate matter unrelated to Ms. Fameux’s allegations, Sparrow paid $671,300 to settle a civil matter with the U.S. for improper billing practices )
Ms. Fameux, a Haitian immigrant, was a 22-year old intern at Sparrow Hospital’s nutritional department when she was pursued by Dr. St. Claire, who was then 50 years old, on Jan. 8, 2003, she says. At the time Dr. St. Claire informed her that he was going through a divorce. After Ms. Fameux became pregnant Dr. St. Clair pressured her unsuccessfully to terminate the pregnancy, even offering her $80,000, and then threatening to sue when she refused, Ms. Fameux said.
Dr. St. Clair allegedly said he had “a reputation to protect” and that he didn’t want his DNA “spreading around,” Ms. Fameux said. Jessica Larson, a lawyer representing Dr. St. Claire in divorce proceedings he filed against his wife in August 2023 didn’t respond to questions about this allegation. Dr. St. Claire and Ms. Fameux didn’t marry until Dec. 17, 2009, by which time they already had two children. Ms. Fameux claims the relationship was physically and verbally abusive.
Ms. Fameux claims she’d never had any mental health issues until she met Dr. St. Claire. The next article in this series will explore how Ms. Fameux’s drugging may have started as early as 2014, leading to: her paranoia, panic attacks, confrontations with Dr. St. Claire, her arrest, and hospitalizations.
Dr. St. Claire and Dr. Barberio concealed their scheme by not writing prescriptions for the Invega Sustenna, as required by law, since they would have had to have been filled by a pharmacist, leaving a paper trail, Ms. Fameux alleges. Dr. Barberio himself later confirmed to a lawyer who briefly represented Ms. Fameux that the drugs came from samples. Without the medical records, which were obtained by unconventional means, it would have been difficult to prove that Ms. Fameux was injected with Invega Sustenna.
It’s hard to know precisely how many times Ms. Fameux was injected with Invega Sustenna. Some of the injections were given to her at home by Dr. St. Claire and Dr. Barberio, Ms. Fameux has alleged, and documents show.
Medical records reviewed by Black Star News reveal that Ms. Fameux was injected with Invega Sustenna at Sparrow Hospital at least 54 times, possibly 71 times, between mid-2017 to early 2021. The chart shows the dates of the injections, the dosage of the drug, and the name of the physician administering the shot. However, as many as 17 rows have a line running across them, like they were crossed out with a pen. So if these lines aren’t counted it would reduce the totals. Ms. Fameux’s affidavit states that some of the records were tampered with to make it appear as if she was injected with lower dosage of Invega Sustenna on some occasions.
Dr. Barberio’s name appears on most of the columns indicating the physician who administered the injections on the chart. Some rows state “Historical Provider” instead of a physician’s name. Yet, all the injections in Dr. Barberio’s office at Sparrow Hospital were actually administered by Dr. St. Claire, and occasionally by Dr. Barberio’s medical assistant, Ms. Fameux said. Dr. Barberio himself only injected Ms. Fameux at home, whenever Dr. St. Claire phoned and summoned him there, she claimed. In addition to the injections, Dr. St. Claire was medicating his wife orally, including with Abilify and Vraylar, according to documents reviewed by Black Star News.
The injections—sometimes multiple times per month—left her weak, disoriented, incoherent, with slurred speech, and walking “like a zombie,” Ms. Fameux said. She was often so incapacitated that one time she phoned her husband on the job at Sparrow Hospital in a panic and informed him—mistakenly, it turned out—that she’d suffered a stroke. Such was the power of the Invega Sustenna shots, she says.
During this period, while regularly injecting his wife with Invega Sustenna and feeding her various other medications, Dr. St. Claire filed court papers for a “Separate Maintenance” agreement and he made out handsomely. He was awarded the couple’s marital property, according to court documents from Michigan State Circuit Court, Ingham County, Family Division. Ms. Fameux’s condition led the court to appoint a guardian ad litem for her. Court papers show that Dr. St. Claire and Ms. Fameux signed the judgment on Feb. 12, 2018. Dr. St. Claire was awarded the couple’s marital home.
Dr. St. Claire also got to keep all the bank accounts that were in his name; credit cards and debt; all fidelity investments (non-retirement); and Fidelity Roth IRA and IRA. Ms. Fameux, who’d been a stay-at-home spouse naturally had no income of her own. She too was to keep all bank accounts that were in her name and Fidelity Roth IRA in her name. Ms. Fameux was also to receive $130,000 as part of her equity from a cottage the couple owned. She was to also get $575,000, paid out of Dr. St. Claire’s employee-sponsored benefit program, and $3,814 per month in spousal support, beginning Aug. 15, 2017 and thereafter on the first day of each month for five years. Recent documents reviewed by Black Star News show the value of St. Claire’s portfolio at close to $5 million.
According to the court papers, Judge Janelle A. Lawless presided over a hearing on Feb. 20, 2018 and entered the judgment. However, instead of her signature, Judge Lawless’s name is stamped on the document, with no initials. The clerk’s name, Abigail Mares, is also stamped, and again there are no initials.
Dr. St. Claire’s signature appears on the signature page, as with his lawyer’s—at the time, she went by Jessica L. Waite, presumably Larson’s maiden name. Ms. Fameux’s signature also appears on the page, as with that of a lawyer who’s listed as representing her, Robin L. Omer. However, the signature of the guardian ad litem, listed as Melissa G. Leckie, is missing from the signature page, instead a note in its place says “see attached.”
The attached page states: “The parties and their respective counsel have read and reviewed the foregoing judgment and fully understand its provisions contained therein, and so hereby consent to the entry of the judgment.” The attachment has signature space for Dr. St. Claire, his attorney, Ms. Fameux, her attorney Omer, and the guardian ad litem, Melissa G. Leckie. Yet, the only signature that appears on this page is that of the guardian ad litem, Leckie; no other signature.
Both Omer and Leckie did not respond to e-mail messages seeking comment by publication time.
Ms. Fameux says she plans to challenge the judgment, now that she’s clear-headed and no longer under the debilitating influence of the Invega Sustenna injections and other medication by Dr. St. Claire. Dr. St. Claire and Dr. Barberio stopped injecting Ms. Fameux in February 2021 after her physician, alarmed by her prolactin level, ordered tests that revealed the brain tumor.
Apparently, Dr. St. Claire wanted more than what he got in the judgment. Several months ago, he asked Ms. Fameux to change her will and make him the beneficiary, a suggestion she rejected, she claims.
The Hospital documents reviewed by Black Star News shows that the first shot of Invega Sustenna given to Ms. Fameux at Sparrow Hospital was on July 11, 2017, with a dosage of 234 mg. A week later, she received another shot, at 156 mg. Dr. Barberio’s name appears as the physician administering the shot. However, Ms. Fameux insists only her husband and Dr. Barberio’s assistant injected her at his office.
The only times Dr. Barberio ever injected her was when he came to their home. There are two more shots during the month of July 2017, however those lines are crossed out on the records. So Ms. Fameux was either injected at least twice or as many as four times in July 2017.
Dr. St. Claire even had his wife injected with Invega Sustenna as punishment, Ms. Fameux claims. She often cooked when Dr. St. Claire’s two adult daughters from his late wife, Dr. Marcy Street—who died in 2019—visited. During one such visit by the daughters, Ms. Fameux wasn’t feeling well and didn’t cook, she said. When Dr. St. Claire heard about this, he was enraged and phoned Dr. Barberio who came over and injected her with Invega Sustenna, Ms. Fameux claims.
What appears to be Dr. St. Claire’s own hand-written notes from May 2020, seem to confirm that Dr. Barberio was a visitor to their home with his syringe, as alleged by Ms. Fameux. The hand-writing resembles notes written by Dr. St. Claire decades ago, on Dec. 19, 2003, in court documents from his divorce case from the late Dr. Street, reviewed by Black Star News. The note documenting Dr. Barberio’s visit, by Dr. St. Claire, is dated May 27, 2020 and reads: “Barberio comes to house for shot 1/2 234mg = 117mg Invega.”
Additional observations in the notes by Dr. St. Claire appear to confirm Ms. Fameux’s allegations that he gave her various medications. Ms. Fameux was given vraylar pills on June 23, 24, and 25, 2020, according to the notes. Dr. St. Claire’s notes, dated June 25, 2020, which described Ms. Fameux reaction to the medication stated: “Constant aggressive bothering me about wanting to move away with our children.” At the time the couple’s children were ages 16, 14, and 10.
Vraylar’s website describes the drug’s characteristics this way: “Vraylar is a prescription medicine approved as an add-on therapy for adults with depression who are currently taking an antidepressant but still have unresolved depression symptoms.” The description adds: “While the exact way Vraylar works is unknown, healthcare providers and scientists believe that Vraylar helps manage chemicals in the brain, such as serotonin and dopamine, that may regulate your mood.”
The medical charts show that during the period she was being injected with Invega Sustenna, other doctors at Sparrow Hospital were also medicating Ms. Fameux. According to the medical records Dr. Anthony Amada was giving her LORezepam and Sodium Chloride; Dr. Sarah Malik, was administering LORezepam. She was also medicated by Dr. West, according to the records. Foren, the Sparrow spokesperson declined to respond when asked if these physicians were aware that Dr. St. Claire and Dr. Barberio were injecting Ms. Fameux with Invega Sustenna during this period.
When contacted for a response to the allegations in Ms. Fameux’s affidavit, Jessica Larson, the lawyer who represented Dr. St. Claire in the 2018 financial judgement and who’s his current divorce attorney, in an e-mailed message said: “Dr. St. Claire denies Ms. Fameux’s false and malicious allegations against him. Ms. Fameux fabricates claims and omits important details of her own conduct in an effort to falsely discredit a property settlement reached over five years ago in a separate maintenance action.” In that judgment, “Ms. Fameux had the assistance of an experienced family law attorney and a court appointed attorney guardian ad litem,” she added.
Ms. Larson didn’t respond to follow-up questions from Black Star News about specific allegations in Ms. Fameux’s affidavit, including that: Dr. St. Claire asked Dr. Barberio to intentionally falsely diagnose her with schizoaffective disorder; that Dr. St. Claire and Dr. Barberio both injected her with Invega Sustenna from 2017 to 2021; and, that Dr. St. Claire allegedly sexually assaulted Ms. Fameux during one period in 2015.
Foren, the Sparrow spokesperson declined to comment when contacted by Black Star News about Ms. Fameux’s allegations about the alleged intentional false diagnosis by Dr. St. Claire and Dr. Barberio, and the subsequent alleged injections with Invega Sustenna for more than three years.
Ms. Fameux and Dr. St. Claire still share the same house with their children. One is now in college and the two younger ones live at home. Dr. St. Claire lives in the basement but during the day he’s in the house so the couple’s paths cross. Ms. Fameux says she lives in constant fear of her husband.
In August of this year Ms. Fameux confronted Dr. St. Claire with video evidence that he was allegedly having an affair with a nurse at Sparrow Hospital. Shortly after that, on Aug. 28, 2023, Dr. St. Claire filed for divorce from Ms. Fameux.
In his divorce filing, Dr. St. Claire claimed “all marital assets and debt were equitably divided by the judgment of separate maintenance,” referring to the 2018 judgment, and offering an interesting spin on the meaning of “equitably.” He also added that there remain “no marital assets or debts to be divided in this matter.”
In terms of the reason for the divorce, Dr. St. Claire stated: “There has been a breakdown in the marital relationship to the extent that the objects of matrimony have been destroyed and there remains no reasonable likelihood that the marriage can be preserved.”
Ms. Fameux recently terminated the services of a lawyer named Janet Hamilton, who’d briefly represented her since the divorce filing. She claims when she’d initially retained Ms. Hamilton the lawyer told her she believed Dr. St. Claire had been “poisoning” her and that she’d aggressively fight for her. Ms. Fameux claims the lawyer has yet to respond to her request for an itemized invoice on the $12,500 retainer she paid her. Ms. Hamilton didn’t respond to e-mail messages from Black Star News. Ms. Fameux has hired new attorneys, Greg Crockett and Benjamin Fulger to represent her.
After Dr. St. Claire and Dr. Barberio stopped injecting Ms. Fameux with Invega Sustenna in 2021 she continued visiting Dr. Barberio, who’d been her therapist since 2014 on Dr. St. Claire’s recommendation. On September 1, 2023, during a visit with Dr. Barberio, Ms. Fameux got him to admit that she wasn’t schizophrenic, according to documentation reviewed by Black Star News. This was a remarkable confession coming from a doctor who’d been involved in injecting Ms. Fameux with Invega Sustenna for over 32 months. Dr. Barberio also discussed Dr. St. Claire’s alleged womanizing, according to the evidence.
While Ms. Hamilton was still representing Ms. Fameux, she and Dr. Barberio exchanged some e-mail messages, according to Ms. Fameux.
In an e-mail message to Ms. Fameux, Ms. Hamilton said Dr. Barberio conceded that the Invega Sustenna came from his samples and that this was “normal.” Dr. Barberio also admitted that he didn’t know what ailed Ms. Fameux, according to Ms. Hamilton’s e-mail message.
Both Ms. Hamilton and Dr. Barberio did not return e-mail messages from Black Star News seeking comment.
Note: The next article explores Dr. St. Claire’s troubled marriages.
Follow the author @allimadi on X, formerly Twitter and milton allimadi on IG. He can be reached via [email protected]
