Brewster Doctor Pleads Guilty in Federal Medical Device Case

A Brewster doctor has pleaded guilty in federal court to charges involving recalled medical devices that were altered and then billed to Medicaid as new.

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First Assistant U.S. Attorney Pete Serrano announced that Dr. Eric Edward Haeger, 57, pleaded guilty on December 17 in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington to adulterating and misbranding medical devices with the intent to defraud or mislead.

The case stems from a 2021 recall issued by Philips Respironics involving certain CPAP and BiPAP machines. The recall cited potential health risks linked to sound-abatement foam used inside the devices, including inflammatory responses, asthma, nausea, vomiting, and possible toxic or cancer-causing effects.

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According to court documents, between July 2021 and July 2023, Haeger purchased more than 500 used and recalled CPAP and BiPAP machines through online resellers and had them shipped to Eastern Washington. Prosecutors said Haeger and others working at his direction opened the devices and attempted to remove the recalled foam using tools such as screwdrivers and hooks before reassembling them.

The alterations were performed in locations not designed or operated as clean rooms for medical device manufacturing, authorities said.

Prosecutors say Haeger then provided the altered, recalled devices to Washington State Medicaid patients through his sleep clinic. Staff members, acting under his supervision, billed Medicaid for the machines while falsely representing that the devices were new and in good working condition.

Haeger is scheduled to be sentenced on March 24, 2026.