ELKHART — Many questions remain following the shooting deaths of a well known local eye doctor and his wife. Many of his 13,000 patients are now struggling to understand what happened, and where they can now turn for treatment.
Dr. Phillip Gabrielle and his wife Marcella were both found dead inside the Gabriele Eye Institute's Elkhart office Monday morning just hours before they were scheduled to appear in court on federal fraud charges.
Elkhart County Coroner John White confirmed late Monday that Dr. Gabrielle died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. An autopsy on his wife, Marcella, is scheduled for Tuesday.
Police arrived at the Gabriele Eye Institute in Elkhart around 9am Monday. Inside they found the Gabrieles' bodies. Both had been shot in the head.
A friend of the Gabrieles called 911 after she found a suicide note at their home.
A federal grand jury indicted the couple last week for allegedly performing unnecessary surgeries, altering patient charts, and falsely billing medicare, medicaid, and private insurance companies.
Between his practices in Elkhart, Mishawaka and South Bend, Dr. Gabriele treated more than 13,000 total patients. Now, as many struggle to understand what's happened, they are also questioning where they can now turn for treatment.
Local ophthalmologists WSBT spoke with said they had already received hundreds of phone calls by late Monday afternoon — some seeking immediate care. Others, like Marci Sears, had already had appointments canceled due to the federal investigation.
"I actually had my annual appointment scheduled with him Friday afternoon, and his office called me that morning and said we're going to have to reschedule your appointment. Then, to hear about the shootings [Monday], it just very shocking and upsetting," Sears told WSBT.
It also left Sears, and many other of Gabriele's patients with many questions.
"They're asking--what do you do if you're one of these patients? What do you do at this point-- especially if you have an appointment?" said South Bend Clinic President Dr. S. Jesse Hsieh.
For now, the answers remain somewhat "hazy."
WSBT's calls to Dr. Andrew Anderson and Dr. Shannan Szuba — both optometrists on staff at Gabriele's 3 area locations — were not returned Monday, and Gabriele's Mishawaka and South Bend offices were locked. No signs were visible on the doors, giving patients no indication whether the eye centers would continue seeing patients, with or without a new ophthalmologist.
"I would consider going back if there are other doctors there, because I've always had such a good experience with that office in general," Sears said.
"I certainly wouldn't be opposed to going back if other doctors pick up the practice. But, considering how things can be kind of messy after something like that, that may not even be a possibility," she continued.
At the South Bend Clinic's South Bend location, Chief Ophthalmologist Dr. Martyn Wills is preparing for the chance that it's not.
"A couple of specialists have called me to see if I'd be willing to accept the patients, and I've already had a couple today," Wills said.
When asked what his answer has been to phone calls asking for his help, he replied: "Absolutely. Treat the patients like they're mine."
It's the same answer resonating from eye doctors across the community.
Many said they were shocked and saddened to learn of the shooting.
"I think we are all in shock," Hsieh said. "This is a very close knit medical community."
"None of us expected anything like this," agreed Wills. "It really upset me. I got a little choked up this morning and had to leave a couple of patients and pull myself together."
Wills says he maintained a professional working relationship with Gabriele, and called his patient care "first rate."
"He didn't appear to have that kind of personality. In fact, he never turned down a request for help. At one point, he had a patient that got injured while he was in California. And he was on the phone with me the whole time I was operating and repairing the eye," Wills said.
At Boling Vision Center in Elkhart, Dr. Richard Boling said he had already seen three of Gabriele's patients Monday.
"I think we're all in mourning here for the whole situation," Boling said. "We had a good casual, working relationship, and we'll continue that by doing whatever his patients need us to. We have five different doctors here, so we have the capacity to help out with whatever is needed."
There is one potential catch:
"It's going to be difficult to actually get [medical] records from that particular office," said Hsieh.
Treating without that information can be tricky, he said.
"I think it would be extremely difficult. Because, not only do you have a case where you're trying to pick up in the middle of something, but, then you're also wondering about some of the allegations that have been made on some of the surgeries," Hsieh said.
Still, Dr. Wills says that can be worked around.
"It's nice to have the records, and it's not ideal when you don't, but we can usually piece it together and put things together even if we don't have the records. It's not a reason not to get treatment if it's needed," Wills said.
His goal now is to provide peace of mind to patients in the face of tragedy.
"We can't walk away from them as a group," Wills said. "And I don't think any of us would be willing to do that."
