MD physician fights for medical license, exoneration

It took 25 years for Dr. Mark Midei to build his reputation and less than two for it to come crashing down. In the spring of 2009, he was a superstar cardiologist with a seven-figure salary and a staff that adored him. By late April 2011, he was disgraced, depressed, in a rehab facility, and so financially strapped he would soon have to put his sprawling home up for sale. "I've been near suicidal at times, my whole identity was stripped from me," Midei said last week in an exclusive meeting with The Baltimore Sun. It was his first extended interview since inquiries into whether he performed unnecessary medical procedures — the placement of coronary stents — were initiated by federal investigators and his employer in May 2009.