State Suspends Shorewood Doc Busted For Drugs

The doctor arrested last year on identity theft and drug charges lost his license for 90 days.

Thomas Heggen, 56, was jailed in July 2011. He pleaded guilty to a single count of possession of a controlled substance earlier this year.

In exchange for the guilty plea, a charge of identity theft and two counts of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud were dropped.

Heggen was sentenced to two years probation. At his bond hearing in July, prosecutors spoke of going after his medical license.

Heggen held onto his license but the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation suspended it for three months.

The suspension was announced today. The IDFPR also put Heggen on an indefinite probation that will last at least five years.

Heggen's attorney, Steven Haney of Joliet, said in court that the doctor developed an addiction to painkillers after undergoing shoulder surgery in 2008.

A popular and well-regarded doctor, Heggen practiced as an obstetrician and gynecologist out of an office on Jefferson Street. He also performed liposuction procedures at the Eterna MedSpa & Laser Vein Center on Vertin Boulevard.

Heggen was charged with using prescriptions that had been written for members of his family to get a hold of Norco, a hydrocodone painkiller, along with other drugs.