Convict loses his medical license

I’ve been waiting almost two years to post this news:

The Washington state medical board has revoked the medical license of Richard W. Illes for 10 years. Earlier this year, he was convicted of the 1999 murder of his estranged wife, Miriam Z. Illes, in the state of Pennsylvania and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

When Illes arrived in Spokane in 2001, he was hoping to work as a heart surgeon. But reports of the murder dogged him, perhaps circulated by the victim’s family. He could never obtain hospital privileges, so he opened a cut-rate plastic surgery center in the Spokane Valley.

That's when I started writing about him.

The state medical board investigated several complaints against Illes without taking action. The board couldn’t find enough evidence of deceptive advertising or of Illes omitting information from his application for a medical license.

Illes was arrested in December 2002 in Spokane. He was convicted of the murder in February of this year and sentenced in March.

Finally, the board found enough evidence to yank the man’s license.

For 10 years.