Stent maker gave doc accused of implanting the unnecessary devices a crab feast
Article Source: msnbc.com
from:msnbc.comMedicare paid millions for unneeded stents, Senate finds
Seeded on Mon Dec 6, 2010 2:45 PM EST (msnbc.com)
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If this doctor doesn't do jail time, there is something seriously wrong with our justice system. Seriously wrong.
It's all about "Corporate Greed" and "Corporate Slavery" along with a special Judicial System set up for the elite. Look at those in Congress, who just get their hands slapped for fraud, tax evasion, etc., etc. Anyone else would have been sent to jail immediately without a bond.
<p></p>Actually, this happens to be about greedy doctors, and a government medical system incapable of stopping fraud until millions are wasted. Now multiply this timx 1,000's of doctors and 100's of "procedures" and how exactly can anyone trust a federal system to work for anything?
All politics is local, all medicine should be too. Most of what our federal government does it shouldn't. Fixing our nation requires paring the federal and state government down to size and delivering services locally, eliminating billions in waste, fraud, abuse and layers of unneeded and very expensive bureaucracy.
If you don't already know that, you have been living on another planet.
Suitable punishment: Restitution plus interest to the medicare program, loss of medical license, 200% restitution to the individual patients or their estates if they are no longer alive, and whatever jail term is customary for this form of fraud.
I'm with you except for the 200% restitution; I've gone through heart surgery and 100% would be more than enough for me. Let's not be greedy!
Looks like another big business cohort screwing the government.
you mean screwing the people. that is where the money comes from.
Looks like another failed federal program run by incompetent union stooges. I'm just guessing private insurance would catch this kind of crap because they are greedy.
But really, the answer is simply to remove profit from health- push the entire system into a non-profit mode. Yes, Doctors and other highly trained professionals need to be able to earn, but profit in the delivery of medicine is dumb.
The federal government proves year after year that most of what they do they do not do well, and that fraud, incompetence, waste and abuse are rampant.
When do we roll out the guillotine and start chopping licenses to practice?
Even while we're going bankrupt paying $50,000/CABG (Coronary Artery Bypass Graft) and $10,000/Angioplasty the AMA is attacking NIH's study of EDTA Chelation which is a well-studied, inexpensive introvenous technique for clearing arteries.
Land of the Free and Home of the Brave, Indeed!
To Amy- I could not agree more- but one more thing- go after the device maker and the doctor and DO IT NOW...........
While I agree with you to some degree, the device maker probably had no idea that the devices were being implanted unnecessarily. They don't see the person before the surgery. I'm sure the "dinner" was due to his volume of business, operates just like any other big business!
My husband has 8 stents and has never seen a representative from the manufacturer. The doctor should absolutely lose his license and I'm all for restitution.
That is not enough to completely dismiss any involvement of the device maker.
Seems to me the problem is at Medicare - if they cannot stop unneeded procedures, exactly why are we as taxpayers paying them to administer this program?
How in the hell would the manufacturer know the health status of a patient? Utter nonsense to go after the manufacturer. Medicare has entire rooms full of people who are supposed to be experts at all of this - and clearly this is a complete FAIL. Every week a new story, but the same story.
The solution is to abolish Medicare. Think how much money we'd save. If you can afford health care, then you get health care. If you can't... well, you're old and non-productive anyway.
Isn't it too bad that medicine is big business? I am longing for the day when all those prescription pills are taken off the airways. The lives of people are in danger and not necessarily because they are sick. We all need to be well informed about our bodies and the drugs and procedures the doctors want to inflict on us.
How is this different from lobbyists entertaining and schmoozing with senators?
Yeah, all that alcohol is really bad for ya.
Only the professions have changed. . . guess it's OK if you're a lobbyist or politician since they aren't being held accountable for ANYTHING. . .
Its not different then senators shmoozing with lobbyist. Unfortunately senators standards for avoiding cooruptioin are so low that we expect them to be corrupt. Doctors have historically kept a higher standard for not making profit at the expense of the patient. of course there are exceptions. I personally am embarrassed to be in the same profession as this person.
umm, the difference is that lobbyists DON'T IMPLANT THINGS INTO PEOPLES BODIES! This was a case of greed, pure and simple. Question is, how many of these patients are dead now because of this person.
The difference is that people could have died as a result of these fraudulent procedures.
Profit motive in an "industry" with inelastic demand, little to no competition, a manage supply of suppliers too often creates curruption. Why would we be surprised.
We can be surprised if someone dies for the profit motive.
Thanks for deleting the advertisment!
Americans are overmedicated and overprocedures. It is a couple of the reasons our medical costs are way higher than the OECD average without a similar increase in life expectancy. Worse, people die undergoing these procedures.
This past summer I had to have a cardiac catheterization. I did some research on stents because they told me that if I had a blockage they were going to put in a stent.
What I found out was scary. The doctor in this article is not the only one padding his practice with stent procedures. I found an unsettling number of articles about different doctors and different hospitals placing stents unnecessarily.
My doctor was not one of them. He seemed pleased that my heart was good and there were no blockages. (He couldn't have been more pleased than I was, however!)
I was fortunate to have worked with an ethical, talented and conscientious doctor. When you're on your back in the procedure room with a tube snaking up into your heart, you are in a totally vulnerable position!
Just proves the high cost of health care is not necessarily or solely the fault of insurance carriers.
Uh gee. This really makes that government controlled single payer system look like a genius of an idea.
I'm sure Nancy and Harry think so.
What exactly does this have to do with a single payor system? This happens and has always happened not only with Medicare but also with insurance payors.
Also, remember that it is not the Federal Government paying those claims it is private insurance companies (Blue Cross and United HealthCare in many states).
There are dishonest people in all industries and you can catch up with some of them but not all fo them.
It wouldnt happen if the providers were not paid for every procedure done...no profit motive per procedures would mean no reason for fraud.
What a racket. Doctors, phamaceuticals, hospitals, lawyers. But really bites is the referrals from one specialist to the next. How many times have you gone to the Doc and you know there's a specific thing/part of your body that is wrong with you but you end up going to numerous specialists, or have "precautionary" tests to cover everyone's a##.... thanks to Tort. I bet it's a 3 trillion dollar college industry.
But I'm still not for Obama Care.
Wherever there is doctor and procedure, there will be fraud. Unfortunately, the legislators, (read lawyers), determine the payouts, and obviously it is all so out of control with no end in sight.
Well gee, why don't they just cut some more from Social Security benefits, raise the age even higher for seniors, and then they can continue to allow these doctors to have their pig roasts and practice unethical medicine! And the pharmaceuticals can keep raising their prices too!
Medicare didn't notice this doctor was using a lot of stents? The stent makers did. They rewarded him with a barbeque.
Sheesh, get off the barbeque thing; that is not a payoff. He could easily afford his own barbeque. Let's hear the facts. What do other, real doctors (stent performing) think? I really don't care what arm chair, "I hate patients" doctors think.
However, food always tastes better when someone else makes or buys it.
Exactly.
This dr.'s no better than the people on MA selling their painkillers. Who do you suppose will get the stiffer sentence?
This is just the tip of the iceberg. Cardiology, orthopedics, pain medicine even the family practitioners are squeezing out dollars for unnecessary procedures. As a physician,I see it everyday. It is a sad state of affairs. GREED, GREED, GREED.
Opthamologists too.
As a nurse for 30 years-I have seen this often with Dr's-it is a minority, however they are raking in millions each year with unwarranted tests, surgeries and specialist referrals. The Dr's are very seldom chastised, let alone prosecuted. The AMA is less concerned with fraud than proecting their own. The hospitals and medical groups applaud the bottom line.
Several issues here: The insurance companies are supposed to be monitoring these types of activities to prevent fraud. The physicians are supposed to hold themselves to higher ethical standards, but the temptation to get a higher reimbursement is very great. And then you have legislators with lobbyists in their ears trying to fix a problem that they do not understand. . . what a mess!
MSP1957 Do you report those people?
so why did it take so long for anyone to figure it out that this doc was a quack, and stealing from the system. thats a bunch of crap, it makes it hard for people who need this done now
It's hard because the profession and advisers to the profession encourage a plethora of tests and procedures to cover every eventuality in a court of law!
when you set the example at the top that greed rules it does also when you have a sinking ship everone is only out to save their own arzz
Just exactly what kind of panel made these findings based on what? what are the credentials of the panelist. I think an independent investigation is needed of both the doctor and the panel. We assume the panel has no agenda but perhaps they have an incentive (big bucks) to call foul on the doctor. Let's see all the facts; not just the findings.
I just assume it was a death panel...you know, the kind that the republicans used in their scare tactics...is there any other type of panel?
The facts? Ha!
Experts make up the panel. Not amateurs.
Amateurs stumble over everyday problems. Experts march on to the grand disillusionment.
Who can you trust to police the medical industry. Not the doctors, not the politicians, not the states, not the feds. Who? Our country has become laughable, we pay people to steal from us. On all sides. And we keep bending over and grabbing our ankles.
I actually trust my docotors and they have kept me alive unlike washington bereacrats who only suck my blood.
All people posses some level of greed--that's why we have laws and penalties in an effort to keep us all honest!--------as an example to others like him, I subscribe to a revoking of his medical license and a seizure of all his assets-----putting him in jail cost the taxpayers money----don't punish ourselves, punish him!!
This kind of thing has been going on for more years then anyone can imagine,one illness or another....Its all about the money,not about the health of the patient.