On Fri, 18 May 2007 09:09:08 -0700, Earth Angel wrote:

Thus Spake Earth's Angel:


SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) Three doctors were charged with billing
insurers for $30 million of unnecessary surgery performed on hundreds
of patients recruited from around the country.

Authorities said the patients received money or low-cost cosmetic
procedures for participating in the "rent-a-patient" scam at
Unity Outpatient Surgery Center.

More than $5 million of the insurance claims were paid, authorities
said.

Arrested Wednesday were;
- Michael Chan, an obstetrician,
- William Hampton, a surgeon,
- Mario Rosenberg, a gastroenterologist.

Each was charged with 47 felony counts including conspiracy after
billing 19 insurance companies for what authorities said were
unnecessary colonoscopies and surgeries on 940 patients.

Bail ranged from $1 million to $2.3 million.

Each doctor could face nearly 50 years in prison.

The California Medical Board was also pursuing suspension of
their licenses.

Fourteen other people, five administrators and nine recruiters ,
have been charged as part of a four-year investigation.

"Doctors need to know if they commit insurance fraud, they may be
trading in their scrubs for prison jumpsuits,"
District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-05-17-calif-doctor-fraud_N.htm

Capitali$m at work: (No *Frivolous Law-Suites*
permitted!) ;-)

Fraud is a felony, not a tort.

Earth Angel
(I am Life & Death)