Press Release
NEUROSURGEON AND HOSPITAL PAY $1,275,000 SETTLEMENT FOR MEDICALLY UNNECESSARY SPINAL SURGERIES
July 26, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
United States Attorney R. Alexander Acosta announced today that the federal government has settled allegations of unnecessary spine surgeries against a board certified neurosurgeon and the hospital where the surgeries were performed. Under the terms of the settlement, the United States recovered $1,275,000. The $1,275,000 settlement was paid by Dr. Linda Bland and by Sebastian River Medical Center.
The government alleged that approximately half of all spinal surgery procedures performed by neurosurgeon Linda Bland, M.D. at Sebastian River Medical Center were not medically necessary. The hospital, which is part of the HMA hospital chain, and Dr. Bland submitted bills for these procedures to Medicare, which paid them based on the doctor's certification that they were reasonable and necessary. After a review of certain patient medical charts and radiology films by an independent expert neurosurgeon, the government determined that these surgical procedures were neither reasonable nor necessary.
The federal investigation was triggered by a whistleblower lawsuit filed in Palm Beach County by Thomas Gayeski, M.D., the former Chief of Anesthesia at the hospital, who witnessed many of the unnecessary procedures.
U.S. Attorney Acosta stated, "Unnecessary surgeries are not only fraudulent, but unconscionably expose patients to needless medical risks. We will aggressively prosecute any physician or health care professional, including board certified specialists, who order or perform unnecessary medical or surgical procedures that endanger the health and safety of our citizens and steal scarce resources from the Medicare system."
The case was prosecuted by Jeffrey W. Dickstein of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami and Amy L. Easton of the Department of Justice in Washington D.C.
Attachments:
Nature of Action (PDF)
Settlement - Neurosurgeon (PDF)
Settlement - Hospital (PDF)
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
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