Yes, there goes more unnecessary expense in health care. It's also doing great harm to many patients. It's a Billion Dollar fraud case uncovered in California by the Feds.
Apparently, many back surgeries have been performed on patients who didn't need them. Why? The doctors were getting kickbacks on a per patient basis. It makes it difficult to trust doctors doesn't it? Not to say they are all criminals but certainly some are.
To make it worse they were using counterfeit screws to insert and treat the supposed back problems of the patients. Now the definition of counterfeit could tell you a lot: Made in exact imitation of something valuable or important with the intention to deceive or defraud.
But these counterfeit screws were not safe to use with patients. When inserted they leaked toxins harmful to human beings. Patients who were the victims of this fraud suffered excruciating pain caused by the leaked toxins. The real screws would have been safe and if used on patients with a genuine need, would not have leaked toxins but instead helped the patient.
This scheme caused healthcare Billions of dollars. While some of it may be recovered through fines and some paybacks a lot of money has gone directly into the pockets of these perpetrators and will never be recovered.
If you haven't read The Last Client yet, you can purchase it at Amazon.com or at www.squarepegbookshop.com
It is a fictionalized story of fraud in the mental health system with mystery and intrigue.
