Florida hospital and Neurosurgeon settle medicare qui tam case for $1.275 million for unnecessary surgeries
Sebastian River Medical Center and Neurosurgeon, Linda Bland settled a qui tam suit in Florida for $1.275 Million for performing unnecessary surgeries on Medicare patients, thanks to the brave whistleblower Anesthesiologist Thomas Gayeski.
It is rare for Doctors to blow the whistle on other doctors, usually, out of professional courtesy. Dr. Gayeski, had the courage to stand up and report this fraud after he left the hospital. As a reward for his efforts, he earned a whistleblower's reward of $230,000 and his Attorneys fees were paid by the Hospital. This was not a bad payday for speaking up and telling the truth.
Allegedly, Dr. Linda Bland performed more than 150 unnecessary surgeries from 2000 through 2002, according to the whistle-blower lawsuit .
A word to the wise: Health Care Professionals in Florida, the U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta, is on a mission to fight government fraud. In a recent statement he said: ''We will aggressively prosecute any physician or healthcare 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."
Hospitals and Health Care Professionals, Be very carefull... Your co-workers/ employees are going to report your fraud and be compensated for their valiant actions. They will receive 15% - 30% of the government's recovery as a relator's or whistleblower's reward. Also, it can cost you millions of dollars and a lot of aggravation in trying to defend yourself due to your fraud/ or the fraud of your staff.
Read More in the Miami Herald Story.
The Whistleblower Law Blog appears as a courtesy of LaBovick & LaBovick, Civil Justice Prosecutors, A Private Law Firm.
This horrible doctor did an unecessary operation on myself. However, I was told not to bother to try to sue her because her insurance paid out all it was going to for anymore claims. I suffer from chronic pain from her operation and now suffer with fibromyalgia, myofacial pain disorder, and many other medical issues owed to carelessness. I understand she left the field of neurosurgery and is no in hospice. I would not want to be a patient of hers who was in pallitive care.
this monster did a fraudulent surgery on my neck lied said" I had bone spurs in my cervical spine and two ruptured disc..if I didn't have bone spurs removed I would die! Now my doctor is concerned about my neck 9 years later and needs to find what this monster used in unnecessary surgery to remove it! but if i can find a loophole to reopen this case I will and sleeping dogs will not lie..