Physician enters guilty plea for misdiagnoses; fraud

When patients receive the news that they have cancer or are no longer in remission, then they may feel overwhelmed and probably afraid. However, in most cases, they have a doctor whom they trust to provide the proper care and not one who would deliberately provide misdiagnoses. Unfortunately, there was one doctor who was purportedly doing just that. This doctor did not practice in Massachusetts; however, patients everywhere may be more vigilant because of his alleged actions.

This doctor decided to plead guilty in a case that involved purportedly false cancer diagnoses in order to justify billing for chemotherapy treatments. The allegations included several cases where the patients who were given the powerful medications would have received no benefit from the treatment because they were either considered terminal or their disease was in remission. In one particular situation, a cancer specialist who worked with the accused doctor advised a patient to seek treatment elsewhere due to a false diagnosis.

In addition to the apparently fraudulent cancer treatments, the physician also falsely diagnosed anemia and related conditions in order to provide additional unnecessary treatments. One of the serious allegations against the man was in connection with a patient who reportedly suffered a head injury after a fall. The doctor reportedly ordered the man to complete his chemotherapy session before he was transported to an emergency center.

Along with the misdiagnoses claims, the doctor also allegedly prescribed dangerously high doses of prescription medications. While the oncologist has entered his plea, he has not yet been sentenced. There were no details released concerning what harm his patients suffered as a consequence of the erroneous dispensing of the powerful chemotherapy drugs. These patients may seek to file medical malpractice claims against their doctor who seemingly violated their trust. Massachusetts patients are also entitled to file these types of claims whenever they believe they have suffered harm as a result of negligent or willfully harmful treatment.

Source: mlive.com, “Doctor pleads guilty to ordering unnecessary chemotherapy and billing Medicare“, Khalil Alhajal, Sept. 16, 2014