April 17, 2013

Scam Tracheostomy in Hospital Leading to Arrests

Image from Wikipedia
A Chicago hospital owner and a few doctors were arrested in a horrific scandal involving deliberately over-sedating patients thereby ensuring a patient will not be able to come off the breathing machine leading to the excuse needed to perform a tracheostomy [link]. All done in the name for greater profits.

This scandal is particularly notable given it has come right at the heels of a New York Times story which reported that hospitals often profit from surgical errors, though in this criminal case, it was deliberate rather than unintentional errors.

Tracheostomy is typically performed whenever a patient is on a breathing machine for a prolonged period of time and there is a low likelihood of recovery.

However, prior to tracheostomy consideration, sedation is turned off so that the patient is allowed to wake up and try to breath on their own. If able to breath on their own with machine assistance, the breathing tube may be removed thereby avoiding a tracheostomy.

However, according to the lawsuit, the hospital and physician colluded to over-sedate patients thereby ensuring the patient is "ventilator-dependent" for which a tracheostomy is (erroneously) "justified".

Furthermore, patients who have undergone tracheostomy were intentionally made to stay in the hospital longer than required ("28 days") in order to earn as much money as possible in insurance reimbursements for the hospital.  [link: paragraphs 123-142]

According to media reports, this scam has so far involved 28 patients... 5 who ultimately died within 2 weeks. The most recent unnecessary tracheostomy was performed on March 1, 2013.

Because of the trach and subsequent prolonged hospitalizations, the hospital received up to $160,000 for each patient from Medicare and Medicaid.

There's more... there was a massive kickback scheme whereby the hospital paid doctors to refer cases to the hospital (clear violation of Stark Laws), doctors ordered unnecessary ER visits, and fraudulently referred patients to nursing homes and ambulance services which the hospital had a relationship with.

This awful scam was brought to light by hospital workers (administrators, physicians, and nurses) who secretly worked with the FBI and other federal investigators.

Sources:
Feds raid Sacred Heart Hospital, arrest owner and doctors. Chicago Sun-Times 4/16/13.

United States of America Criminal Case Record. 4/15/13

Hospitals Profit From Surgical Errors, Study Finds. New York Times 4/16/13

Relationship Between Occurrence of Surgical Complications and Hospital Finances. JAMA. 2013;309(15):1599-1606. doi:10.1001/jama.2013.2773.


Fauquier blog
Fauquier ENT

Dr. Christopher Chang is a private practice otolaryngology, head & neck surgeon specializing in the treatment of problems related to the ear, nose, and throat. Located in Warrenton, VA about 45 minutes west of Washington DC, he also provides inhalant allergy testing/treatment, hearing tests, and dispenses hearing aids.

You might be interested in reading...

  • Hearing Loss Reversed by Teeth
    07/10/2012 - 0 Comments
    When a patient is totally deaf in just one ear (normal hearing on the other side), there are only a few…
  • What Does the Uvula Do?
    05/31/2015 - 0 Comments
    Given how frequently doctors look in peoples' mouths, physicians probably get asked this question a dozen…
  • Epiglottitis Killed President George Washington?
    07/31/2010 - 1 Comments
    I came across a great blog post by Michael Hebert regarding a book review of Joseph Ellis' biography His…
  • Explore Flu Trends Across the US
    11/17/2008 - 0 Comments
    Google has discovered that certain spikes in search terms related to flu symptoms actually is a great…
  • Another iPhone (or iPod Touch) Application to Test Your Hearing
    05/26/2009 - 0 Comments
    After I wrote a blog article last week on an iPhone/iPod Touch application called uHear to test a person's…
  • Pacifier Use Increases Risk of Ear Infections in Infants
    10/11/2012 - 0 Comments
    There are many reasons why an infant may suffer from ear infections... parental smoking, not…
  • How Much Tongue Can Be Removed Without Affecting Function?
    02/20/2013 - 0 Comments
    Unfortunately, whether through trauma or cancer concerns, parts of the tongue may be removed. When a part…
  • 3 Different Videos on Facial Paralysis
    04/15/2022 - 0 Comments
    Facial paralysis is one of the most disconcerting events that may happen in a person's life, especially…

Banner Map

Pediatric Neck Masses

Adult Neck Mass Workup