Until I started investigating fraud cases involving Medicare and Medicaid, I had no idea that there were so many pharmacists on-the-take. And, this is one more case that makes me ask—What! Don’t we have enough US born and educated pharmacists without importing foreign ones?
Of course, as is almost always the case, there is no mugshot, and no information on the nationality and immigration status of this bunch of alleged crooks named by the US Justice Department in an unsealed indictment earlier this week charging that they ripped us off for $9.2 million:
Wansa Nabih Makki, 41, of Dearborn
Mohamad Ali Makki, R.Ph., 43, of Dearborn Heights
Mahmoud Makki., 36, of Dearborn
Hossam Tanana, 53 of Dearborn
According to a Press & Guide story: “The pharmacy in Livonia that some of the defendants were working out of, bore no signs that anything other than a dental office was inside.” http://www.pressandguide.com/news/four-people-indicted-in-million-laundering-scheme-at-area-pharmacy/article_76eec6fc-5c80-11e9-890c-bb73ed71aebf.html
So, big deal, why bother with a fine when he is in prison and everything he owns has already been repossessed. David M. Wasanyi
I was interested in this story when I saw it this week in my local newspaper because the creep who was involved in fueling America’s drug epidemic didn’t look like a local.
He isn’t, but it took a little searching to find out more about DR. DAVID MUSISI WASANYI (he is referred to as David M. Wasanyi in the many news accounts of this ‘new Americans’ crimes).
Although I didn’t have enough interest to go much further after I discovered in court papers that he is from Uganda, I will venture a guess that his pharmacist degree isn’t even legit.
I didn’t see any media mention that the convicted creep is an immigrant, a new American, who is now costing US taxpayers a bundle for his incarceration. And, I didn’t see a word about deportation either. Continue reading “Imprisoned West Virginia Pharmacist (from Uganda) Ordered to Pay Fine”→
Although the 45-count indictmentoccurred in December, good for The Tennesseanto now publish this substantial story about a Nigerian ‘new American’ alleged crook.
Editor: I should subtitle posts like this: ‘when new Americans kill us!’ Hereis the news (hat tip: Tomarose),
Tennessee pain clinic handed out opioids at ‘cattle calls’, says undercover federal agent
It was October 2017 when the undercover federal agent slipped into the Clarksville pain clinic for the third time, hiding in plain sight among dozens of patients crowded into a small waiting room.
A receptionist called out 20 names, then the agent lined up with other patients.
They were each handed a prescription slip. Then they waited. A few hours later, the receptionist called their names again, collected their money and handed all of them drugs.
The undercover agent paid $377. He left with 84 Oxycodone tablets, an anti-inflammation drug and a muscle relaxant. Nobody bothered to examine him. He never saw a doctor. This is how federal prosecutors say prescriptions were handled at the clinic of Samson Orusa, a Middle Tennessee doctor and pastor who allegedly wrote 66,353 prescriptions for addictive drugs, including opioids, from 2014 to 2017. Orusa was indicted on charges of drug trafficking and healthcare fraud last year, and his attorney has vowed to fight the allegations in court. Orusa, 56, has for about 20 years run a medical practice in Clarksville [50 miles Northwest of Nashville] and been pastor at God’s Sanctuary Church International, which he runs with his wife, Abigail, who uses the church title of “prophetess.” Orusa attended medical school at the University of Benin in Nigeria and performed his residency at Columbia University in New York, according to a state licensing database.
Federal court records, recently obtained by The Tennessean, describe the investigation in more detail than ever before, revealing undercover agents visited Orusa’s clinic five times in 2017.
Investigators also logged when Orusa came and went each day and filmed the clinic parking lot for three months.
And what they saw was alarming, court document state. Patients at Orusa’s clinic were rarely examined by the doctor and often prescribed opioids in large groups through what authorities refer to as “cattle calls.”
[….]
The newly obtained court documents also detail how Orusa allegedly profited from mass prescribing, collecting more than $1 million in cash during a six-month span in 2017. Prosecutors are currently trying to seize the contents of six personal bank accounts to which they say Orusa funneled more than $920,000 in illegal profits. Most of that money came from drug sales, court documents state, but Orusa is also accused of defrauding the government by billing Medicare or Medicaid for examinations that he couldn’t possibly have done.
More here.
Some of the stories about Orusa allege that patients died of drug overdoses while under his ‘care.’
I can assure you that this type of practice is going on near you. Watch for it! If you have a friend or family member going to a pain clinic (especially one run by a foreign doctor), keep an eye on them and the clinic and don’t hesitate to turn in the doctor/clinic if you see something fishy.
“Mr. Aboshady helped Dr. Mashali operate one of the most dangerous pain management practices in Massachusetts.”
United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling
This story from The Global Dispatch looks to be directly quoting a Dept. of Justice press release. The story is much worse than its title,
New England Pain Management Physician Sentenced to Prison for False Billing Scheme
A physician at the now-defunct New England Pain Management Associates Inc. was sentenced today in federal court in Boston for conspiring to falsify patient medical records in order to obtain payments from Medicare and commercial insurers for medical services that were not performed. Dr. Fathalla Mashali Moustafa Moataz Ibrahim Aboshady, 36, of Lake Forest, Calif., was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton to 75 months in prison, three years of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $1,852,459. In September 2018, a federal jury convicted Aboshady of one count of conspiracy to make false statements in connection with health care benefit programs and two counts of making false statements in connection with health care benefit programs.
In March 2018, co-conspirator Dr. Fathalla Mashaliwas sentenced to eight years in prison after pleading guilty to 27 counts of health care fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and 16 counts of money laundering.
“Mr. Aboshady helped Dr. Mashali operate one of the most dangerous pain management practices in Massachusetts,” said United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling. “Dr. Mashali routinely dispensed large quantities of powerful narcotics to addicted patients. Mr. Aboshady assisted Dr. Mashali’s illegal behavior by using his training as a doctor to fabricate patient records, with the goal of duping Medicare and other insurers into paying Dr. Mashali for his fraudulent conduct. Moreover, Aboshady later lied about Mashali’s medical practices to regulatory authorities.”
“Dr. Aboshady engaged in unlawful, unethical, and unprofessional conduct. He used the Medicare system as his own personal ATM, cheating taxpayers and private insurance companies out of thousands of dollars by billing them for medical services that were never performed. The FBI is committed to protecting government and private health care programs and stopping those who steal from them,” said Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Boston Division.
[….] Aboshady conspired with Mashali, other members of NEPA (New England Pain Management Associates), and members of a satellite office in Cairo, Egypt, to falsify medical records and urine drug test results to support claims for payment to Medicare and insurers for services that Mashali did not render.
Continue herefor more of the gory details of the fraud this pair was perpetrating on US taxpayers, and for the harm they were bringing to their drug addicted patients.
The photo (above) is from a very cool website I just discovered called The Bad Doctor Database, see it here. Dr. Mashali appeared for his trial in that ‘get-up’ in the photo on the right. My first thought was that it was a ploy to gain sympathy of the court. Although not charged for any deaths, when you read about Mashali you learn that eight of his patients died of opioid over doses.
What are you going to do? Check out your doctors very carefully especially if they are of the ‘new American’ variety! And, keep a watchful eye on loved ones who you suspect of being over-medicated and risk addiction! Knocking off infidels while getting rich is a pretty sweet deal for creeps like these.
Last week 66-year-old Jayam Krishna Iyer was sentenced to six months in prison and ordered to repay $52,000 in false claims for Medicare reimbursement after years of dispensing dangerous pain meds to patients she didn’t even see!
Dr. Iyer leaving court last September after admitting guilt. Expressed no remorse! https://www.wfla.com/8-on-your-side/investigations/clearwater-pain-doctor-admits-to-medicare-fraud-and-surrenders-license/1457146533
What is up with these Indian doctors, we recently had another story of an Indian pain doctor in Michigan,see here.
From News India:
Indian-American doctor in Florida sentenced to prison for fraud
An Indian-American doctor in Clearwater, Florida was sent to prison Jan. 30, after being convicted for health care fraud. U.S. District Judge James S. Moody Jr. sentenced Jayam Krishna Iyer, 66, to six months in federal prison for committing health care fraud, and ordered Iyer to forfeit more than $52,000 in health care fraud proceeds. He also ordered her to pay restitution to the Medicare and Medicaid programs. In addition, the court ordered Iyer to forfeit her Florida medical license, permanently excluding her from participating in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. And, Iyer agreed to surrender her Drug Enforcement Agency registration number, which had been used to prescribe controlled substances, and not to reapply for a DEA registration number for at least 20 years.
According to the press release from the U.S. Attorney for Middle District of Florida, based on court documents, Iyer owned and operated Creative Medical Center, on Druid Road East in Clearwater. The center functioned as a pain management clinic; Iyer conducted office visits and wrote prescriptions for controlled substances, including oxycodone, morphine, and fentanyl.
Beginning in July 2011 and continuing through December 2017, Iyer carried out a scheme to defraud Medicare by billing for face-to-face office visits with Medicare and Medicaid patients, when, in fact, certain patients had not gone to Iyer’s office and had not been examined by her on the claimed dates, prosecutors found.
Instead, family members of patients had visited Iyer’s office, where she issued prescriptions for Schedule II controlled substances, including oxycodone, to the family members in the patients’ names. Iyer thereby violated a Florida law requiring doctors to perform an in-person office visit and examination of each patient before issuing Schedule II controlled substance prescriptions.
More here.
Some additional information on Dr. Iyer is hereat Tampa’s WFLA in September when she admitted her guilt.
Clearwater pain doctor admits to medicare fraud and surrenders license
On Aug. 31, Dr. Iyer signed an agreement with federal prosecutors in Tampa admitting guilt to one felony count of Medicare fraud that will cost her at least $51,000 in restitution in addition to giving up her medical career. She also faces a possible fine of up to $250,000 and as much as 10 years in prison. Iyer did not express any remorse before, during or after the hearing, but in court freely admitted to stealing from taxpayers through Medicare fraud for a period of at least six years in her practice at the Creative Heath Center located at 1210 Druid Road in Clearwater.
[….] After a public records request, the Pinellas Medical Examiner sent 8 On Your Side an eight-page list of drugs prescribed by Iyer , including fentanyl, morphine, oxycodone and dilaudid, that turned up in various Medical Examiner investigations of suspicious deaths.
None of those ME cases resulted in a criminal prosecution of Iyer. She has also faced six malpractice lawsuits filed in Pinellas civil court according to court records.
[….] The physician who earned her medical degree in India said she is a U.S. citizen so she does not face a threat of deportation for her felony conviction.
Go here for the rest of the story and to see the news clip.
I think we have a tendency to think doctors are caring and compassionate and most of all not scammers, but these cases of medical doctors, often ‘new American’ medical doctors, and their involvement in fueling America’s prescription drug epidemic are starting to pile up. I think they need more publicity so that maybe more of you will be able to identify these frauds in your own communities. Where is the national media?
I can assure you that this type of practice is going on near you. Watch for it! If you have a friend or family member going to a pain clinic (especially one run by a foreign doctor), keep an eye on them and the clinic and don’t hesitate to turn in the doctor/clinic if you see something fishy.
