It's pretty low to fake cancer to receive money, sympathy or attention. But CNN is reporting that an oncologist in Michigan is being charged with fraud for telling people they had cancer when they didn't and profiting from the unnecessary treatments, among other complaints. He's being accused of pocketing about $35 million over two years in false Medicare claims. Employees of the clinic, including another oncologist and nurses, have stepped forward with claims of abuse and neglect (complaint), but it breaks my heart to know this may have gone on for so long. Did it really take two years to finally charge this man? He's being officially accused of healthcare fraud, but reading over the witness accounts, I suspect there will be many more charges and lawsuits to come. Some of the charges he's being accused of include:-Administering unnecessary chemotherapy to patients in remission
-Deliberate misdiagnosis of patients to justify giving expensive treatment
-Administering chemotherapy to end-of-life patients who would not benefit
-Deliberate misdiagnosis of patients to justify testing
-Deliberate misdiagnosis of anemia to justify treatmentsFor many patients, they must now wait for their medical records to be returned from the FBI and begin the search for another doctor. We talk about the dangers of overtreatment and overscreening, but my goodness...I'm just floored.
