58 charged in $66M Texas Health Care fraud

[Eldorado]

"Fifty-eight people have been charged with engaging in healthcare fraud schemes that centered on the illegal distribution of more than 6 million opioid pills across Texas, U.S. prosecutors said on Wednesday.

"Some 16 medical professionals, including six doctors and seven pharmacists, were charged in the schemes, which featured one pharmacy in Houston that illegally dispensed more than 760,000 pills from March 2018 to September 2019, Assistant Attorney General Brian Benczkowski told a news briefing in Dallas."

Full report at Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-opioids-texas/u-s-charges-58-in-texas-with-healthcare-fraud-illegal-opioid-distribution-idUSKBN1W32BX

And at CBS Dallas: https://dfw.cbslocal.com/2019/09/18/58-charged-across-texas-health-care-fraud-pill-mill-operations/

UK Daily Mail: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7478761/Texas-doctors-pharmacists-charged-58-fraud-schemes-illegally-dispensed-opioids.html

[+and-then]

If true, these "professionals" have not only played a part in the deaths of addicts, they have been culpable in the suffering of tens of thousands of people who had legitimate need for these medications.  In my part of the country, primary care physicians will no longer treat patients with even mild chronic pain.  They simply hand them off to pain management physicians.  Sounds nice and orderly but the reality is that patients with no history of abuse whatever are still subjected to the same rigorous safeguards that addicts and or felons have to comply with such as urine and drug screens of different types.  These can be relatively expensive and time consuming and if a false positive occurs that patient can be branded an abuser and actually lose access to pain meds at all.  As usual, when the government comes in to "help", it screws things up royally. 

These people should be crucified legally.

[Piney]

1 hour ago, and then said:

These people should be crucified legally.

Along with the whole board of directors of Purdue Pharma who started this mess to begin with...

....but these ****ers should be crucified physically......

[freetoroam]

Quote

6.2 million opioid pills distributed across Texas 

Jeeze that is an awful lot of pills!  Either there are a lot of sick people in Texas or those getting the pills are selling them on. 

This is one big racket.

Edited September 19, 2019 by freetoroam

[Princess Serenity]

My dad was given an opioid after his shoulder surgery but he only took as directed! I was afraid he would become addicted but he didn't and the bottle is sitting in the cabinet in my parents bathroom. Maybe I should ask to take it and give it to a cop who will take it and do something with it. 

They had a day where people could dump their unwanted pills in a bin and the police would do something with them. The bottle would be the first thing that came to mind when I heard about it. 

[Tatetopa]

30 minutes ago, Piney said:

Along with the whole board of directors of Purdue Pharma who started this mess to begin with...

....but these ****ers should be crucified physically......

News stories are coming out that Purdue has filed bankruptcy but the Sacklers may already have stashed billions of dollars overseas.  One lawyer being interviewed said there are Board minutes of the Sackler family controlled board  voting family members large sums of money.

[glorybebe]

I had a bad abscess on a tooth and was prescribed oxy.  I read about how addictive it is.  I took two just so I could sleep two nights and then returned the rest to the pharmacist because I didn't want to take more.  There was no way I was going to take a chance on getting addicted 

[Gwynbleidd]

2 hours ago, glorybebe said:

I had a bad abscess on a tooth and was prescribed oxy.  I read about how addictive it is.  I took two just so I could sleep two nights and then returned the rest to the pharmacist because I didn't want to take more.  There was no way I was going to take a chance on getting addicted 

I totally hear you Glory - I'm like that.  I was on a bunch of pain killers after my accident and I couldn't wait to get off them due to the whole lot of side effects that come with them that these types of heavy meds have.  I don't even take paracetamol or ibuprofen if I get a headache.  Thankfully, I don't get headaches much anyway.  

[freetoroam]

8 hours ago, Princess Serenity said:

Maybe I should ask to take it and give it to a cop who will take it and do something with it. 

No need to take them to the cops, generally you should take them back to your local pharmacy. Just do not take them to one in Texas. 

[freetoroam]

4 hours ago, glorybebe said:

I had a bad abscess on a tooth and was prescribed oxy.  I read about how addictive it is.  I took two just so I could sleep two nights and then returned the rest to the pharmacist because I didn't want to take more.  There was no way I was going to take a chance on getting addicted 

I was on *spam filter* when I broke my back a few year ago, I did come off them , eventually, but it was hard. Did not help that I was downing them like smarties. 

I can see how addictive these things can be especially for someone who is in pain. 

I knew I had to stop taking them when I was better, thankfully I was able to, problem is there are many who can not do it so easily. 

?????

Why is it a slam filter? I am not selling them. Anyway it begins with an T and ends with an L. 

Edited September 19, 2019 by freetoroam

[Raptor Witness]

My suspicion is that we can draw the line between the good and bad physicians, by simply looking to see who tried lower strength medications initially, versus those who overwhelmed peoples bodies with this high powered pain medication. 

If they start out with medication that is clearly too strong, repeatedly, I would be very suspicious of the motive.

[freetoroam]

56 minutes ago, Raptor Witness said:

My suspicion is that we can draw the line between the good and bad physicians, by simply looking to see who tried lower strength medications initially, versus those who overwhelmed peoples bodies with this high powered pain medication. 

If they start out with medication that is clearly too strong, repeatedly, I would be very suspicious of the motive.

I was prescribed a strong pain killer because I had  broken my L1 and cracked my L3 in my back. That would be easy to see why I was given morphine then - the T ending in L drug when I left hospital, but to go through every patient and investigate their cases? How long would that take?

These cases are not just about the pills given out, these supposidly trusted professionala were slicing from all angles:

Quote

They also included $158 million in fraudulent claims for compound creams and $23 million in tax evasion,

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-opioids-texas/u-s-charges-58-in-texas-with-healthcare-fraud-illegal-opioid-distribution-idUSKBN1W32BX

Hopefully the UK will increase its check on our rogue doctors, we got "ghost patients"  over here

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/health-48600923

And I certainly do not believe the excuses.

 

[aztek]

21 hours ago, Princess Serenity said:

My dad was given an opioid after his shoulder surgery but he only took as directed! I was afraid he would become addicted but he didn't and the bottle is sitting in the cabinet in my parents bathroom. Maybe I should ask to take it and give it to a cop who will take it and do something with it. 

They had a day where people could dump their unwanted pills in a bin and the police would do something with them. The bottle would be the first thing that came to mind when I heard about it. 

uh, no, he'll prbly  quickly arrest you for possession of controlled substance. he does not care about pills, but  arresting people is his job

Edited September 19, 2019 by aztek

[Gwynbleidd]

9 hours ago, freetoroam said:

Hopefully the UK will increase its check on our rogue doctors, we got "ghost patients"  over here

Speaking of ghost patients - I'm pretty sure I had a ghost nurse when I was in hospital.  Someone was patting the sheets down around me like a nurse would.  I was moved from ICU to Room Number 13 by myself.  I couldn't move an inch as I'd broken my entire body.  I could actually see the sheets being patted down where it looked like handprint marks in the material all around the outside of me.  I'll never forget it.    

 

Or maybe it was just the drugs. 

[brian100]

I went to a doctor and they added on charges for services that I never agreed to.  They never had my SS but were still able to attached it to my credit report but luckily for me my credit was good and it only dented me 50 points.   They charged me on my insurance and racked up non covered cash charges. I have since reported them for fraud. I'm real careful where I go and paying cash is way better.

[aztek]

3 hours ago, Gwynbleidd said:

Speaking of ghost patients - I'm pretty sure I had a ghost nurse when I was in hospital.  Someone was patting the sheets down around me like a nurse would.  I was moved from ICU to Room Number 13 by myself.  I couldn't move an inch as I'd broken my entire body.  I could actually see the sheets being patted down where it looked like handprint marks in the material all around the outside of me.  I'll never forget it.    

 

Or maybe it was just the drugs. 

i had a couple of ghost doctors, i've never seen them, never heard of them,  but they billed my insurance. 

[skliss]

On 9/18/2019 at 8:37 PM, Princess Serenity said:

My dad was given an opioid after his shoulder surgery but he only took as directed! I was afraid he would become addicted but he didn't and the bottle is sitting in the cabinet in my parents bathroom. Maybe I should ask to take it and give it to a cop who will take it and do something with it. 

They had a day where people could dump their unwanted pills in a bin and the police would do something with them. The bottle would be the first thing that came to mind when I heard about it. 

I recently had surgery and with the pills comes all kinds of restrictions and papers about addiction and how to properly dispose of any left over medication. Fortunately they make me so sick I took 2 after coming home and thats it. I'd rather have the pain and manage on my own.

[skliss]

21 hours ago, freetoroam said:

I was prescribed a strong pain killer because I had  broken my L1 and cracked my L3 in my back. That would be easy to see why I was given morphine then - the T ending in L drug when I left hospital, but to go through every patient and investigate their cases? How long would that take?

These cases are not just about the pills given out, these supposidly trusted professionala were slicing from all angles:

Hopefully the UK will increase its check on our rogue doctors, we got "ghost patients"  over here

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/health-48600923

And I certainly do not believe the excuses.

 

There's so many different reasons they give them. They gave me morphine in the hospital, to start, because they knew that most pain meds make me nauseous and since I had lower abdomen surgery they didn't want to risk excessive vomiting. But the nurses felt bad for me because morphine doesnt last as long and there was a wearing off period between doses. Which I handled fine but I can see how, the way they fussed, compassion can also factor into enabling abuse.