Woman’s Death Exposes $80 Million in Fraud

Syringe connected to a thin needle with a small droplet of liquid at the tip.

A healthy 47-year-old wife and mother of three was taken away in an ambulance after receiving a lidocaine injection at Dolson Avenue Medical and died within a week. Injecting lidocaine into a joint can relieve the pain. But inserting a needle into the spine involves risk, and many experts say the injections should be used only as a last resort. The crimes committed at the clinic — like double billing, unnecessary treatments, billing for services not rendered, falsifying records, and lethal malpractice — are anything but rare. It was an illicit operation that raked in millions of dollars from Medicare and private insurance companies. Read a story from AARP.

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