A North Carolina ENT Doctor has been convicted of fraud after she was caught reusing single-use tools for sinus surgeries hundreds of times, Dailymail reported.
Anita Louise Jackson, 59, owned three offices of Greater Carolina Ear, Nose and Throat where she defrauded her patients by reusing single-use devices from 2011 to the end of 2017. According to the outlet, Jackson utilized only 36 devices for 1,400 procedures. Jackson is accused of performing these heinous acts on her patients who were on Medicare.
Jackson reportedly had been operating balloon sinuplasty procedures, which treats chronic sinusitis where she used Entellus XprESS, an FDA-approved device. However, the FDA only approved it for use on one patient, for one surgery, and then it is meant to be discarded. According to Justice Department officials, records revealed that Jackson had only ordered 36 new devices in the years in which she conducted 1,400 surgeries. She also failed to inform her patients about her malpractice.
“This doctor put profit ahead of patients, luring in Medicare patients with free ‘sinus spas’ and risking infection to those patients by reusing the same single-use surgical devices on them again and again,”
said Michael Easley, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina.
She is also accused of using those surgeries to bill Medicare over $46 million.
Jackson is convicted on charges of fabricating medical and healthcare records, paying illegal remunerations, mail fraud, and conspiracy. She faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted and fines exceeding $250,000. The jury already ordered an appropriation of $4,794,039.31 in Medicare fraud.
#Clique, what are your thoughts?
