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  • #1

    Medical Mafia

    I think this belongs here. More of a "current events" sort of story.

    Anyway, this is an article about a controversy here in Las Vegas that has had the legal community on the edge of their seats for years. It involves doctors and personal injury lawyers conspiring (allegedly) to have their clients undergo unnecessary medical procedures to pump up the value of their cases. Some of the attorneys, including the main guy discussed in the article, Robert Vannah, are Mormon.

    http://money.cnn.com/2009/08/18/news...tune/index.htm
    Ain't it like most people, I'm no different. We love to talk on things we don't know about.

    Dig your own grave, and save!

    "The only one of us who is so significant that Jeff owes us something simply because he decided to grace us with his presence is falafel." -- All-American

    "I know that you are one of the cool and 'edgy' BYU fans" -- Wally

    GIVE 'EM HELL, BRIGHAM!
    Tags: None
  • #2
    Originally posted by falafel View Post
    I think this belongs here. More of a "current events" sort of story.

    Anyway, this is an article about a controversy here in Las Vegas that has had the legal community on the edge of their seats for years. It involves doctors and personal injury lawyers conspiring (allegedly) to have their clients undergo unnecessary medical procedures to pump up the value of their cases. Some of the attorneys, including the main guy discussed in the article, Robert Vannah, are Mormon.

    http://money.cnn.com/2009/08/18/news...tune/index.htm
    Hey what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.

    Comment

    • #3
      Originally posted by falafel View Post
      I think this belongs here. More of a "current events" sort of story.

      Anyway, this is an article about a controversy here in Las Vegas that has had the legal community on the edge of their seats for years. It involves doctors and personal injury lawyers conspiring (allegedly) to have their clients undergo unnecessary medical procedures to pump up the value of their cases. Some of the attorneys, including the main guy discussed in the article, Robert Vannah, are Mormon.

      http://money.cnn.com/2009/08/18/news...tune/index.htm
      Maybe they should have focused less on sexual morality issues and found time for a wider range of morality issues when this lawyer was a youth.

      Comment

      • #4
        TripleD and wUAP: Note the apostrophe useage in the title.
        Prepare to put mustard on those words, for you will soon be consuming them, along with this slice of humble pie that comes direct from the oven of shame set at gas mark “egg on your face”! -- Moss

        There's three rules that I live by: never get less than twelve hours sleep; never play cards with a guy who's got the same first name as a city; and never go near a lady's got a tattoo of a dagger on her body. Now you stick to that, everything else is cream cheese. --Coach Finstock

        Comment

        • #5
          Originally posted by falafel View Post
          I think this belongs here. More of a "current events" sort of story.

          Anyway, this is an article about a controversy here in Las Vegas that has had the legal community on the edge of their seats for years. It involves doctors and personal injury lawyers conspiring (allegedly) to have their clients undergo unnecessary medical procedures to pump up the value of their cases. Some of the attorneys, including the main guy discussed in the article, Robert Vannah, are Mormon.

          http://money.cnn.com/2009/08/18/news...tune/index.htm
          We have remained connected with this as one of the doctor's implicated comes up here and does surgery. I am curious to what the outcome will be.
          "The first thing I learned upon becoming a head coach after fifteen years as an assistant was the enormous difference between making a suggestion and making a decision."

          "They talk about the economy this year. Hey, my hairline is in recession, my waistline is in inflation. Altogether, I'm in a depression."

          "I like to bike. I could beat Lance Armstrong, only because he couldn't pass me if he was behind me."

          -Rick Majerus

          Comment

          • #6
            Mark Kabins, the spine surgeon who was at the center of a lot of this, and perhaps was the genesis of the medical mafia, was sentenced today to 5 years probation, including 6 months home confinement, for committing fraud against one of his patients.

            Basically, he screwed up the surgery, and in exchange for not being sued by the patient, agreed to funnel cases to the patient's attorney. He also helped the attorney frame the anesthesiologist for the botched surgery, instead of himself. He's got to pay $3.5M in restitution to the patient he screwed.

            Part of his guilty plea:

            Dr. Kabins admitted that on August 3, 2000, in Las Vegas, he assisted another orthopedic surgeon, John Thalgott, M.D. in performing spine surgery on patient Melodie Simon. Simon became paralyzed from complications that arose after the surgery. Dr. Kabins knew that experts could say that he fell below the standard of care in his treatment of Simon, and that he could be sued. To avoid being sued, Dr. Kabins asked Howard Awand, a medical consultant who referred personal injury cases to him and to lawyers, to persuade Simon’s attorney, Noel Gage, not to sue him and Dr. Thalgott. Dr. Kabins believed that Awand would corruptly attempt to persuade Gage by referring lucrative personal injury cases to Gage. After receiving referrals from Awand, Gage chose not to sue Dr. Kabins or Dr. Thalgott. Instead, he sued an anesthesiologist. Dr. Kabins believed that Gage did not sue him because Awand had referred cases to him. To help Gage sue the anesthesiologist, Dr. Kabins drafted a “Letter of Complaint” from which he intentionally omitted information about his secret dealings with Gage and information about Simon’s medical condition following her surgery.
            The second trial of Noel Gage and Howard Awand starts in a few weeks. They now have the two main physicians on board against these two. Looks like the dominoes are starting to fall.

            http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010...ion-must-pay-/
            Ain't it like most people, I'm no different. We love to talk on things we don't know about.

            Dig your own grave, and save!

            "The only one of us who is so significant that Jeff owes us something simply because he decided to grace us with his presence is falafel." -- All-American

            "I know that you are one of the cool and 'edgy' BYU fans" -- Wally

            GIVE 'EM HELL, BRIGHAM!

            Comment

            • #7
              I have not the slightest doubt that this occurs because it would be so easy to do. Where I see it occurring, just going to be honest and hope no offense is given, is with physical therapy and chiropractic treatment. Not all or even most, but I have had several cases where the treatment was so over done that it actually devalued my case because it opened my client up to the argument that they were malingering and trying to run their bills up. There have even been a couple where their notes are so over done and obviously targeted at documenting that the injury is the result of the accident (to get themselves paid for all that treatment) that, again, the adjustor just disregards most of the resulting bills in negotiations.

              Comment

              • #8
                JIC, Cardiac, others - does Kabins lose his license for something like this? He basically admitted to being negligent, and then conspiring to conceal that negligence. I'm assuming that they'd yank it right away.
                Ain't it like most people, I'm no different. We love to talk on things we don't know about.

                Dig your own grave, and save!

                "The only one of us who is so significant that Jeff owes us something simply because he decided to grace us with his presence is falafel." -- All-American

                "I know that you are one of the cool and 'edgy' BYU fans" -- Wally

                GIVE 'EM HELL, BRIGHAM!

                Comment

                • #9
                  Originally posted by falafel View Post
                  JIC, Cardiac, others - does Kabins lose his license for something like this? He basically admitted to being negligent, and then conspiring to conceal that negligence. I'm assuming that they'd yank it right away.
                  It varies from state to state, but he could lose it. That may be something he tried to add into the plea, but the licensing board is not bound by any plea bargain in court.

                  For our part. Kabins was coming to Cedar City to do surgery for the last 3 years. He has renounced his priviledges last month.
                  "The first thing I learned upon becoming a head coach after fifteen years as an assistant was the enormous difference between making a suggestion and making a decision."

                  "They talk about the economy this year. Hey, my hairline is in recession, my waistline is in inflation. Altogether, I'm in a depression."

                  "I like to bike. I could beat Lance Armstrong, only because he couldn't pass me if he was behind me."

                  -Rick Majerus

                  Comment

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