Florida Doctors Charged With Insurance Fraud - Medical Malpractice Attorney Source

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Florida Doctors Charged With Insurance Fraud

2006-02-07

A doctor and a pharmacist are being tried in a federal court in Palm Beach, Florida on allegations of a fraudulent scheme costing insurance companies $17.8 million in prescription claims.

Dr. Joseph Sutera has been accused of submitting false prescription claims to over 100 health insurance companies for medications that were neither prescribed, requested, nor given to patients. The scam earned the doctor payment of nearly $10 million in between the years of 2001 and 2005 from insurance companies, and funded a $34,000 down payment on a house for named accomplice Dr. Ressner.

The allegations charge Sutera with providing substantial cash payments from the insurance payouts to Ressner on a regular basis, including the large bonus for the costly down payment of the doctor's expensive home.

Ressner's defense attorney however claims that Ressner is not at fault. “We've met with the government, we've cooperated with government and we adamantly believe that Dr. Ressner did nothing wrong. If he made any mistake, it was with the friends he chose,” commented Ressner's attorney.

Both the doctors however are being charged in this multimillion-dollar medical malpractice scheme.

Prosecuting attorneys are pressing for seizure of Dr. Ressner's $2.3 million home, which is considered to have been paid for by the proceeds of the scheme.