"Doctor Faces Suits Over Cardiac Stents"
Baltimore cardiologist, Dr. Mark Midei inserted 30 of Abbott Laboratories cardiac stents in a single day in August 2008.
Two days later, a sales representative spent over $2,000 on a dinner for him to celebrate. This was just part of the millions he was showered with in salary and perks for putting more stents in more patients than almost any other cardiologist in Baltimore.
"The Senate Finance Committee, which oversees Medicare started investigating Dr. Midei in February after a series of articles in The Baltimore Sun said that Dr. Midei at St. Joseph Medical Center, in Towson, Md., had inserted stents in patients who did not need them, reaping high reimbursements from Medicare and private insurance," The Times reported.
Dr. Midei implanted 585 stents which were medically unnecessary during a two year period!
Dr. Midei and St. Joseph have been sued by hundreds of patients who claim they received unnecessary implants.
Apparently, people are having unnecessary stents implanted in every city in America.
A lengthy article it was. I was engaged for the first half, but then lost interest. I think the reporter did a really great job on the investigation end, getting the documents from Senate, maybe it's his beat? He also spoke with the hospitals and medical companies and many lawyers. it was obvious he did his homework.
No comments:
Post a Comment