Corporate Medical Center Pushes Unnecessary Treatments
Do you know how people are always worried about their car mechanic finding a problem that isn’t there and then charging them thousands of dollars? Well, now those people have something else to worry about as doctors are doing the same thing.
To be sure, any unnecessary treatment or testing is automatically considered medical malpractice under the law. There is a zero-percent chance that a patient injured by a doctor who recommends an unnecessary test or treatment will lose their injury trial.
Perhaps worst of all, these types of chains that maximize their profits by bilking their patients’ insurance policies for as much as they can get are partly responsible for the extremely high cost of health care in this country.
Now, a chain that provides vascular and arterial services throughout the State of Texas is facing multiple medical malpractice lawsuits that allege patients were injured after they received unnecessary treatment.
Current and former staff members blow the whistle
The vascular treatment facility is the subject of several whistleblower complaints that allege that the chain is more concerned with pushing expensive, unnecessary procedures than it is with their patient’s health. The business model is based on selling the most expensive services to patients, and patients generally do whatever their doctor recommends.
Analyzing the business model
A kickback scheme essentially allows GPs and other doctors to become investors in the business ensuring that they have a financial stake in referring patients. It’s not exactly illegal, but it certainly appears to be a conflict of interest. Since the vascular center is ordering unnecessary procedures, it’s not entirely unclear that the doctors who are referring patients to this center aren’t also committing some form of medical malpractice.
According to the vascular center, however, the allegations are a mix of disgruntled former employees and competitors who are trying to run them out of business. Nonetheless, the U.S. Department of Justice has begun its own investigation.
Legal and practical issues
Vascular centers allowed many individuals to have invasive procedures done outside of the hospital setting. This was particularly useful during COVID. However, because these companies don’t operate in hospitals, they are under far less scrutiny than they otherwise would be. While these centers save a lot of lives (and toes and feet), not all of these centers are operated scrupulously, and there’s a lot more that they can get away with. In the past, such procedures would have only been performed at hospitals, but recent tech advances have made it possible to do the procedures quickly and safely in a clinic setting. The procedures have risks, however, which is why they would never be employed unless they were necessary.
Talk to a Charlottesville, VA Medical Malpractice Attorney
If a medical doctor has ordered unnecessary treatments, and you have been injured as a result of those treatments, the Charlottesville medical malpractice attorneys at MichieHamlett can help you recover damages related to past and future medical expenses, lost wages, and reduced quality of life.
Resource:
texasobserver.org/profit-before-patient/