It pains me greatly to have to post about these kinds of stories, but I also feel that those of us who are healthcare practitioners should be held to a very high standard. We are given the privilege of helping others and we need to take that responsibility very, very seriously.
That is why it saddens and frustrates me to hear of doctors being involved in a violation of public trust so severe that the crime is considered conspiracy similar in scope to organized crime. I'm no legal expert, but I do know that the federal government created the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations act to help battle racketeering activity performed as part of an ongoing criminal enterprise.
It always amazes me when people try to defraud the federal government. The organizations that get defrauded may not have all of the pieces in place to catch abusers of the system, but they certainly have lots of other pieces of the government to back them up... and those organizations make it a point to make examples out of those caught. If found guilty, these folks will be going away for a very long time.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice:
According to court documents, the defendants were allegedly part of a wide-ranging scheme to defraud Medicaid, U.S. Immigration authorities, the IRS, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and to launder the fraud proceeds. Bhaskar Savani, 57, and Niranjan Savani, 51, both of Maple Glenn, Pennsylvania and both licensed dentists, owned and controlled the Savani Group dental practices.
If you would like to read the press release from the DOJ, you can follow this link.
Wow. Just wow!
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