Originally published February 10 2015
Doctor accused of medical fraud, overprescribing pain meds, leading to five deaths
by L.J. Devon, Staff Writer
(NaturalNews) It's not uncommon for criminals to show up in the medical field. The insurance system by itself encourages doctors to use criminal and unethical behavior to make a living. Doctors care less about the quality of care they are giving. They want to see as many patients as possible so they can collect all that they can from the insurance system. If a doctor knows a patient has federal Medicare or state Medicaid, then they automatically know that they can run extra tests on the patient, order unnecessary treatments and prescribe experimental drugs on command. They know the insurance will pick up the tab, and the taxpayers are collectively sucked dry in the process.
In a sick way, this can make professional doctors start acting like drug dealers. The dangers of pharmaceutical drugs often fly under the radar, even though they kill more people each year than all illegal drugs combined. There's little accountability in medicine, and the system encourages drug pushing. For instance, enter any average maternity ward today and observe how many times a pregnant woman is asked whether she wants pain medication. Every time a nurse enters the delivery room, they ask pregnant mothers if they need pain management. The nurses are trained this way. The sheer number of times a pregnant woman is asked this makes the nurses look like trained robots pushing pain drugs. To make matters worse, these pain drugs often cause complications in birth, leading to further unnecessary medical intervention (cesarean section.)
This is the medical culture we now live in, and it's a way of thinking which we must deviate from at all costs. Pain is part of the human experience. By drowning pain out, we learn not to feel. Without pain, we cannot respond to our body signals and make the holistic adjustments necessary. Still, numbing pain has become a way of life for many Americans, filling our purses and cabinets with these liver-destructive pills. This lifestyle has consequences that we don't understand at first, as we lose touch with our mind, body and spirit.
Doctor carelessly prescribes oxycodone to patients with no medical need
A Kentucky doctor is now being charged with over prescribing pain meds which ultimately led to five deaths between 2010 and 2012. The doctor in question is 47-year-old Jaime Guerrero. He faces a 32-count indictment from the U.S. attorney's office in Louisville, Kentucky.
The investigation reports that Guerrero dispensed pain medications unlawfully to 30 patients which caused the overdose deaths of five. None of the patients had a legitimate reason to take the drugs. Guerrero took his prescription powers lightly and became a drug dealer, using his medical practice as a front to distribute pain pills to multiple desperate patients, while billing insurance.
Doctor billed 100 patients in a three-day period, spending three minutes per patient on average
The doctor has also been charged with healthcare fraud because of fraudulen billing. In a very suspicious three-day period, Guerrero billed at least a hundred patients. The indictment said he spent about three minutes per patient in that time frame, collecting as much as possible from the patients' insurance companies.
How long has Dr. Guerrero been masquerading within the healthcare system? According to his attorney, Scott C. Cox, Guerrero has been a board-certified and "conscientious physician for many years." It's hard telling how long he abused his position and the Medicare billing system.
According to federal authorities, Guerrero was the second highest Medicare prescriber of oxycodone in 2012. Both of his offices were investigated by the DEA. It turns out that Guerrero prescribed oxycodone frequently along with methadone and hydrocodone.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Dr. Guerrero has caused more deaths in the Western District of Kentucky than any other physician.
Guerrero's lawyer says he is "a legitimate physician in every respect," but these words don't compensate for the damning evidence against him, the fraud and the overprescription of pain drugs to people showing no need, which ultimately led to the deaths of five people.
Sources:
http://www.foxnews.com
http://www.nydailynews.com
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