Blog

Unnecessary Medical Procedures for Profit?

On Behalf of | Aug 7, 2012 | Medical Malpractice

The New York Times is reporting that cardiologists have been performing unnecessary and dangerous cardiac procedures at HCA hospitals in Florida.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/07/business/hospital-chain-internal-reports-found-dubious-cardiac-work.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

HCA is reported to be the largest for-profit hospital chain in the United States. As reported by the New York Times, the unwarranted cardiac procedures were performed on unsuspecting patients so that the cardiologists could over bill insurance companies and medicare for unnecessary procedures. One has to wonder whether all the talk of “defensive medicine” is really cover for unnecessary procedures done in order to pad the bottom line of the for-profit medical industry. Of course, the nurse that reported the unnecessary procedures was promptly fired. You have to question a system where unscrupulous doctors line their pockets at the expense of healthy hearts, while those who report their actions are punished. If one of these patients had died during an unnecessary procedure, would these same physicians call the lawsuit frivolous?

Archives