Sersansie found his way to Bill Reynolds, an insurance fraud investigator who had been probing the scam since 2009. In an avalanche of lawsuits, more than 160 patients contend that cheap, nonsurgical-grade hardware may have been drilled into their bones during operations that might not have been necessary to begin with, leaving them in excruciating pain. Sersansie is a whistleblower in spinal surgery fraud cases. According to his lawsuit, he has ongoing David Solomon had these screws removed from his back. From at least 1997 through 2013, the scheme billed workers compensation insurers hundreds of millions of dollars for spinal surgeries on patients who had been referred by doctors and others who typically got illegal kickbacks of $15,000 per patient. Parkview Community Hospital, where Golia was treated, did not respond to questions by press time. Pacific Hospital didnt use counterfeit implants. Now patients are left with more questions than answers. She was setting up a display in a grocery store in 2007, lifting a case of soda bottles, when her back popped, and her universe changed. Ortho Sol, in South Africa, is another FDA-registered manufacturer of hardware for spinal surgeries. The lawyers accuse Spinal Solutions of selling counterfeit implants and doctors of accepting kickbacks in return for using them. BOSTON - A Nevada-based clinical laboratory, MD Spine Solutions LLC, d/b/a MD Labs Inc., and two of its owners and co-founders have agreed to resolve allegations that MD Labs submitted false claims for payment to Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal health care programs. Crowder attached a one-year, $50,000 contract with the implant firm to his suit. Some had the U&I Corp. logo laser-engraved on them. Meanwhile, he said, Williams was pushing a product that was second-rate crap.. The complaint unsealed Thursday asks for the establishment of a medical monitoring fund to cover the cost and expense of treating patients who may have had unnecessary surgeries, and who may have the fake parts implanted inside their bodies. Roger Williams had three. Attorneys contacted Moses after finding her name among Spinal Solutions sales records. He also followed the Los Angeles Lakers all over the country. The DOJ said it has been doggedly pursuing the criminal threads in this case. Kevin Cservek, a spokesperson for Baltimore Washington Medical Center said they have not heard about the complaint and couldnt comment. He said that any doctor that I could bring on board would be taken care of, said Robert Ashcraft, who worked for Spinal Solutions in Nevada. Drobot, 74, of Corona del Mar, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and paying illegal kickbacks in 2014, admitting he orchestrated a wide-ranging fraud in which thousands of patients received surgeries at Pacific Hospital not knowing that (Drobot) bribed their physician to perform their surgery at Pacific Hospital, prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memo filed with the court. Dr. She hoped to fashion them into a necklace, she said, as a symbol of the pain she had endured. Sargent said they went skiing in Vail and fishing in Cabo but also talked business. The latest lawsuit accuses defendants of fraud and battery, saying the hardware has put the life of the patient, Arthur Golia of Riverside, at risk. We just reported that these allegations are out there, said Brian Park, the companys New York attorney. He said he engraved only a few screws, however, which he called prototypes. The companys records got caught in the crossfire. Hospitals allegedly turned a blind eye to the surgeon, the vendor and products in order to submit false and misleading billings to insurance companies. (Photo by Brittany Murray / Press Telegram). He also admitted to paying bribes to Calderon to protect a law allowing hospitals to bill insurance providers for the full cost of spinal implants. If you break this down to the core of right and wrong, it really is using people as pieces of meat to make money, said Santa Ana attorney Chris Purcell, who filed the Solomon case in Los Angeles Superior Court. Theyre in pain. Attorneys lined up to serve him with legal documents now say they cant find him. Like a movie star or something, said Andreas Leuthold, a pilot who worked for Williams. And I saw these screws being shipped all over the United States, he said. In desperation, Moses opted for spinal fusion surgery. Both firms have previously filed class actions on behalf of spinal patients against Spinal Solutions and several other defendants. The company pledged to make changes. The firm was assembling kits with dozens of screws, rods and other components without any formal process or paperwork to indicate what went where, inspection records say. The patients believed that they were receiving conflict-free medical advice when, in fact, (Drobot) illegally incentivized their physician to perform the surgery at Pacific Hospital, prosecutors said in court documents. The company bargained him down to $65 a screwless than half of what they usually cost. The lawsuits claim that unknowing patients underwent spinal surgeries with doctors who benefited financially for using certain hardware allegedly made at an auto shop in Temecula and for performing surgery at certain hospitals. The doctors longtime sales representative, John Sargent, went along for the rides in 2007 and 2008. Mary Williams filed an appeal to the IRS in tax court last year, blaming her controlling, abusive husband for the problem. McDonough helped create an implant prototype, but in the end, nothing happened to it, Williams said in court testimony. He might want 50 of this size and 40 of these, said Crowder, who has been named as a defendant in dozens of lawsuits. The counterfeit screws present real risks for spinal surgery patients. Spinal Solutions completed a low-severity recall of some product due to a lack of labeling and use instructions in 2013, records show. 1. Whether they were legal or not I dont know, Garrison said. The referrals to the hospital led to more than $500 million in bills being fraudulently submitted during last five years of the scheme, much of which was paid by the California workers compensation system.. They dont have computerized machines, he said. The parts in question were distributed by a. 2. According to the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR), the mastermind behind Spinal Solutions counterfeiting schemes was Roger Williams, who founded the company and built it into an $18 million a year business. "Theseallegations were sensational and disturbing, both professionally and personally. The man at the center of the scandal is a company president who indulged in luxuryprivate planes, strip club spending sprees, courtside seats at L.A. Lakers gamesas the company collapsed into debt. I knew something was terribly wrong.. In more than a dozen operative reports from 2010 and 2011, White noted that the screws he put into patients backs came from Spinal Solutions, according to documents obtained by CIR. Teri Sforza is one of the lead reporters on the OCR/SCNG probe of fraud, abuse and death in the Southern California addiction treatment industry. Actual U&I hardware bears the letters in a forward-leaning italic font. Reynolds found himself out of a job not long after he suggested that insurers should cover surgeries to have suspect hardware extracted, he said. Meantime, in California, the U.S. Department of Justice persuaded the court to freeze action on the civil lawsuits, so as not to interfere with its criminal investigation. Some were blatantly inferior, he said, at times with metal shavings and burrs in the threads. Surgeons named in the suit are also accused accepting cash, free airplane rides, meals, vacations and other forms of entertainment in exchange for referring patients to certain hospitals where they would get the fake parts implanted. She earned her M.F.A. More than $1 million in sales were made to Baltimore Washington Medical Center, according to the filing, although it's unclear over what period of time. I think only time will tell if there is a problem with the use of these implants., Congressman considers bill to force states to notify federal agencies of superbug outbreaks and medical device failures. The agency did not answer questions about whether either happened with Spinal Solutions, citing an ongoing investigation. It soon became apparent, Sersansie says, that unsavory things were happening. Williams spent 16 years in the orthopedic sales business with his father before he went out on his own. Spinal Cord Stimulator Lawsuit Claims & Settlements - Free Case Review Our medical device lawyers & attorneys are now investigating spinal cord stimulator injury cases and potential class action lawsuits of these devices. It isnt clear when Spinal Solutions began selling counterfeit hardware with their other stock, but authorities have identified at least one machinist, 85-year-old William Crowder, who allegeldy manufactured screws for the company and an engraver, Ryan Zavilenski, who allegedly forged company markings on the screws. The company accused in lawsuits of mixing genuine spinal hardware with cheap copies Spinal Solutions in Murrieta is now defunct. And theres big money in the spinal hardware. The United States has filed two complaints under the False Claims Act against Michigan neurosurgeon Dr. Call 24 Hours - Toll Free 1 (800) 214-1010 Menu Home About Us Diagnostic facilities are accused of also taking kickbacks in return for false reports justifying the need for surgeries. Send tips to watchdog@ocregister.com. Sforza birthed the Watchdog column for The Orange County Register in 2008, aiming to keep a critical (but good-humored) eye on governments and nonprofits, large and small. Williams had an especially volatile relationship with his wife, Mary, whom he once described as the companys chief financial officer. The executive, Michael Drobot, also admitted to bribing former state Sen. Ronald Calderon to keep huge insurance payments flowing. The cases revolve around spinal fusion surgeries, in which rods and screws are implanted in the back to relieve pain. . He owns a small office park machine shop in Southern Californias Inland Empire. Williams and his wife had a BMW, a Mercedes-Benz, a yacht named Spare Change and a 6,300-square-foot Murrieta home, according to court records and interviews. In one situation, six screw caps that cost $2,850 were marked up and sold to a hospital for $17,370, causing the insurance carrier to receive a bill for $49,260. These inadequacies might result in product performance failures that could cause patient harm due to implant breakage, movement, or inadequate sterilization. According to the FDAs recall database, Spinal Solutions responded by issuing a letter that patients who had undergone spinal repair surgeries using the Spinal Solutions hardware to to discontinue use of the affected product and return [it] to the firm. Such an action on the part of a patient would of course require at least one more spinal surgery to remove/replace the spinal hardware. There may be no way of knowing, especially if they altered the documents, said Lederhaus. McDonough did not respond to repeated phone calls and a list of questions faxed to his Abilene office. Home; Uncategorized; spinal solutions lawsuit; Posted on January 19, 2023; By . Crowder also said he didnt etch anything on the screws he made for Spinal Solutions. There were some products that I saw which was kind of sharp, very sharp, in terms of the thread of screws, and it was not possible to manufacture that kind of sharpness through our procedure, he explained. Font, logo, edge finish, surface finish everything is different from ours, said Sung Hwang, the general manager. Thats been a huge question in my mind for many years., Reynolds, the fraud investigator, has a simple theory. Spinal Solutions couriered the counterfeit parts via private jet to ensure its parts would be used at the hospital, the complaint alleges. from UCLA's School of Theater, Film and Television, and enjoys making documentaries, including the OCR's first: "The Boy Monk," a story that was also told as a series in print. His memory is faltering these days, Crowder said, but he recalled that a woman from the FDA spent two days in his shop a few years ago. The company increasingly relied on Lenders. Scalias death could affect court decisions long before his seat is filled, Deadly strikes on Syrian schools, hospitals denounced as war crime, New black mayors make a difference, one Georgia town at a time, Renewed deficit hysteria based on flimsy CBO projection, A blurry line divides addicts and dealers in heroin underworld, Advance the Shows Carousel to the previous slide, Advance the Shows Carousel to the next slide. Crowder attached a one-year, $50,000 contract with the implant . A few years ago, Crowder stopped making the screws because Spinal Solutions was unwilling to pay a fair price, he said. Theyre so greedy, you cant believe it. The doctor pleaded guilty to billing for nerve monitoring that didnt happen and was sentenced in April to six months in prison and six months on house arrest. Long Beach, February 21, 2014. 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