For what it is worth,here is a little local perspective. After a poor result at a local Medi-Spa (where people go for non-surgical cosmetic procedures) I complained to the doctor. Not only was he dismissive, he later said to the person that referred me "that he will not see me when I come crawling back". I found that reaction odd. Later I found out that the person who referred me was getting kick backs for referrals.

So I did an Internet search and it was not easy to find what I found. This doctor and 8 others were indicted by a Federal Grand Jury for health care fraud to the tune of 12 million - the largest case of this kind in Los Angeles.I also found out that Los Angeles is the number 2 city in the US for health care fraud - MIAMI being number 1. I also learned that Lamm was investigating a company owned by Tenet at the time she was saked - Tenet being the company on whose Board Jeb Bush sits.

I became curious to find out if the indictement ever led to a trial and this is where I came to a dead end - actually it was with the US Attorney's office in LA as they handled the case.

When I called I had good information - an indicted doctor was still practicing the criminal act of taking sizable kick backs. I received one call back, I was not avaliable at the time. Since then I have called back 30 times, written letters.No response. It appears that even with substantial evidence this case has not gone to trial and what these doctors were doing is pretty ugly - giving respiatory treatments to the elderly and mentally ill that were not needed so that they could bill medicare. You would think this case would have proceeded. Does that mean this unit was focused elsewhere? I don't know. I do know that the government is spending 160 million for a pilot program in Miami and Los Angeles for catching these kinds of cases - so to let this fall through the cracks smells funny to me.

Posted at March 21, 2008 3:45 AM in response to Los Angeles: Reviewing US Atty Shuffle