At Allegiant Experts, we work tirelessly to provide attorneys with as much clinical expertise as necessary to help them get to the bottoms of the health care fraud cases they try. While lawyers are legal experts, we are experts on nursing practice and the health care system. We also keep quite a close eye on the various health care fraud cases that occur throughout the United States. They happen a lot more often than most people think.
Jorge Zamora-Quezada helped to prove that, this week. The owner and operator of Center for Arthritis & Osteoporosis in Edinburg, Texas was indicted on health care fraud charges and ordered to be detained pending trial this past Monday. As Berenice Garcia of The Monitor reports, the rheumatologist is accused of defrauding health insurers by billing for treatments based off of misdiagnoses.
A not guilty plea was entered into court.
As you may have expected, Zamora-Quezada pleaded not guilty to the no-less-than-seven charges. The indictment includes one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, five counts of health care fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. The doctor is now being held without bond, as ordered by U.S. Magistrate Judge Peter Ormsby.
There is a question, however, as to whether or not Zamora-Quezada is a flight risk. However, his defense attorney, J.A. Tony Canales presented three witnesses who all testified that they didn’t believe the accused would flee. They cited both his familial ties and several businesses all located in Texas as reasons for him to stay put.
Zamora-Quezada presented a danger to his patients.
As mentioned earlier, the doctor has been accused of providing misdiagnoses to patients. In a CNN report compiled by Jen Christensen, Michael Nedelman and Paul P. Murphy that was released yesterday, it was revealed that 70 year-old Maria Zapata suffers from an arthritis issue that she believes was worsened by Zamora-Quezada.
A little over five years ago, she visited the rheumatologist complaining of pain in her knee. He responded by starting her on a series of injections. The treatments resulted in discoloration in her legs. In addition, other doctors indicated that not only were the treatments administered by Zamora-Quezada not working, they were unnecessary. Her own family doctor told her she didn’t even have arthritis.
The CNN report also points out that Zamora-Quezada did not take kindly to having his diagnoses and treatment plans questioned. 44 year-old, Nora Rodriguez was kicked out of his clinic after she asked why her prescribed medicines weren’t working. “He kept getting upset when I was asking him why I was feeling worse and not getting better,” she is quoted as saying in the article, “He yelled and told me, ‘you are no longer my patient; get out of this office.’”
$240 million in claims were submitted based on fraudulent statements.
Of these claims, $50 million was paid to Zamora-Quezada, informs the CNN report. The doctor used that money to make lavish purchases including “two luxury penthouse apartments in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico; a condominium in Aspen, Colorado; a condominium in San Diego, California; and one in Punta Mita, Mexico.” The funds were also used to buy exotic cars and a private jet.
Are you an attorney trying a health care fraud case of your own? Please don’t hesitate to contact the clinical experts at Allegiant Experts to find out how we may be able to help you. Call us at 407-217-5831 or email us at info@allegiantexperts.com.