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Hypocritic Oath

California's rent-a-patient scam has reaped millions for greedy physicians, clinics and patients

A A A Comments By Paul Rubin Thursday, Dec 18 2003

Rajpah Dhillon, an assistant California attorney general, said last week from Los Angeles that Kevin Do's file had just landed on his desk.

"I'm sure I'll go for an interim suspension," says Dhillon, who works with the California Medical Board. "We just got the information on the federal conviction, and I'm the last guy on the train."

Fred Harper

Jackie Mercandetti

Phoenix attorney Holly Gieszl, with her colleagues Mike Kimerer and Timothy Tweeton.

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Dhillon adds that there's nothing to stop him or anyone from reporting a Medical Board case to criminal authorities.

"If you have the evidence, it would be the right thing to do," he says.

Last September, Cathy Brady and Penn Western decided to reject all the billings from the California providers on the myriad insurance claims.

On September 17, Brady wrote to Dr. Gerald Edds, the president of AAAHC, the accreditation organization:

"I would like to bring a situation to your attention concerning [St. Paul]," she wrote. "I am enclosing some information regarding a rent-a-patient' scam that involves multiple providers in the Orange County, California, area."

Brady went on to describe the case of the three Smiths, noting that "there is an investigation in progress by the District Attorney in Orange County. . . . I felt obliged to inform you of this situation."

A spokesperson for AAAHC tells New Times that St. Paul no longer has the association's accreditation.

Jill Smith's employer laid her off within weeks after she returned from Southern California. Cathy Brady says the action was part of factory-wide cutbacks, and apparently was unrelated to the woman's fraudulent medical procedures. Smith did not continue her health-care insurance with COBRA coverage.

Brady says she doesn't know how the Smith children are doing.

Meghan Altobello contributed to the computer-assisted portion of this story. E-mail paul.rubin@newtimes.com, or call 602-229-8433.