Lawsuit Alleges Doctor Performed Unnecessary Surgeries, Defrauded Medicare
"A lawsuit filed in federal court against Hilton Head Regional Medical Center and a former cardiologist, James D. Johnston, alleges the hospital performed hundreds of medically unnecessary heart procedures from 1997 through 2000.
The suit also alleges that officials in charge of the hospital at the time were aware of the problem but allowed the procedures to continue because they were profitable for the hospital.
The suit was filed in September 2005 by a former physician, Dr. Bruce Lowman, who was director of the hospital's vascular laboratory starting in 1997. The case remained secret for 10 months until a federal judge unsealed it in July.
The suit was filed under strict provisions applying to federal "whistleblower" cases, which are aimed at recovering money paid by the government as a result of fraudulent claims. Such cases automatically are sealed after being filed to give the government time to decide whether to join as a plaintiff. In this case, the government decided against joining, but the private attorneys handling it are pursuing it anyway."
Read the full article in the Hilton Head Island Packet.