Heart valve scam

[Roger Frank]

Perhaps that $18,000 AVR was not such a good deal after all...

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...tor-found-scam-guilty/articleshow/4214973.cms

PGI doctor found at heart of scam
3 Mar 2009, 0215 hrs IST, TNN

CHANDIGARH: He played with the trust of those who gave him responsibility of saving their lives. And now, former head of Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) cardiovascular and thoracic surgery department RS Dhaliwal has been found guilty along with Satpal Singla, who owns a chemist shop in Sector 11, for carrying out the ?heart valve scam?.

 

[ChouDoufu]

Perhaps that $18,000 AVR was not such a good deal after all...

heck no, he overpaid! should have been around $8,000.

i'm glad you didn't post this before my trip to india. but then, he was
targeting indian civil servants, not fur'ners. something doesn't seem right;
from the article, i get the sense that he would write a prescription for
the patient to carry to the referral (scam) pharmacy to buy a valve prior
to surgery. how would he know what size to order?

looking at some other reports on this, he and the pharmacy were charging
the patients for imported valves (40k rupees = $833) but implanting
domestic valves (16k rupees = $333).

 

[Bryan B]

What I gleaned from the article is that this occurred between 1994 and 2001 so it shouldn't worry those who have had VR in recent years. And like Chou said, the main targets were patients from their own country who's care was paid for by the government. It's still a terrible thing to do to someone who puts their lives in your care trusting that you are giving them the best possible care, not to mention committing fraud against their own government out of greed. Sounds like the surgeon and the chemist will not be practicing medicine for a long, long, long time.

 

[dtread]

Their punishment should also include having to undergo OHS and having one of the cheapo heart valves implanted in them.

But I guess that would be considered cruel and unusual punishment.