Broward County Doctor Acquitted of Fraud
A Broward County doctor who had been accused of taking part in a Medicare kickback scheme has been acquitted in federal court. According to federal prosecutors, two home healthcare agencies in the area had billed the Medicare program over $20 million for treatment that was not needed or that patients did not receive. If convicted, the doctor could have faced 15 years in prison.
According to the doctor’s Broward County criminal defense attorney, he had personally visited every patient for whom he had prescribed home health care. The attorney insisted that the doctor had prescribed home care for the patients referred to the two agencies because they were unable to inject their own insulin shots due to infirmity. The attorney said that the doctor had actually visited many of these patients in their homes, so rather than a case of trying to defraud the government, he had seen firsthand the patients’ needs.
Given the recent successes that federal prosecutors have had with Medicare fraud cases in the Broward County area, the acquittal was seen as a surprise by some who had been following the case. However, the not guilty verdict serves as an important reminder that in our judicial system, everyone accused of a crime is innocent until proven guilty. The case also serves as a good reminder of the need for a qualified and experienced criminal defense attorney when one has been charged with a crime.
The doctor’s attorney noted after the verdict that she had really believed in her client and had found it refreshing to work with a doctor who saw all of his patients and cared about what they had needed. The attorney had called one of the doctor’s 90-year-old patients whom he had seen at home as a witness.
Because the federal government seemed to have amassed a mountain of evidence against the doctor and had several witnesses slated to testify against him, it would have been easy for him to assume that his attempt to prove his innocence was doomed to failure. However, with the help of his defense attorney, the doctor never gave up hope of showing how he had been the victim of a convicted witness who was merely creating lies in an attempt to seemingly cooperate with the government.
If you face criminal charges in Broward County, the same hope that that was available to the doctor through the help of his defense attorney is available to you, as well. Contact a Broward County criminal defense attorney who will work diligently to achieve a positive outcome for you.
Find a Broward County criminal defense attorney at Leader & Leader, PA. Leader & Leader is an experienced, aggressive criminal defense team located in South Florida. With more than 68 years of combined experience to defend you, our goal is to protect your rights and explore every option. We serve Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, and Monroe counties in state and federal court criminal matters. For more information, visit http://www.criminallawleader.com/ or call 954.523.2020. Initial consultations available 24 hours, 7 days a week via telephone.
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