WASHINGTON: Sixteen US physicians and healthcare workers — including at least half a dozen medical practitioners of Pakistan descent — have been sentenced to prison for collecting more than $250 million through healthcare fraud and opioid distribution schemes.

Seven others have also been convicted but await sentencing. Those already sentenced face from 8 months to 15 years in prison along with millions of dollars of fines.

The sentencing followed the discovery of a multi-state network of pain-management clinics that operated from 2007 to 2018.

The US Justice Department said the clinics were “pill mills” frequented by patients suffering from addiction, as well as drug dealers, who sought to obtain high-dosage prescription drugs like oxycodone. The doctors working at the clinics agreed to work only a few hours a week to “stay under the radar” of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Yet, they were among the highest prescribers of oxycodone in the State of Michigan.

The list of convicts shows that physicians of all ethnic backgrounds — including Caucasians, South Asians (both Pakistanis and Indians), Arabs, Hispanics and others — were involved in this scheme. All but three of these doctors were practicing medicine in Michigan. Three were based in Ohio.

FBI says convicts provided prescription drugs to patients who didn’t need them; fraud proceeds were used to fund lavish lifestyles

“For some South Asian doctors, the US is a fertile ground for minting money and malpractice,” said a North American Pakistani physician while commenting on the action. “Many use steroids and opioids openly.”

The physician said she was “happy” that American authorities had busted this gang. “There is also an Indian-Pakistani doctors mafia. They pick residents from their own community and pay huge money to local politicians to assert their influence.”

The US Justice Department said those already sentenced include 12 physicians, allegedly involved in a $250 million healthcare fraud scheme that included the exploitation of patients suffering from addiction and the illegal distribution of over 6.6 million doses of medically unnecessary opioids.

Five physicians were convicted in two separate trials, while 18 other defendants pleaded guilty. Seven defendants await sentencing.

“It is unconscionable that doctors and health care professionals would vio­late their oath to do no harm and exploit vulnerable patients struggling with addiction,” said Assistant Attor­n­ey General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Divi­sion. “These are not just crimes of greed; these are crimes that make this country’s opioid crisis even worse – and that is why the department will continue to relentlessly pursue these cases.”

Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division noted that medical professionals involved in these schemes “provided prescription drugs to those with no medical need. It is unacceptable that in this nation’s current opioid crisis, physicians and medical professionals are exploiting the well-being of their patients for profit.”

Special Agent in Charge Mario Pinto of the US Department of Health and Human Services, said his department would “continue working with our law enforcement partners to ensure that bad actors are held accountable for such egregious disregard for patient safety and well-being.”

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, the scheme involved doctors refusing to provide patients with opioids unless they agreed to unnecessary back injections.

To obtain prescriptions, the patients had to submit to expensive, unnecessary and sometimes painful back injections, known as facet joint injections. The injections were selected because they were among the highest reimbursing procedures, rather than based on medical need.

Trial testimony established that, in some instances, patients experienced more pain from the shots than from the pain they had purportedly come to have treated, and that some patients developed adverse conditions, including open holes in their backs.

Patients largely acquiesced to these unnecessary procedures because of their addiction or desire to obtain pills to be resold on the street by drug dealers. Evidence further established that the defendant physicians repeatedly performed these unnecessary injections on patients over several years and were paid more for facet joint injections than any other medical clinic in the United States.

The evidence showed that the proceeds of the fraud were used to fuel lavish lifestyles. Francisco Patino, a doctor and part-owner of the clinics, bought jewelry, cars and vacations, as well as paid Ultimate Fighting Championship and other mixed martial arts fighters to promote his specialized diet program.

Mashiyat Rashid, Patino’s business partner and part-owner of the clinics, purchased private jet flights, courtside tickets to the NBA Finals and expensive real estate. Other physicians invo­lved in the scheme purchased luxury cars, gold bars, and indoor basketball courts and swimming pools. Over $16 million in fraud proceeds was forfeited by the United States from the defendants.

The convicts include: Spilios Pappas, MD, 63; Tariq Omar, MD, 63; Joseph Betro, DO, 60; Mohammed Zahoor, MD, 53; Zahid Sheikh, MD, 62; Abdul Haq, MD, 76; Steven Adamczyk, MD, 47; David Weaver, MD, 67; Glenn Saperstein, MD, 58; Manish Bolina, MD, 43; Hussein Saad, MD, 42; and David Yangouyian, MD, 58.

Healthcare workers sentenced by the court include: Mashiyat Rashid, Yousef Almatrahi, 34; Hina Qazi, 39; and Joshua Burns, 43.

Those scheduled for sentencing include: Francisco Patino, MD: Yasser Mozeb, 39; Kashif Rasool, MD, 46; Tariq Siddiqi, 44; Tasadaq Ali Ahmad, 54; Stephanie Borgula, 41; and Meiuttenun Brown, MD, 51.

Published in Dawn, March 16th, 2022