The case of a former anesthesiologist and pain management doctor made the news again recently after issuance of a presidential pardon.
Faustino Bernadett, MD had been convicted and sentenced to prison for illegally steering over 1,000 spinal fusion surgeries to a Long Beach, California hospital that he owned. According to prosecutors, Dr. Bernadett concealed over $30 million kickback payments to induce referring doctors to send their patients to his hospital.
This case, and so many others, brings to the public’s attention the shadowy world of surgical referrals.
While secret patients from a hospital owner to a referring physician are illegal under federal law, there are other situations that are more nuanced:
• A physician or surgeon pressures patients to have a procedure at the doctor’s office operating room or surgical center.
• The bait and switch: We’ve handled cases where a plastic surgeon scheduled a patient for a cosmetic procedure at a hospital, collected a non-refundable fee, and then moved the surgery to his own office operating room.
There’s a saying that “things that are different aren’t the same.” Many doctors and surgeons have gotten into the surgical facility business so they can get a larger piece of the financial pie. That doesn’t mean that the safety and quality of care at outpatient surgical facilities are equivalent to hospitals. In our experience, when there’s an emergency cardiac or respiratory event during a surgery, the patient is more likely to have a good outcome when the surgery is conducted at a hospital.
If you have a doctor’s office who’s insistent or pushy about scheduling a surgery or procedure outside a hospital setting, then you may consider asking some questions or doing some research. Here are some things to ask:
• Does the doctor own the recommended surgical facility?
• Does the surgery center have a transfer agreement with a hospital? Which one?
• How is anesthesia handled at the surgery center? Is an anesthesiologist on site? How many?
• What’s the emergency set-up at the surgery center, in terms of equipment and staff?
If you’ve been seriously injured at an in-office or outpatient surgery center in Texas, then contact a top-rated experienced Houston, Texas medical malpractice attorney for a free consultation about your potential case.
