Here’s a case that definitely caught my eyes as it involves a lawsuit over a medical issue and service of process. Service of process being another one of the many areas in which private investigators, including myself, provide service (no pun intended) and medical records investigation being a specialty of mine.
According to the article CSX is looking to serve a Dr. Ray Harron who worked for many plaintiffs on asbestosis claims.
“Harron reportedly was paid millions by lawyers to diagnose potential asbestos victims. He sometimes did it at the rate of one patient per minute, reports say. The New York Times has reported that Harron made 75,000 diagnoses since the mid-1990s, commonly reading as many as 150 x-rays per day, at a rate of $125 each.”
“Harron said he did not physically examine the patients. He also testified that secretaries interpreted his X-ray readings into diagnoses letters that were rubber-stamped with his signature and mailed without his final read.”
The article alleges that Dr. Harron has fled the country in an effort to avoid being served.
“CSX alleges Harron “engaged in fraudulent conduct while working as a B-reader and that he either recklessly disregarded or deliberately misrepresented the content of the X-rays he read for and on behalf of the defendant Peirce, Raimond & Coulter, P.C.”
The article also contends that the same law firm represented a plaintiff that completely made up a doctor.
“Last year, CSX said Chambers provided the name of a Dr. Oscar Frye in Huntington as the physician who treated him for his asbestosis. But through its investigation, CSX “determined that there has never been a physician, chiropractor, podiatrist, physician’s assistant or osteopath licensed to practice in the State of West Virginia by any licensing board or agency with the name ‘Oscar Frye.’”Upon further investigation, the phone number Chambers listed for Dr. Frye has belonged to a Huntington woman for 12 years, and the address he listed for Frye’s office does not exist in Huntington and hasn’t since at least 1954.“Without faking this type of medical evidence, plaintiff Chambers would not have been able to allege a proper cause of action against CSX,” CSX claimed.”
The above type of fraud could have been prevented through the use of medical record canvasses and reviews before the fact. An ounce of prevention in this case would be worth a pound of cure. You can read the entire article here.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Class Action Investigations, knoxville private investigator, Medical Record Investigations, Service of Process
[...] wrote a blog entry recently about CXS Railroad asbestosis cases which illustrates the type of fraud Zalma and Brickman are talking about. In it the doctor would [...]