Chicago, Illinois Nursing Home Negligence?: Kickback Scam Links Convicted Doctor to Assisted Living Facility Operator
Nursing home operator Philip Esformes is denying that Chicago doctor Roland Borrasi paid him for access to his patients. Borrasi, who was convicted of one count of conspiracy to offer and receive bribes and kickbacks in exchange for patient referrals and six counts of offering/receiving bribes to get the referrals, is serving a 6-year prison term.
According to Borrasi’s mistress and medical biller, the doctor told her that he would pay Esformes fees between $1,000 and $10,000. Another member of Borrasi’s medical group, unindicted co-conspirator Abhin Singla, told authorities that the nursing home operator was in charge of regulating the in and out flow of residents at his nursing homes and that he did so in a manner that let him receive the maximum benefit allowed.
Singla, who cooperated with federal agents, said that in March 2001 he was with Borrasi when Esformes called and told the Chicago doctor to admit at least five nursing residents to different hospitals. Borrasi did so without inquiring about their medical conditions. Singla claims that someone would “find something wrong” with the residents so they could be admitted. Meantime, taxpayers were paying millions in bogus Medicare and Medicaid bills.
Borrasi was recorded telling three doctors that he used cash bribes and kickback to move nursing residents into psychiatric wards and hospitals in the Chicago area. According to the Chicago Tribune, one patient was administered brain radiation treatments that were inappropriate for her. Another resident was admitted to an acute psychiatric ward after she wouldn’t eat in the dining room.
Two of the state’s largest nursing home chains were also named in the federal probe for allegedly involving their residents in the scam. However, they were never charged.
Nursing Home Negligence
If a nursing home fails to act in a patient's best interests and instead provides a patient with poor or inappropriate nursing care, the facility may be held liable for Chicago nursing home negligence. Unfortunately, because of their advanced age and/or poor health, nursing home residents are easy to take advantage of and they are at risk of becoming victims of Illinois nursing home abuse and neglect. Also, nursing home schemes are not as uncommon as we'd like to think.
Cashing in on frail patients, Chicago Tribune, April 18, 2010
Former CEO and Affiliated Physician Convicted in $565,000 Bribery and Kickback Conspiracy, American Chronicle, July 2, 2009
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AARP
In Cook County, Lake County, DuPage County, and Will County, contact our Chicago nursing home neglect law firm today.
