Mar 17, 2022 17:00:00

A vicious dentist who deliberately injured a patient's teeth and claimed treatment costs was convicted

A dentist in

Wisconsin , USA, was convicted of medical fraud and false claims, saying that he had benefited from deliberately injuring a patient's healthy teeth and covering the defect with a crown . it was done.

Wisconsin dentist guilty of damaging teeth in insurance fraud scheme
https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/crime/2022/03/11/wisconsin-dentist-guilty-damaging-teeth-insurance-fraud-scheme/7001739001/

Wisconsin dentist Scott Charmoli convicted of health-care fraud for intentionally breaking patients' teeth --The Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/03/16/wisconsin-dentist-scott-charmoli-intentionally-breaks-patients-teeth/

Dentist found guilty of damaging patients' teeth to boost profits | Wisconsin | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/mar/16/wisconsin-dentist-guilty-damaging-patients-teeth-boost-profits

According to the prosecution, Scott Charmoli, a 61-year-old former dentist who ran a 'Jackson Family Dental Clinic' in Jackson County , Wisconsin, intentionally injured a patient's teeth before treating them unfairly. He said he was doing it. Charmoli used this technique to perform 434 crown treatments for $ 1.4 million in 2014 and more than 1000 crown treatments for $ 2.5 million in 2015. It seems that he earned (yen).

Charmoli's technique is to first take an X-ray of a healthy patient's teeth, then show the picture to the patient and falsely explain the appropriate line as a 'crack in the tooth' and recommend treatment with a crown. thing. After obtaining the patient's consent, 'treatment' is started, and at this timing, the patient's teeth are intentionally damaged and X-rays are taken again, and the photograph at this time is falsely submitted to the insurance company as 'pre-treatment photograph'. It seems to be. Patients have to pay a large amount of treatment because the treatment to cover the crown is generally covered only partially by insurance.

Between 2016 and 2019, Charmoli earned $ 4.2 million in crown treatment, owning more than $ 6.8 million in assets by the end of 2020, and Wisconsin. I had villas in the states and Arizona. The average Wisconsin doctor has less than 6 crown treatments per 100 patients, while Charmoli has more than 32 crown treatments per 100 patients, according to Wisconsin insurance executives. That.

Prosecutor Julie Stewart argues that some of the patients Charmoli intentionally injured his teeth and claimed for treatment included those who were socially vulnerable. 'Some of these patients are very vulnerable, including those who have been abused, those who have recently become widowed, those who have survived cancer, and those who live that day, and those are claimed by Charmoli. I lived on a reduced salary in order to pay the co-payment for unnecessary treatment. '

Todd Tedeschi, who was actually damaged, thought that his teeth were healthy when he visited the clinic, but was persuaded by Charmoli to receive two crown treatments. 'This looked like overtreatment, but I didn't know any more. He was a professional, so I just trusted him,' he testified.

Also, according to Baily Bayer, who was a dental assistant under Charmoli, treatment increased as a result of the relocation of the Jackson Family Dental Clinic to a larger building. Bayer testified that marketing experts had advised Charmoli to 'get more treatment from patients,' and was uncomfortable with the shift to a profit-seeking policy and quit the dental office. That's right. '(Dentists) shouldn't compete and market, either they need it or they don't,' Bayer said in a trial.

Charmoli's wrongdoing was discovered when he sold his Jackson Family Dental Clinic in 2019. When Pako Major, the new owner who purchased the dental clinic, checked the medical care file that was taken over, he noticed that the number of crown treatments was unusually large and filed a complaint with the authorities. 'Patient health and safety are of paramount concern as a physician. As healthcare professionals, we have a vow to'do no harm'to patients. That is why ethics to accuse seemingly suspicious behavior. I felt an ethical obligation, 'Major said in a statement on the official website .

As a result of law enforcement investigations based on accusations, Charmoli was charged with medical fraud and false claims in December 2020, and his dentist license was suspended in February 2021. And on March 10, 2022, Charmoli was convicted of a total of seven charges. The final decision, including punishment, is scheduled to be handed down in June 2022.