Here are 10 of the biggest fraud and abuse cases involving spine and neurosurgeons in 2018 so far:
Fraud
A federal grand jury indicted orthopedic spine surgeon Jacob Tauber, MD, and neurosurgeon Serge Obukhoff, MD, in connection with a $950 million healthcare fraud scheme nicknamed "Operation Spinal Cap."
Cathleen Van Buskirk, MD, was indicted for failing to report $46,000 as well as 200 U.S. silver dollars, foreign currency, gold coins and a diamond ring. She also was indicted for transferring $170,000 to companies controlled by her sisters or employees when filing for bankruptcy. She reached an undisclosed plea deal with federal prosecutors.
Cyril Raben, MD, continued practicing medicine after surrendering his license in 2014 and collected $847,000 from Medicare before his death.
Former Billings, Mont.-based neurosurgeon John Henry Schneider, MD, pled guilty to concealing bankruptcy assets.
Neurosurgeon Jeffrey Lokesh Tantuwaya, MD, was accused of receiving $3.2 million in bribes to direct or perform $38 million in surgeries at Pacific Hospital of Long Beach (Calif.).
Abuse
A lawsuit filed in Anchorage Superior Court alleged neurosurgeon Louis Kralick, MD, photographed the genitalia of a patient undergoing spine surgery at Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage.
Toronto, Canada-based neurosurgeon Mohammed Shamji, MD, PhD, will stand trial April 1, 2019, for the first-degree murder of his wife Elana Fric-Shamji, MD.
It took only a few hours for a Dallas County jury to convict neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch, MD, of first-degree felony for endangering an elderly woman in the operating room
Former Amarillo, Texas-based neurosurgeon Jeffrey Cone, MD, was indicted for child sexual assault, Myhighplains.com reports.
Johnny Benjamin, MD, a former spine surgeon based in Vero Beach, Fla., was sentenced to life in prison for his role in a federal drug case that lead to a woman's death.
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