Doctors Falsely Certified Patients as Terminally Ill

In May 2016, California doctors Sri "Dr. J" Wijegoonaratna and Boyao Huang were convicted of healthcare fraud for falsely certifying that their patients were terminally ill.



California Hospice Care paid marketers to recruit Medicare and Medi-Cal beneficiaries. The patients were assessed by nurses to determine if they were terminally ill.  But regardless of the nurse assessments, Wijegoonaratna and Huang certified that the patients were dying, even though most were not.  The false certifications were used to submit bills for unnecessary hospice-related services.  (HT: US DOJ)