HOUSTON (NEXSTAR) — The U.S. Attorney's Office said in a release three Houston heart surgeons left "unqualified" residents in operating rooms alone for complex surgeries in order to perform other surgeries at the same time.
According to allegations in a federal whistleblower lawsuit unsealed on Monday, the three doctors simultaneously managed two operating rooms, often leaving critical portions of surgeries to inexperienced residents and fellows. Procedures in question included complex operations such as coronary artery bypass grafts and valve repairs.
The lawsuit states the surgeons did this from 2013 to 2020 at Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center, and helped the doctors earn higher compensation while putting patients at risk. It says the practice created $150 million in profits for their institution in the process.
Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center, Baylor College of Medicine, and Surgical Associates of Texas P.A. have agreed to pay $15 million to settle allegations that they improperly billed Medicare for concurrent heart surgeries, U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani announced Tuesday.
The private whistleblower will receive $3,075,000 of the settlement under the False Claims Act, the release said.
"Patients entrusted these surgeons with their lives — submitting to operations where one missed cut is the difference between life and death," said Hamdani. "This settlement reaffirms the importance of Medicare requirements governing surgeon presence."
In a statement, Baylor College of Medicine General Counsel Robert Corrigan Jr. said the school did not violate federal law or regulations and that “no patients were harmed.”
“The College decided to amicably resolve the dispute prior to a trial on the merits after considering the cost and expense incurred by Baylor to date, and anticipated future costs and expenses, including attorneys’ fees,” Corrigan Jr. said.
The $15 million settlement, the largest of its kind involving concurrent surgeries to date, includes a $3.075 million payment to the whistleblower under the False Claims Act. None of the defendants were found guilty, and charges were dismissed as a part of the settlement.
One of the doctors named in the lawsuit provided Nexstar with a comment following the announced settlement.
“We have proven using hospital records and operating timelines that I was in the operating rooms and did the operations I claimed and therefore have done nothing wrong,” Dr. David Ott said Tuesday.
KXAN attempted to contact all of the doctors connected with the lawsuit. This story will be updated when responses are received.
The investigation, which began in 2019, said surgeons would sometimes enter a second or third operation without designating a backup surgeon, and would falsify records to suggest they were present throughout the duration of each surgery.
"Any time any one of us goes under the knife as a vulnerable patient, we implicitly trust that the surgeons and medical professionals have our best interest at heart," said Douglas Williams, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Houston field office. "In this case, doctors gambled with their patients’ care."
The U.S. Attorney's Office, alongside the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General and FBI, conducted the investigation.
This is a developing story, check back for updates. Capitol Correspondent Monica Madden will have a full report on KXAN at 6 p.m.
