"It is hard to come up with an adjective that adequately conveys the horror this is inflicting on America's children and youth," he states. "Suffice it to say that when the country wakes up to the carnage this has caused, it will be recognized as the largest iatrogenic (doctor caused) public health disaster in history."
In January 2010, PsychRights announced the unsealing of a major Medicaid Fraud lawsuit against psychiatrists, their employers, pharmacies, state officials, and a medical education and publishing company for their roles in submitting fraudulent claims to Medicaid. The complaint was filed on April 27, 2009, under the federal False Claims Act which allows private parties to bring fraud actions on behalf of the Government, but was kept under seal until January 2010. The defendants include more than a dozen child psychiatrists, Alaska officials, health care agencies, and pharmacies.
PsychRights has also developed a streamlined model Qui Tam Complaint for use by interested attorneys around the country. The complaint is drafted for former foster children to bring the lawsuits and receive the whistleblower's share of the recovery, but anyone with knowledge of specific offending prescriptions, such as parents and mental health workers, can bring suit.
Last fall, Gottstein gave presentations on how to file and conduct these types of cases at the national conventions of the National Association for Rights Protection and Advocacy (NARPA), and the Internation Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology.
While PsychRights is not bringing these cases for the money, such lawsuits represent a tremendous financial opportunity for attorneys to do well by doing good. "These are about as open and shut as cases can get," Gottstein says, "it is Medicaid fraud to cause or submit prescriptions to Medicaid for reimbursement if they are not for a medically accepted indication. End of story."
(Part IV of this series will cover the role of Patient Support Organizations in the American Epidemic of Mental Illness)
Evelyn Pringle
(This series is sponsored by the International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology http://icspponline.org/index.html)
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