GP Pleads Not Guilty to Twenty Fraud Counts Over Alleged False HSE Claims in Carlow
A family doctor from Tullow denies dishonestly inducing payments from the health service for treatments he allegedly never provided to patients.
GP Pleads Not Guilty to Twenty Fraud Counts Over Alleged False HSE Claims in Carlow
A physician running a practice in a County Carlow town has denied two dozen accusations of deceiving the national health service into paying him for work he supposedly never carried out.
The 45-year-old defendant, who heads a family medical centre on The Square in Tullow, stood before Judge Mary Morrissey at the local circuit court. He faces charges under a 2001 law covering dishonest acquisition of property.
According to the state, the accused tricked the HSE into handing over funds by filing paperwork saying he had delivered extra care to people holding medical cards — care that prosecutors say never happened. The alleged misconduct spans twenty different days throughout September 2018.
Lead prosecutor Mark Lynam walked jurors through how the medical card programme operates. Rather than patients paying out of pocket, the state covers physician fees. The defendant oversaw a bustling solo practice supported by nursing staff and served a sizeable medical card population.
Lynam noted that providers earn supplementary payments for non-standard services — for instance, closing wounds with sutures, making after-hours house calls, or dispensing breathing treatments via nebuliser. The prosecution's theory is that the accused padded his filings with claims for such add-ons.
Jurors will hear from individuals who are expected to say they never got the listed treatments, that their actual visit dates conflict with paperwork, and that their names were signed without their knowledge.
Representing the physician are advocates Lorcan Staines and Rebecca Smith, along with the firm Michael J Staines & Co.
The judge cautioned the twelve-member panel that innocence is assumed unless guilt is proven beyond reasonable doubt, and that no fixed opinions should form until the entire case has been presented.
Source: Laois Nationalist
Source: Google News IE — Crime (en)