An acclaimed health clinic in a small Montana mining town known for treating asbestos patients has been ordered to pay almost $6 million in penalties and damages.
The Center for Asbestos Related Disease clinic, known as CARD, faced a federal False Claims Act case filed by BNSF Railway in 2019. In June a jury found the clinic filed 337 false claims for patients who received Medicare and other benefits that they were not qualified to accept.
U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen wrote in a July 18 order that the clinic demonstrated “a reckless disregard for proper medical procedure and the legal requirements of government programs,” according to The Associated Press.
The penalties imposed on CARD are intended to prevent future misconduct. Christensen also noted concerns about the clinic’s high-profile doctor, Brad Black, who self-diagnosed an asbestos-related disease, and the high rates of opioid prescriptions from the clinic for people who may not have a legitimate diagnosis, the AP reported.
BNSF filed the lawsuit alleging CARD failed to get outside confirmation that those patients had an asbestos-related disease such as mesothelioma, asbestosis or asbestos-related lung cancer. Black, the clinic’s doctor, claimed other doctors can miss signs of asbestos-related illness that are specific to Libby residents.
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