Montana judge orders asbestos clinic to pay $6M over crooked claims, 337 patients falsely eligible for funding - Fox Business
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A judge ruled Saturday that a health clinic in Montana must pay the government almost $6 million in penalties and damages after it submitted hundreds of false asbestos claims.
The Center for Asbestos Related Disease (CARD) clinic in Libby, Montana, submitted 337 false asbestos claims that made patients eligible for Medicare and other benefits they should not have received.
The clinic received more than $20 million in federal funding, according to court documents.
(AP Photo/Matthew Brown, File / AP Newsroom)
The small mining town was considered a Superfund site, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) program that is responsible for cleaning up contaminated land and responding to environmental emergencies, oil spills and natural disasters.
The Superfund site status allowed the clinic's high-profile doctor, Brad Black, and his office to sign off on benefits for patients as well as prescribing opioids for people who may not have had a legitimate asbestos-related diagnosis.
The clinic demonstrated "a reckless disregard for proper medical procedure and the legal requirements of government programs," U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen wrote.
US STATES SUE EPA FOR STRICTER ASBESTOS RULES
After a seven-person jury agreed last month, District Judge Christensen said in a July 18 order, that he was imposing a stiff penalty to prevent future misconduct.
As instructed by the law, the judge tripled the $1.1...
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