The Associated Press has a story appearing in the Indianapolis Star entitled Hoosier focus of personal injury scheme. An individual by the name of Howard Awand has been indicted for allegedly conspiring as a medical consultant to fraudulently inflate settlements and judgments in personal injury cases. Awand denies the charges, but according to the indictment:
Awand owned and operated Nevada Medical Investments, a corporation that purchased accounts receivable and collection rights from health care providers, and Nevada Medical Consultants, a corporation “through which Awand purportedly provided medical consulting services.”
The indictment alleges that Awand conspired with doctors and lawyers from September 2001 to about November 2003. According to the document, Awand and others performed excessive medical procedures at inflated costs without the fully informed consent of the client and patient, and improperly influenced the sworn testimony of health care providers through promises and payments of kickbacks and protection from medical malpractice lawsuits.
Unnamed doctors performed medical procedures on patients without revealing agreements between Awand and the health care providers, the indictment said.
Lawyers involved in the scheme concealed from clients, the courts, defendants and others the “inherent conflicts of interest and self-dealing relationships arising from the undisclosed agreements” between the coconspirators, it said.
It looks like the indictment may have stemmed from Awand’s involvement in a Nevada case discussed in a column by Jane Ann Morrison in the November 14, 2005 Las Vegas Review Journal. In June 2002, a woman named Cynthia Johnson was rear-ended by a federal prosecutor. (Federal criminal defense attorneys can begin cracking jokes . . . NOW). Apparently Johnson checked with a family friend/doctor who got in touch with Awand. Almost immediately, Awand had arranged for her to see a particular orthopedic surgeon. The orthopedic surgeon then instructed her to see a particular attorney. Even though the case had settled, Ms. Morrison’s column reported that the interest of federal prosecutors continued. “Reports still float back to me of a dogged FBI agent asking questions around town about fees paid to doctors, how personal injury case referrals occur and whether anything unethical or illegal is occurring.”
In fact, it looks as if Ms. Morrison has written a number of columns on this subject: one on 12/01/05, and one on 7/20/06 also pop up with a Google search.
According to the 7/20/06 article, it looks like Awand may have gotten a piece of the action by purchasing liens on the medical procedures through his Nevada Medical Investments. Ms. Morrison cites a Colorado case where the plaintiff underwent medical procedures which would have been paid by her medical insurer. However, her attorney apparently directed the hospital to go through Nevada Medical Investments rather than through the plaintiff’s medical insurer. “[The] two surgery liens totaling $40,311 were purchased by Nevada Medical Investments. Soon after her settlement, the business wanted Veirs to pay $234,000 to settle the liens.”
A KLAS investigative reporter named George Knapp has apparently opened up a blog entitled “howardawand.blogspot.com,” but I don’t see any activity on that blog since March 2006.
So, with all of that as easily retrieved information, I suspect that Mr. Awand’s attorney was being a little disingenuous when he said, “I don’t understand the charges against my client. You can’t have a conspiracy all by yourself.”
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