Eye Doctor's 17-Year Prison Sentence For Fraud Upheld By 11th Circuit

Mealey's (August 4, 2020, 12:57 PM EDT) -- ATLANTA — An 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on July 31 upheld an ophthalmologist's 17-year prison sentence for operating a Medicare fraud scheme that involved the submission of bills for treating patients who were misdiagnosed with wet age-related macular degeneration (ARMD), holding that the jury was properly instructed on materiality and that the judge overseeing the trial did not make prejudicial evidentiary decisions regarding the admission of a summary charts of Medicare records that were used to show that the prescribing practices of the defendant were markedly different from other similarly situated doctors (United States v. Salomon E. Melgen, No. 18-10991, 11th Cir., 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 24208)....