Surgeon Pleads Innocent To Charges Of Bilking Insurers By Associated Press - October 18, 2005LOS ANGELES (AP) _ A doctor pleaded not guilty Monday to charges he performed unneeded surgeries with the cooperation of his patients in a scheme to bilk insurance companies.
Dr. William W. Hampton, 50, of Cypress, was ordered to appear before U.S. District Judge Gary Klausner on Dec. 6.
Hampton and Dr. Mamdouh Bahna, were named in an indictment, along with Bahna's Bel Air Surgical Institute.
Prosecutors said Bahna, 51, failed to appear in court Monday.
According to the indictment, Bahna hired workers to recruit people with health insurance to undergo unneeded surgery in exchange for cash or discounts on plastic surgeries. Prosecutors say the payments ranged from $300 to $1,200 for such procedures as colonoscopies, sinus surgeries and an operation meant to stop palms from sweating.
The indictment alleges the recruiters told the patients to describe false and exaggerated symptoms, which were then used to make the surgeries seem justified.
Hampton worked at the Bel Air Surgical Institute in West Los Angeles intermittently in 2003 and early 2004, and he also worked at other offices in the area, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Pegeen Rhyne. |