CONTACT:
Jim Gottstein
(907) 274-7686
Seventh Circuit Rules
Psychiatrists Commit Medicaid Fraud By Prescribing Psychiatric Drugs Off-Label
to Children
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 29, 2013
In a
Decision
issued yesterday, sending the case back to the trial court, the United States
Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (7th Circuit) held that psychiatrists
commit Medicaid fraud when they write off-label prescriptions for psychiatric
drugs to children for uses that are not "supported" by any of three drug
references, known as "compendia."
At page 4 of its
Decision
the 7th Circuit first stated:
Under the applicable
interlocking provisions of the False Claims Act and laws governing Medicaid, the
federal government generally will not pay for medications prescribed for
purposes not approved by the FDA or "supported" by any of several pharmaceutical
reference books (called "compendia").
at page 12:
A reasonable jury could
plausibly interpret the evidence Watson assembled to show that King-Vassel
recklessly disregarded the fact that N.B. received Medicaid assistance, and that
claims for payment for his prescriptions would be submitted to Medicaid.
and then at p. 15:
In short, we do not think a
jury needs expert testimony to understand that writing a prescription to a
person insured by Medicaid will likely cause a claim to be filed with Medicaid.
The lawsuit,
ex rel Watson v. King-Vassel,
was brought under
PsychRights' Medicaid Fraud Initiative
Against Psychiatric Drugging of Children & Youth.
by
Dr. Toby Watson,
a Wisconsin psychologist, to support the Law Project for Psychiatric Rights'
(PsychRights®) effort to try and stop the tremendous harm caused by
off-label psychiatric drug prescriptions to poor children on Medicaid for uses
that have no recognized scientific support.
Dr. Watson, said, "I am pleased the 7th Circuit ruled in our favor even
though I inadvertently used the authorization for release of information form
developed for my clinical practice."
Jim Gottstein,
president of the Law Project for Psychiatric Rights and the attorney who handled
the appeal, explained that "Congress limited Medicaid coverage to uses approved
by the FDA or supported by one of the compendia, which is defined in the statute
as a 'medically accepted indication.'
This is one of the things the 7th Circuit confirmed.
Another is that psychiatrists commit Medicaid Fraud when they write
prescriptions for psychiatric drugs to children that are not for a medically
accepted indication." Mr. Gottstein
went on to say, "the government has gone after and recovered billions of dollars
from the drug companies for illegally pushing these drugs for use on children
who are upset and acting out, but the psychiatrists are still prescribing these
extremely harmful drugs to children."
The Drug Companies' Fraudulent Scheme can be depicted as follows:
PsychRights' Medicaid Fraud Initiative
Against Psychiatric Drugging of Children & Youth
is designed to discourage doctors from continuing to prescribe psychiatric drugs
to children that are not for a medically accepted indication.
Each off-label prescription that is not for a medically accepted
indication carries a minimum penalty of $5,500.
Rebecca Gietman,
Dr. Watson's trial counsel said, "With this remand, we are one step
closer to addressing issues involved with the psychotropic drugging of children.
Kudos to the 7th Circuit."
The Law Project
for Psychiatric Rights is a public interest law firm devoted to the defense of
people facing the horrors of forced psychiatric drugging and electroshock.
Additionally, given the massive, growing
prevalence of psychiatric drugging of children and youth, and the fact that
minors have little to no influence on these adult-instituted decisions,
PsychRights has made attacking this unfolding national tragedy a priority.
PsychRights is further dedicated to exposing the truth about psychiatric
interventions and the courts being misled into ordering people to be subjected
to these brain and body damaging drugs against their will Extensive information
about these dangers, and about the tragic damage caused by electroshock, is
available on the PsychRights web site:
http://psychrights.org/.
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