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Indicted witness in hepatitis C case upset
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LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Updated: Apr. 29, 2011 | 8:03 a.m.
Tonya Rushing, a key witness in the district attorney's criminal case against Dr. Dipak Desai, lashed out at federal prosecutors Thursday, a day after they indicted her and the physician on health care fraud charges.
"I feel betrayed," said Rushing, who ran Desai's endoscopy clinics at the center of a hepatitis C outbreak. "I feel like a pawn. I don't know who to trust anymore."
In an interview, Rushing said she not only cooperated with the district attorney's office in the past year but also with the federal prosecutors who obtained her indictment.
"They know I don't have the means, like Desai, to fight them," she said. "I'm an easy target. They're taking the easy way out."
Desai, 61, a gastroenterologist who gave up his medical license after the hepatitis outbreak, and Rushing, 43, were charged in the federal indictment with one count of conspiracy, 25 counts of health care fraud and a forfeiture count seeking to seize $8.1 million. The case mirrors some charges county prosecutors filed against Desai in June after a Las Vegas police investigation.
The indictment alleges the pair carried out a scheme from January 2005 through February 2008 to inflate the length of medical procedures and overbill health insurance companies.
Nurse anesthetists at the clinics were ordered to falsify anesthesia times for endoscopies and colonoscopies, listing 31 minutes of anesthesia for each procedure though they rarely required that much time, the indictment alleged.
Rushing denied participating in any criminal scheme, saying she only did what she was told to do.
"I was just processing the billing," she said. "We relied on ethical physicians to give us appropriate and accurate documentation.
"If they can do this to me, then every office manager, every billing company, every billing manager needs to be aware that this could happen to them."
Rushing said she doesn't understand why federal authorities went after her "instead of the people who committed the wrongdoing."
As many as a dozen nurse anesthetists were involved in reporting anesthesia times at Desai's clinics, but none of the nurses was charged in the federal case, she said.
"The bottom line is this: I'm not going to do what Desai did and run away," she said. "I did nothing wrong. I cooperated. I'm the smallest person in this whole case, and I'm going to speak out for the little person and myself."
U.S. attorney's office spokeswoman Natalie Collins did not return a call for comment.
Rushing said she decided to cooperate after discovering that a lawyer Desai had retained for her was not looking out for her interests in the criminal case.
She hired lawyer Louis Schneider, who helped her deal with authorities.
Schneider said Rushing was so helpful to the district attorney's office that it did not charge her.
"It was such a convoluted, complicated case," Schneider said. "She helped them understand an awful lot about it."
Schneider said federal prosecutors never promised not to charge her, but he had hoped her cooperation would have precluded her indictment.
And now that she has been charged, Schneider said, he is instructing her not to talk to any law enforcement agencies.
That is a blow to the district attorney's office, which expects to call her as one of its chief witnesses next year at the District Court trial of Desai and two of his nurse anesthetists, Keith Mathahs and Ronald Lakeman.
The trio face several felony charges, including racketeering, insurance fraud and neglect of patients.
The charges revolve around seven people whom authorities say were infected with the potentially deadly hepatitis C virus at Desai's endoscopy clinics.
Despite facing state criminal charges, Mathahs cooperated with federal authorities in obtaining the indictment against Rushing and Desai, said his lawyer, Michael Cristalli.
Desai's trial on the state charges remains on hold while officials at Lakes Crossing, the state's mental hospital, determine whether Desai is competent to help his lawyers in court.
In March, under orders from District Judge Jackie Glass, Desai was taken to Lakes Crossing for observation. Two court-appointed medical experts from Las Vegas had found him incompetent to stand trial because of two strokes in recent years.
The police investigation began shortly after health officials disclosed the hepatitis C outbreak in February 2008. Desai came under scrutiny after the Southern Nevada Health District linked cases of hepatitis C to his clinics.
Contact Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135.
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I would like to know how does a billing company take responsibility of a CRNA and physicians actions? Didn't this all begin because of exposure to Hepatitis C which the CRNA's are the one who administer Pitocin which puts the patients to sleep. They were using a single dose vial as a multi does vile. SOOO my question is how does a Billing company take owner ship of this and now the DA does not have enough proof to bring down Desai for this so they searched and searched and came up with this Billing Fraud, REALLY? What about putting the CRNS behind bars and make them face what they did wrong. Why go after a Office manager and not the owner and CRNA's?? Bring them to justice and make them pay for what they did!! Tonya stay strong and beat these false charges!!
She is guilty as sin. She was the administrator and ran the billing company, the practice and her billing company so she had full knowledge. Open your eyes and look at the indictment. It's available on line in black and white. What about all the assets she had? Where are those hidden? She made a ton of money and she wasn't spending on her employees! Karma will kick her in the but.
She needs to thank God she doesn't have liver disease...like those poor patients that the clinics infected due to indifference and greed...I had one session with Desai and felt he was ineffective and brutal and uncaring....this was long ago and I am darned glad I found out long ago before he had the chance to infect me.
And another thing.... doctors have been pulling this type of bs for years and years. No wonder so much of the "medical billing" is being outsourced to India. Look out all you billing companies and office managers... this could happen to you next. Stand and Fight Tonya, Fight !!
Ya know what.... from day 1 the media has reported so much contradictory information and exaggeration of facts regarding this Hep C case it's ridiculous.
Ms Rushing I suggest that you take this case to some credible reporting news broadcast such as Dateline, 60 minutes or 20/20. Don't go down without a fight.
Rushing you poor little dog. you thought you were going free by being Rogers top RAT. guess what , Rats belong in the sewer, thats where you are going.I hope its filled with predators that like to eat RATS>
MGH,
Even with tons of cash, your still beat by the feds. It deffinitly helps, but for the most part, the feds are like a pit bull. Your done. Just hope the dog shows some mercy.
My boss said take this gun and go and shoot the first person in the street I see. If I went and shot the first person in the street that I saw, would I be innocent? Just because your boss told you to do something you mostlikely knew was illegal, does not make you innocent. If she truly had no idea of what was going on, then maybe. If she didn't do anything, or know anything that was going on was illegal, how would she know so much? Your a real piece of scum. Not only did she conspire to commit fraud, (although she is innocent until proven guilty), she's a rat too. Rats do not do very well in prison.
Welcome to the U.S. system of justice. If you have no money you are through.
OMG ABOUT TIME THEY CAUGHT HER SHE IS THE KEY PERSON IN THIS WHOLE CASE, SHE KNEW OF EVERYTHING THAT WENT ON IT THE CENTERS, I KNOW FOR A FACT BECAUSE I USE TO WORK THERE. FUNNY HOW SHE SAID SHE WAS DOING WHAT SHE WAS TOLD TO DO IN HER OWN BUSINESS COME ON BE FORREAL SHE WANTED TO BE GREEDY WITH DESAI AND NOW SHE HAS TO PAY!!! NOT ONLY DID SHE GET THE BIG CHRISTMAS BONUSES WHILE THE WORKERS GOT PENNIES SHE EVEN HELPED OTHER DR. IN THE COMMUNITY CUT CORNERS THIS WONT BE THE LAST YOU HEAR HER NAME IN THE PAPERS.