ORTHOPEDIST SUBMITS $35 MILLION IN CLAIMS FOR ‘PHANTOM’ SURGERIES
Dr. Spyros Panos was a star performer at the Poughkeepsie,
NY medical facility where he worked, bouncing from operating room to operating
room while performing at least 20 procedures a day. There was just one problem:
Many of the surgeries billed out by the orthopedist never took place.
Panos would fake surgeries for patients who were under anesthesia,
opening and then closing them without repairing any joints. He also performed
arthroscopic procedures and then billed them as more-expensive open surgeries.
One such surgery lasted all of seven minutes. In total, the good doctor
submitted $35 million in false insurance claims.
For committing insurance fraud, Panos was sentenced to
four-and-a-half years in federal prison. He also faces at least 260 lawsuits
from patients who allege they were needlessly and often carelessly cut up for
insurance money.