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BRIEF: Jury starts deliberating Medicare fraud case against eye doc Melgen
Palm Beach Post - 4/26/2017
April 26--WEST PALM BEACH -- After a nearly two-month trial and getting last minute instructions on the law, a federal jury on Wednesday began deciding whether Dr. Salomon Melgen is guilty of 76 charges of health care fraud.
The 12 jurors began deliberating at mid-morning. With dozens of charges to consider and complex medical procedures and legal issues to weigh, the jury isn't expected to reach a decision quickly.
Melgen, 62, is accused of bilking Medicare out of as much as $105 million. Federal prosecutors claim he misdiagnosed and mistreated scores of patients to rake in millions from the federal insurer. To underscore the depths of his alleged fraud, prosecutors claim he sent Medicare hundreds of bills for his tests of people with prosthetic, blind and shrunken eyes.
During closing arguments on Monday, his attorneys attributed some of the bills to sloppy record-keeping. Admitting Melgen made mistakes, attorney Matthew Menchel insisted prosecutors turned a civil case into a criminal one. While Melgen could and has been sued for malpractice, Menchel insisted he committed no crime. Melgen also faces corruption charges in New Jersey with his longtime friend, U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J.
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