I am not the least bit surprised by this revelation. Years ago, I wrote in   
   my articles how I trust very few people, and that most certainly includes   
   people who are in the medical profession. I don't even trust dentists to be   
   honest. One small, intentional, sharp scrape on a tooth with one of their   
   tools, and you are back in the dentist's chair months later with a new   
   cavity to be fixed, by the dentist's own design.   
      
   It sickens me, and angers me, to think of how everyone is so beholden to the   
   "almighty" American dollar. The unscrupulous things that people -- including   
   medical professionals -- will do, in order to earn a profit, at the expense   
   of naive people who place their trust in them to do the right and honest   
   thing.   
      
   Here are a few select quotes from the full article below:   
      
   ----- Begin Quotes -----   
      
   "Some doctors say the case has revealed a level of inappropriate care that   
   is more common than most patients know."   
      
   "What was going on in Baltimore is going on right now in every city in   
   America," said Dr. Steven Nissen, chief of cardiovascular medicine at the   
   Cleveland Clinic."   
      
   ----- End Quotes -----   
      
   Truly, the heart of man is corrupt, exactly as the Bible says it is:   
      
   "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can   
   know it?"   
   Jeremiah 17:9, KJV   
      
      
   Doctor Faces Suits Over Cardiac Stents   
      
   By GARDINER HARRIS - NYT   
      
   December 5, 2010   
      
      
   Word quickly reached top executives at Abbott Laboratories that a Baltimore   
   cardiologist, Dr. Mark Midei, had inserted 30 of the company's cardiac   
   stents in a single day in August 2008, "which is the biggest day I remember   
   hearing about," an executive wrote in a celebratory e-mail.   
      
   Two days later, an Abbott sales representative spent $2,159 to buy a whole,   
   slow-smoked pig, peach cobbler and other fixings for a barbecue dinner at   
   Dr. Midei's home, according to a report being released Monday by the Senate.   
   The dinner was just a small part of the millions in salary and perks   
   showered on Dr. Midei for putting more stents in more patients than almost   
   any other cardiologist in Baltimore.   
      
   The Senate Finance Committee, which oversees Medicare, started investigating   
   Dr. Midei in February after a series of articles in The Baltimore Sun said   
   that Dr. Midei at St. Joseph Medical Center, in Towson, Md., had inserted   
   stents in patients who did not need them, reaping high reimbursements from   
   Medicare and private insurance.   
      
   The senators solicited 10,000 documents from Abbott and St. Joseph. Their   
   report, provided in advance to The New York Times, concludes that Dr. Midei   
   "may have implanted 585 stents which were medically unnecessary" from 2007   
   to 2009. Medicare paid $3.8 million of the $6.6 million charged for those   
   procedures.   
      
   The report also describes the close relationship between Dr. Midei and   
   Abbott Labs, which paid consulting fees to the cardiologist after he left   
   the hospital. "The serious allegations lodged against Dr. Midei regarding   
   the medically unnecessary implantation of cardiac stents did not appear to   
   deter Abbott's interest in assisting him," the report states.   
      
   The case has turned into a legal quagmire for Dr. Midei and St. Joseph,   
   which have been sued by hundreds of patients who claim they received   
   unnecessary implants. Some doctors say the case has revealed a level of   
   inappropriate care that is more common than most patients know.   
      
   "What was going on in Baltimore is going on right now in every city in   
   America," said Dr. Steven Nissen, chief of cardiovascular medicine at the   
   Cleveland Clinic, who said he routinely treats patients who have been given   
   multiple unneeded stents. "We're spending a fortune as a country on   
   procedures that people don't need."   
      
   Dr. Midei's lawyer, Stephen L. Snyder, said that his client's treatment of   
   his patients was entirely appropriate and that Dr. Midei, who has recently   
   practiced medicine at the Prince Salman Heart Center in Saudi Arabia, would   
   be exonerated.   
      
   "This is all trumped up to hide the hospital's criminal conduct," said Mr.   
   Snyder, who filed a $60 million lawsuit against St. Joseph on Dr. Midei's   
   behalf accusing the hospital of damaging Dr. Midei's reputation by making   
   false claims about his care. (The hospital responded that the assessments of   
   Dr. Midei's care were done by independent experts.)   
      
   Last month, St. Joseph agreed to pay a $22 million fine to settle charges   
   that it paid illegal kickbacks to Dr. Midei's medical practice, MidAtlantic   
   Cardiovascular Associates, in exchange for patient referrals; the hospital   
   did not admit wrongdoing. St. Joseph said in a statement Friday that it now   
   conducts monthly random reviews of stent cases "to assure such a situation   
   cannot occur again."   
      
   As for Abbott Labs, a spokesman wrote in an e-mail that its affiliation with   
   Dr. Midei ended early this year. "Dr. Midei has been a highly regarded   
   physician in his field, with whom Abbott had consulted in the past," said   
   the spokesman, Jonathan Hamilton. "We have no further comment at this time."   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
      
      
   Jeff Snyder, SysOp - Armageddon BBS  Visit us at endtimeprophecy.org port 23   
   ----------------------------------------------------------------------------   
   Your Download Center 4 Mac BBS Software & Christian Files.  We Use Hermes II   
      
      
   --- Hermes Web Tosser 1.1   
    * Origin: Armageddon BBS -- Guam, Mariana Islands (1:345/3777.0)