PAULUS CLAIMING ‘DOUBLE JEOPARDY’ IN FRAUD CASE
Dr. Richard Paulus’s attorneys have filed a motion to dismiss his charges on grounds of double jeopardy.
Paulus was convicted by a jury in 2016 of committing health care fraud for allegedly performing unnecessary heart stents in order to charge insurers more money.
Following the conviction, a district court vacated it, only to have it overturned by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.
In January 2019, a letter surfaced from KDMC that showed only 75 of the 1,049 stent procedures were flagged as unnecessary. The letter was placed under seal following a motion by KDMC to have it protected for confidentiality reasons.
Paulus filed for an appeal in June 2019, after being sentenced to five years. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed itself on March 5 on grounds that it didn’t have the letter in its possession.
While Paulus has been freed from prison, he still remains under indictment.
May 5 a motion to dismiss, Paulus’s attorneys argue to the district court that retrying the doctor would result in a violation of double jeopardy, the constitutional principle that one can’t be tried for the same crime twice.
According to the motion, the Department of Justice’s Office of Professional Responsibility has also opened an internal probe into the case following the second appeal.
The federal court docket shows the government has until May 26 to respond to the motion.
Dr Paulus was the best Heart Doctor that Kings Daughters ever had. He was railroaded, unjustly
sent to jail and deserves to be paid back for what he has had to suffer!
He’s in Trumps campaign ad. He will get it dismissed…
LCAlltheway: That’s a very controversial statement. Not all Trump supporters get special treatment. However I would like to see those who voted for baby killer andy go to jail along with him.
Let’s pretend you are having chest pain, shortness of breath and a family history of heart disease. The dr does a heart cath to see if there is a blockage. He finds a blockage of a high percentage, say 85% but he isn’t supposed to do anything until it’s 88%. Personally I would prefer he go ahead and fix the problem instead of wait till I have a heart attack 6 months down the road. Another dr at KDMC disagreed with this. This is what this is all about. Greed, money and power. I wish they would tell who the other dr was. I do not want to go to a dr who would let me die because of a small percentage. Paulus was/is a wonderful and caring dr. He should never have spent one day in jail.