Two Seattle-area surgeons have been indicted in an alleged $7.3 million scam in Texas involving surgical-implant devices, money laundering and wire fraud.
Seattle Times health reporter
An ex-Army surgeon from Texas and his wife, who now practice in the Seattle area, have been indicted in a $7.3 million health-care scam.
The 65-count federal indictment announced Thursday in El Paso, covering activities from 2002 through mid-2010, names Dr. Richard Craig Rooney, of Medina, and his wife, Dr. Angie Unchi Song, a former El Paso otolaryngology (ear, nose and throat) physician and cosmetic surgeon.
“It’s very misleading they’re calling it $7.3 million fraud,” said Mary Stillinger, Rooney’s attorney in El Paso, who was reached Tuesday by the News Tribune in Tacoma. “The allegation is that he was driving business to one vendor, it’s not about stealing. He is innocent, and he’s looking forward to clearing his name.”
Rooney, an ex-Army surgeon, formerly worked at William Beaumont Army Medical Center in El Paso and Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center at Fort Hood.
His attorney said the federal indictment did not involve patient care.
“He provided excellent services to our troops both in the U.S. and abroad,” Stillinger said.
Since his retirement from the military in 2010, Rooney, a board-certified orthopedic spine surgeon, has practiced in the Seattle area, where he has been recognized as a “top doctor” and “Seattle superdoctor” in local magazine polls. He now practices at NeoSpine, with offices in Seattle, Puyallup and Poulsbo.
I knew it was just a matter of time before he would get busted. Unfortunately there are many more surgeons who are currently doing the same thing who haven’t been caught.
Why not write a story about what is occurring in southern CA with Drobot, Pacific Hospital Long Beach, spinal surgery pass through legislation POD’s etc etc