By Christina Jewett
A former California hospital executive at the center of a $500 million kickback scheme that subjected injured workers to risky spinal surgeries is attempting to spread the blame by suing his alleged co-conspirators, according to a recent court filing.
Michael Drobot has identified 22 doctors, health executives, chiropractors and a lawyer, suggesting that they accepted money in exchange for running patients through his surgery suites, pharmacies and MRI machines. The lawsuit, in essence, says that if he has to pay for the alleged scam, they should, too.
Among those named are Tammy Martinez’s workers’ compensation attorney, Sean E. O’Keefe, and Dr. Lokesh Tantuwaya, the surgeon who placed surgical hardware into her lower back at Pacific Hospital of Long Beach – then owned by Drobot – in 2011.
Martinez, 55, a San Diego truck driver, lost most of her left leg as a result of complications from the surgery. Court records show that O’Keefe designated Tantuwaya as her second treating physician.
Douglas Gilliland, who is representing Martinez in a medical malpractice case against Tantuwaya, the hospital and others, said she initially took referrals from O’Keefe to attorneys who might bring a malpractice case. None were interested.
Another doctor sent Martinez to Gilliland, who said the case struck him as intriguing. He said he found it odd that both Martinez and her surgeon were traveling 75 miles for a surgery that could have been done in San Diego County, where they both lived. He was surprised to hear that she was picked up for surgery in a white van, put up in a Long Beach-area motel and given meal vouchers.
“It was really unlike any surgical services I’d ever heard of before,” Gilliland said.
