Montana clinic files for bankruptcy following $6 million judgment over false asbestos claims

[Leroy N. Soetoro]

https://news.yahoo.com/montana-clinic-files-bankruptcy-following-
153638556.html

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A health clinic in a Montana town plagued by deadly
asbestos contamination has filed for bankruptcy protection after a judge
ordered it to pay the government almost $6 million in penalties and
damages for submitting hundreds of false claims for benefits.

The federal bankruptcy filing, submitted Tuesday, will allow the Center
for Asbestos Related Disease clinic in the small town of Libby to continue
operating while it appeals last month's judgment, said clinic director
Tracy McNew.

A seven-person jury in June found the clinic submitted 337 false claims
that made patients eligible for Medicare and other benefits they shouldn’t
have received. The federally-funded clinic has been at the forefront of
the medical response to deadly pollution from mining near Libby that left
the town and the surrounding area contaminated with toxic asbestos dust.

The $6 million judgment against it came in a federal case filed by BNSF
Railway under the False Claims Act, which allows private parties to sue on
the government’s behalf. The clinic has denied any intentional wrongdoing
and its attorneys have appealed the jury’s verdict to the 9th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals.

The clinic has certified more than 3,400 people with asbestos-related
diseases and received more than $20 million in federal funding, according
to court documents.

“We filed (for bankruptcy) because we want to continue to offer the same
services and keep our doors open to pay our employees,” said McNew.

The jury did not identify the 337 patients who were the subject of the
false claims and federal officials have not said if they will lose any
benefits. Under a provision in the 2009 federal health law, victims of
asbestos exposure in the Libby area are eligible for taxpayer-funded
services including Medicare, housekeeping, travel to medical appointments
and disability benefits for those who can’t work.

BNSF is itself a defendant in hundreds of asbestos-related lawsuits. It
alleged the center submitted claims on behalf of patients without
sufficient confirmation they had asbestos-related disease.

U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen awarded BNSF 25% of the total
proceeds in the false claims case, as allowed under federal law. BNSF
representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment on
the clinic's bankruptcy.

In his July 18 judgment, Christensen blasted the clinic's “reckless
disregard” for medical procedures and cited evidence from trial of high
rates of opioid pain medication prescriptions for people who may not have
had a legitimate asbestos-related diagnosis.

McNew disputed the criticisms and said the the case came down to opposing
interpretations of what was allowed under the 2009 health law. A new
medical director took over two years ago — replacing longtime clinic
doctor Brad Black — and the clinic has since stopped prescribing opioids,
instead referring pain management to outside providers, McNew said. At the
time of Black's retirement, only 39 of the clinic's thousands of patients
were on opioids, she added.

Federal prosecutors previously declined to intervene in the false claims
case and there have been no criminal charges brought against the clinic.

The Libby area was declared a Superfund site two decades ago following
media reports that mine workers and their families were getting sick and
dying due to hazardous asbestos dust.

Health officials have said at least 400 people have been killed and
thousands sickened from asbestos exposure in the Libby area. The
contamination came from tainted vermiculite that was mined near town by
Maryland-based chemical company W.R. Grace & Co.

The mine closed in 1990 but asbestos has continued to be found, including
at a BNSF rail yard in the heart of the town of about 3,000 people.

Asbestos-related diseases can range from a thickening of a person’s lung
cavity that can hamper breathing to deadly cancer. Exposure to even a
minuscule amount of asbestos can cause lung problems, according to
scientists. Symptoms can take decades to develop.


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