Doctors reject feds' claim they lined their pockets at patients' expense in big Dallas medical

[TexasTowelie]

Doctors reject feds' claim they lined their pockets at patients' expense in big Dallas medical bribery trial


They're medical innovators and pioneers, their attorneys said, who saved some lives and improved many others.

The surgeons brought patients to a "state-of-the-art" Dallas hospital called Forest Park Medical Center.

But did they illegally put their own financial interests before everything else, including their patients? That's the basic question before jurors in the Forest Park Medical Center bribery case during opening statements Thursday in a packed Dallas federal courtroom.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Wirmani told jurors that the doctors acted out of pure greed, making medical decisions to "line their own pockets." The bribes and kickbacks, he said, were not bags of cash exchanged in dark alleys. Rather, the hospital gave the doctors financial perks in the form of paid business expenses -- expensive advertising to promote their practices, he said.

Read more: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2019/02/21/doctors-reject-feds-claim-lined-pockets-patients-expense-big-dallas-medical-bribery-trial