Surgeon in Forest Park kickback trial quarrels with prosecutor: 'You guys scare witnesses'
A Dallas spine surgeon accused of earning almost $5 million in bribes and kickbacks from Forest Park Medical Center told a jury he was "baffled" by the allegations and blamed his predicament on overzealous prosecutors and greedy hospital marketers.
Dr. Michael Rimlawi took the witness stand Thursday and Friday during the culmination of a six-week trial and told the jury that the co-marketing of hospitals and doctors is commonplace in the health care industry.
"I'm totally confused why I'm even here," he told jurors. "I never thought for one second it was illegal."
But prosecutors say he knowingly and illegally took the money -- $225,000 per month -- in exchange for bringing his surgeries to the now-defunct, doctor-owned hospital, which needed the expensive procedures to thrive.
Read more: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2019/03/29/surgeon-forest-park-kickback-trial-quarrels-prosecutor-guys-scare-witnesses