Byline: Pamela Zekman, Gene Mustain; 1980-02-25; Chicago Sun Times; pages 6-7
Report: "The Accident Swindlers" - Pamela Zekman, Gene Mustain - Chicago Sun-Times and WLS-TV
Tags: insurance fraud, posed as accident victims, scams, swindlers
"Northlake Community Hospital has an image problem. "Two of its directors are under federal indictment on charges of defrauding the Medicare program and the hospital of more than $350,000. One of its busiest doctors is banned from the state Medicaid program and another was banned and reinstated. "Its operators say they have turned a formerly bankrupt hospital into an $11 million asset - specializing in podiatry services. "But the Sun-Times and WLS-TV (Channel 7) found that Northlake has another sideline -- phony auto-accident cases . . . ". . . An undercover reporter, posing as an accident 'victim' was admitted to Northlake by [Dr. Noberto T.] Agustin. The doctor invented serious injuries and fixed hospital records to show that he saw the patient every day. In fact, Agustin saw the patient once -- on the night before the reporter was discharged and handed a $697.30 bill for a four-day stay. . . ."
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