Browse Primary Sources
XV-"The Accident Swindlers" - Pamela Zekman and Gene Mustain - Chicago Sun-Times
"Many doctors are outraged at the sight of phony patients being hospitalized solely for the purpose of inflating insurance claims. Some do something about it.. . . ."
Chicago Sun Times 1980-02-26
XVI-"The Accident Swindlers" - Pamela Zekman and Gene Mustain - Chicago Sun-Times
"Victims of minor auto accidents in Illinois are overcompensated while victims of major accidents are undercompensated. "Experts agree that is the unfair result of the current system for settling auto-acciddent claims in the state. . . . "
Chicago Sun Times 1980-02-27
XIV-"The Accident Swindlers" - Pamela Zekman and Gene Mustain - Chicago Sun-Times
"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. . . ."
Chicago Sun Times 1980-02-25
XI-"The Accident Swindlers" - Pamela Zekman and Gene Mustain - Chicago Sun-Times
" Dr. Gerald J. Rabin is a real operator. He urges unnecessary surgery. "'You've got a separation of your shoulder, and we'll probably have to operate,' Rabin told a reporter posing as an auto-accident victim. . . "
Chicago Sun Times 1980-02-21
X-"The Accident Swindlers" - Pamela Zekman and Gene Mustain - Chicago Sun-Times
"Dr. J. Dale Bargyh committed one significant oversight when he submitted a $670 bill to a reporter posing s an auto-accident victim. "Bargyh never examined the patient . . . "
Chicago Sun Times 1980-02-20
"The Accident Swindlers" - Pamela Zekman and Gene Mustain - Chicago Sun-Times
"The patient was a Sun-Times reporter posing as an auto-accident victim. The Associated Physicians' Clinic had just invented injuries for him. Now it was sending him to Community Hospital of Evanston, where nearly all the patients are equally phony. . . "
Chicago Sun Times 1980-02-18
III-"The Accident Swindlers" - Pamela Zekman and Gene Mustain - Chicago Sun-Times
"Some lawyers are always looking for the 'perfect' accident. When they find it, they're willing ot make under-the-table payments for a piece of the action. "The law firms of Sheldon Oliver Zisook and Basil C. Elias spread liberal amounts of upfront money around for the chance to represent Sun-Times and WLS-TV (Channel 7) reporters posing as accident victims . . . "
Chicago Sun TimesWLS-TV (Chicago, Channel 7) 1980-02-12