United States v. John McLean

715 F.3d 129, 2013 WL 1735232, 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 8160
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
DecidedApril 23, 2013
Docket11-5130
StatusPublished
Cited by76 cases

This text of 715 F.3d 129 (United States v. John McLean) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. John McLean, 715 F.3d 129, 2013 WL 1735232, 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 8160 (4th Cir. 2013).

Opinion

Affirmed by published opinion. Judge GREGORY wrote the opinion, in which Judge KEENAN and Senior Judge PAYNE joined.

OPINION

GREGORY, Circuit Judge:

John McLean, an interventional cardiologist, appeals his convictions and sentence for health care fraud and making false statements in connection with the delivery of or payment for health care services. The convictions arise from a scheme to defraud insurers by submitting claims for medically unnecessary stent procedures. Among other, arguments, McLean contends that there is insufficient evidence to support his convictions. Although proof of a physician’s failure to meet medical standards, by itself, could not sustain a conviction for the federal offense of health care fraud, we find that here the evidence supports the jury’s verdict. Finding no reversible error, we affirm.

.1.

During the relevant time period, McLean was in private practice in Salisbury, Maryland, and held privileges at Peninsula Regional Medical Center (“PRMC”), where he performed cardiac catheteriza-tions and coronary stent procedures. In the summer of 2006, PRMC began investigating McLean’s stenting practices after a quality control review revealed he had placed a stent in a coronary artery with no significant blockage, or “stenosis.” An ini *133 tial review showed that McLean had performed inappropriate stent procedures in 13 cases. After an outside contractor confirmed those findings, the hospital asked McLean to submit to a concurrent review procedure pending further investigation. McLean agreed, but subsequently violated the procedure in three cases. Near the end of 2006, the outside contractor confirmed that McLean had performed inappropriate stents in approximately half of 25 randomly selected cases-.. Shortly thereafter, McLean resigned his hospital privileges after informing PRMC that he had developed an eye condition causing vision loss in one eye. In the ensuing months, McLean continued to see patients and review diagnostic test results in his office.

In the spring of 2007, the United States subpoenaed 117 patient files from McLean’s practice. After receiving information that the files were in peril, the government obtained a warrant to secure the records. When the FBI agents arrived at McLean’s office, they found subpoenaed files stacked on McLean’s desk and a shred bin nearby. McLean admitted that he was removing documents from the files for shredding.

Following the conclusion of the government’s investigation, McLean was indicted on one count of health care fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1347 (Count 1), and six counts of knowingly and willfully making false statements in connection with the delivery of and payment for health care services in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1035(a)(2) (Counts 2-7). 1 In the health care fraud charge, the government alleged that McLean executed a scheme to defraud Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurers by submitting claims for medically unnecessary procedures and testing. The false statement charges related to specific records in which McLean was alleged to have willfully misrepresented the level of stenosis in patient arteries.

At trial, the government supported its allegations with testimony from two expert cardiologists, PRMC staff who worked with McLean, and several of his former employees and patients. Both experts testified that during the relevant time period it was generally accepted in the medical community that coronary stents were not medically necessary absent a diagnosis of at least 70% stenosis and symptoms of blockage such as chest pain or a positive stress test. One of the experts, Dr. Ian Gilchrist, explained that although coronary artery disease is considered significant when an artery is blocked by 50%, stents are not medically necessary until the 70% threshold because that is the point when the body can no longer compensate for reduced blood flow to the heart. 2 Gilchrist testified that McLean had grossly overstated the level of blockage in the patient files he reviewed. A summary of 59 cases prepared by Gilchrist showed McLean often recorded stenosis of 80% to 95% for lesions of no more than 10% to 30%. Gilchrist testified specifically about 15 cases, explaining in detail how the stenosis shown in the angiograms was overstated in McLean’s records. Gilchrist further testified that in at least one case, McLean placed an appropriate stent, showing reasonable technique and “the ability to distinguish what should be done.”

*134 The other expert, Dr. Joseph Cinderella, Director of the PRMC Cardiac Catheteri-zation Laboratory, testified that he had reviewed the stent procedures McLean performed between 2003 and 2006 and ranked each procedure on a scale of one to five, where one meant medically appropriate and five meant inappropriate. Cinderella testified that the fours and fives were “pretty black and white”; four meant “most physicians would not proceed,” and five meant “the consensus for pretty much anyone would be not ... [to] proceed.” Out of the 707 procedures he reviewed, Cinderella categorized 101 procedures as fives and 108 as fours. Nonetheless, the evidence showed that McLean certified to insurers that these procedures were reasonable and medically necessary in order to obtain reimbursement.

In addition, the jury heard testimony from PRMC staff who had seen McLean overstate the stenosis shown in angio-grams. Nurse- Paul Kenlon testified that on multiple occasions he disagreed with the percentage McLean recorded and that he remembered a couple of times when McLean said there were 90% blockages and Kenlon “just simply could not see a lesion in the vessel.” According to Kenlon, hospital staff used to sarcastically refer to healthy lesions that did not need intervention as “McLean 90 percenter[s].” Another nurse, Charlene Shellenberger, testified that McLean had placed stents in patients she had “a very difficult time being able to say ... [had] a lesion that needed to be stented.” In one case, after McLean staL ed- that an artery had 99% stenosis, ShelT lenberger turned to his assistant and asked, “How can you ethically write that when you and I both know that is not a 99% lesion?”

The jury also heard testimony from patients who had received medically unnecessary stents from McLean. Patient F.M. testified that he never experienced the chest discomfort McLean recorded in his medical records. Another patient, L.H., testified that McLean gave her a before- and-after picture of her artery, which purported to show 97% blockage cleared by the stent. L.H. later learned that she never had any blockage. Her angiogram, which Gilchrist played for the jury, showed that the apparent blockage was actually a spasm of the artery, which subsided after McLean injected nitroglycerin.

Witnesses also testified about McLean’s reaction to the investigation. In an early letter to PRMC, McLean acknowledged that although “[t]here is subjectivity reading the degree of stenosis, ...

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Bluebook (online)
715 F.3d 129, 2013 WL 1735232, 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 8160, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-john-mclean-ca4-2013.