Bad enough that the Department of Justice and other federal investigators are investigating them for infractions such as medically unnecessary cardiac procedures and alleged Medicare/Medicaid fraud. Now, St. Joseph Hospital in London, Ky. and 11 of its cardiologists are the subject of dozens of lawsuits brought by 400 patients claiming the providers “conspired to perform unnecessary, risky and often painful heart procedures to unjustly enrich themselves,” according to the (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal.
 
At issue: The patients say they received procedures such as cardiac catheterizations and stent placements that weren’t necessary. In one case, for example, patient Edward Marshall was subject to two-dozen heart procedures over 20 years. When he sought a second opinion from a cardiologist in Lexington, Ky., Marshall was told that an artery that had been stented at St. Joseph Hospital just two months before was hardly blocked and had not needed the treatment.
 
Marshall became the first of the 400 patients to file suit.
 
The hospital’s lead lawyer, Todd Thompson, told the Courier-Journal the conspiracy allegations were “Alice in Wonderland stuff,” and that “these were very sick people who needed the interventions and got them.”
 
But the numbers tell a different story. For example, CMS cited the hospital in 2011 for failing to review the medical necessity of more than 3,000 cardiac catheterizations the previous year, the newspaper reports. In addition, both St. Joseph London and cardiologist Sandesh “Sam” Patil are currently under investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Lexington. Patil himself is also being investigated as part of a federal criminal healthcare fraud case, according to the Courier-Journal.
 
The Kentucky patients’ suits are the latest in a series of legal actions against cardiologists alleging a high volume of unnecessary cardiac procedures. Other recent cases involved doctors in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Texas.
 
Interestingly, St. Joseph’s parent company, Catholic Health Initiatives – also named in the suits – owned until recently the hospital in Towson, Md. where cardiologists also came under fire for unnecessary stent procedures, notes blogger Larry Husten on the Forbes website.