In this interactive timeline, we highlight the milestones and meet the characters who played a pivotal role over 40 years of a private neurorehabilitation system’s rise and demise.
Health Care Scams
Waste, fraud and abuse in the U.S. health care system
Exposing abuse and neglect on ‘The Mountain’
New Hampshire Public Radio reporter Jack Rodolico spent a year investigating allegations of abuse and fraud at Lakeview NeuroRehabilitation Center. Along the way, he encountered a crusading mother who made secret recordings of state regulators in a desperate attempt to get someone to help her daughter.
A mountain of misconduct
This month on Reveal, we team up with New Hampshire Public Radio reporter Jack Rodolico to unveil 40 years of alleged abuse and neglect of people with disabilities at specialty rehab centers across the U.S., an industry that thrives on public dollars with little oversight.
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Inappropriate love triangle blossoms at rehab
In the late 1990s, Lakeview NeuroRehabilitation Center patient Amy Mueller, then a teenager, had a romantic relationship with at least one staff member. Mueller’s family later sued the facility for billing for services that never were provided and putting her in danger.
Corruption runs in the family at American neurorehab centers
An investigation with New Hampshire Public Radio finds a history of mistreatment and abuse at a neurorehabilitation center and uncovers its connections to a network of similar facilities across the country – and to owners who have evaded accountability for 40 years.
California surgeon accused of leading $150 million insurance scam
In a case the Los Angeles district attorney’s office is calling one of the largest insurance scams in the state, an orthopedic surgeon is accused of deceiving patients into having surgery by an unqualified assistant and undergoing procedures they didn’t need.
Ex-hospital executive in kickback scheme looks to spread the blame
A former California hospital executive at the center of a $500 million kickback scheme that subjected injured workers to risky spinal surgeries is attempting to spread the blame by suing his alleged co-conspirators.
Pop quiz: Can you spot the real screw?
See if you can tell the difference.
Bogus screws ended up in spines of surgery patients
The Food and Drug Administration is supposed to ensure that medical equipment going inside people’s bodies is manufactured by companies approved by the agency, but there’s a fissure in the system.
Medical firm profited on pain with knockoff spine surgery hardware
A California company accused of counterfeiting screws for spinal surgery went broke in 2013. But by then, it had sold millions of dollars in medical hardware to a nationwide network of surgeons.