Just a few miles south of Springboro sits Mason, Ohio. The affluent, bustling community has over the past couple of years been stunned by news stories about a spinal surgeon who used to live there. Dr. Abubakar Atiq Durrani has been indicted by the federal government on health care fraud charges. He allegedly convinced patients to have unnecessary surgeries to their spines and necks and then billed public and private healthcare programs for the costs.
Durrani is also accused of negligence in more than 300 medical malpractice suits, according to Cincinnati news outlets. The doctor fled the country for his native Pakistan in late 2013.
The government accuses Durrani of a number of outrageous misdeeds, including lying to patients: he would tell them they were in danger of serious injuries if he didn’t perform certain surgeries on them. Unneeded surgeries; unneeded surgeries that caused great harm in some cases.
He’s also accused of failing to remove a broken guidewire from a surgical patient. He lied to the patient repeatedly about the left-behind wire, eventually ordering another surgery. During that procedure, he removed the guidewire without first informing the patient.
West Chester Hospital recently agreed to reimburse $4.1 million to Medicare and Medicaid for unnecessary spine operations that were performed at the facility by Durrani.
News accounts can only give the public a glimpse into the pain caused to an innocent patient by a negligent physician and hospital. There is no excuse for medical malpractice. At the law firm of John D. Smith Co., L.P.A., in Springboro, we are dedicated to pursuit of maximum compensation for your damages.