Missouri Neurosurgeon Settles Federal Kickback Lawsuit for $825K

A Southeast Missouri neurosurgeon and his fiancé have settled a federal lawsuit for nearly $1 million.

Dr. Sonjay Fonn and Deborah Seeger have agreed to pay $825,000 to resolve a claims they violated the False Claims Act by soliciting and receiving kickbacks from spinal implant companies. The pair own and operate Cape Girardeau, Mo.-based Midwest Neurosurgeons LLC and DS Medical LLC. 
 
The U.S. Justice Department’s lawsuit accused Fonn and Seeger—through their companies—solicited and received payments from spinal implant companies for using the firms’ products in surgeries, thereby violating the Anti-Kickback Statute. The law prohibits soliciting or receiving anything of value in return for the referral of items or services covered by federal healthcare programs. The statute is intended to ensure that medical providers’ judgments are not compromised by improper financial incentives. The Justice Department did not name the spinal implant companies in announcing the settlement with Fonn and Seeger.
 
“The Anti-Kickback Statute plays a critical role in ensuring the integrity of medical care provided to federal health care program beneficiaries,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “Treatment decisions should be determined by beneficiaries’ medical needs, not by kickbacks provided to their surgeon.”

The civil settlement includes the resolution of claims brought under the qui tam or whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act by Paul Cairns, Dr. Terry Cleaver, Dr. Kyle Colle, Dr. Scott Gibbs, Dr. Paul Tolentino, Dr. Kevin Vaught, and Daniel Henson. Under those provisions, a private party can file an action on behalf of the United States and receive a portion of any recovery. The share to be paid to the private parties has not yet been determined in this matter.
 
“This case took nearly a decade of hard work by my office, the whistleblowers, the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services, the FBI and the Missouri Attorney General’s Office,” said U.S. Attorney Sayler A. Fleming for the Eastern District of Missouri. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office will always vigorously pursue anyone who fraudulently obtains taxpayer money and defrauds Medicare and Medicaid.”

The resolution obtained in this matter was the result of a coordinated effort between the Justice Department’s Civil Division, Commercial Litigation Branch, Fraud Section, and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri, with assistance from the FBI, the HHS-OIG, and the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of the Missouri Attorney General’s Office.
 
“Medical providers who accept kickbacks put personal financial gain before the needs of their patients. This behavior can harm patients and undermines the integrity of federal healthcare programs,” said acting Special Agent in Charge Linda Hanley of the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). “HHS-OIG is proud to work alongside our federal and state partners to protect our programs from fraud and ensure that patient needs drive provider decisions.” 
 
The investigation and resolution of this matter illustrates the government’s emphasis on combating healthcare fraud. One of the most powerful tools in this effort is the False Claims Act. The matter was handled by Fraud Section Attorneys Diana Cieslak, David Finkelstein, and James Nealon, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Joshua Jones for the Eastern District of Missouri.
 
The case is captioned United States ex rel. Cairns, et al. v. DS Medical LLC, et al., 1:12-cv-0004-LPR (E.D. Mo.).

The lawsuit settlement is not Fonn and Seeger’s first brush with the law. A federal jury convicted the pair six years ago of submitting false and fraudulent Medicare and Medicaid claims, according to the Southeast Missourian. The pair faced a $5.500-$11,000 statutory penalty for each of the 228 false claims, but the case was later reversed by the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals and sent back to the trial court last summer, the newspaper reported.