“Blowing the whistle” on a former healthcare employer can lead to lottery like payouts. Recent whistleblowers are earning millions of dollars for their fraud reporting. Here are some highlights:

1. Pfizer whistleblower earns $51.5 million reward – with Pfizer having to pay $2.3 billion in penalties.
2. $2 million awarded to two New Yorkers for speaking out against their former nursing home employer – $24 million was paid back to the state.
3. A registered nurse received $4.9 million for her help in a Medicare fraud case that netted the U.S. Government $24 million.

However a recent Supreme Court ruling could change the nature of whistleblower lawsuits and the big individual payouts. The court has placed limits on existing whistleblower lawsuits claiming that local governments have misused federal money. The court voted 7 – 2 to hold that a technical, though important aspect of the federal whistleblower law applies to local governments. There is a section of the law that prohibits whistleblower lawsuits when public disclosure occurs through a court hearing, a news report or congressional/administrative audit. Read full article here.

It makes sense that once allegations are disclosed publicly, lawsuits are harder to file. If that wasn’t the case, people could hear about something on the news and head to the courthouse to file a claim. On the other hand, we need to make sure that people are still willing to file these claims against current or former employers who are guilty of wrongdoing. A previous post discussing two Texas nurses who are on trial for bringing claims against a doctor is a perfect example of what we are doing to NOT encourage people to stand up for what is right.

A Texas nurse is waiting to stand trial. For what you might ask… Illegal prescription use? Theft? Wrongful death? How about none of the above? Anne Mitchell is facing trial because she is a whistle blower and the doctor in question protested to the sheriff in the small Texas town that he was being harassed and defamed for no reason.

Mitchell wrote an anonymous letter complaining about Dr. Arafiles practices and “mishaps” – including a failed skin graft performed without surgical privileges, suturing a rubber tip to a patient’s crushed finger for protection and a large affinity to herbal supplements which he sold as a side business – to the medical board.

This “anonymous” letter was brought to the attention of Dr. Arafiles who immediately filed a complaint to his friend the sheriff who then issued a search warrant to seize the nurse’s computer and found the letter.

Mitchell had worked for the hospital system for over 20 years. She is a much respected member of the nursing community. She loved her job and only wanted the best for patients. She was doing what every nurse should do – report wrongdoing and highly questionable (on numerous occasions) practices performed by Dr. Arafiles.

Putting whistle blowers in prison would seem to be a deterrent to those in the future that witness wrongdoing. While there are certainly those that “blow their whistle” in hopes to receiving a grand payday, there are also concerned individuals that do the right thing and report the wrongdoings and injustices they witness.

The whole point of protecting whistle blowers is to give people an incentive to report. Without an incentive we can expect fraud, theft etc. to only increase in the already failing healthcare system.

Read full article here.