Jan 12, 2010 - Uncategorized by Walton Lantaff
Her Tail Bone May Be Connected to Her Wrist Bone, But It Wasn’t Close Enough.
On October 20, 2010, Bernard Probst, Cristina Brodermann, and Ian Ronderos tried the workers’ compensation fraud case of Ivonne Hunter v. Mercy Hospital before Judge Charles M. Hill. Ms. Hunter had altered a doctor’s prescription form for a CT scan of her wrist, so as to include her cervical and lumbar spine in the CT scan.
Claimant claimed that a receptionist spoke to a doctor while Claimant was on the phone, and Claimant heard the doctor give permission to add in the additional body parts.
At Final Hearing, Mr. Probst confronted the Claimant with the numerous internal inconsistencies within her sworn statement, deposition testimony, and Merits Hearing testimony. Furthermore, Mr. Probst, Ms. Brodermann, and Mr. Ronderos presented the Judge Hill with overwhelming evidence from authorized treating providers, the COO of the authorized treating clinic, a Human Resources witness from University of Miami (establishing Claimant had been previously terminated for falsifying employment records), Mercy Hospital’s Workers’ Compensation Manager, and a private investigator, which conclusively demonstrated that the Claimant did not have permission to alter the subject script and did so intentionally, in order to secure a workers’ compensation benefit.
On November 30, 2010, Judge Hill held a ruling conference, wherein he ruled that the Claimant intentionally committed a misrepresentation in order to secure a benefit and, thereby, forfeited her entitlement to benefits per the workers’ compensation fraud defense.