What’s the deal with California doctors’ office getting raided all the time? Recently, the offices of Dr. Rolando Lodevico Atiga, down in the Los Angeles Area, were raiding by state and federal agents after a two-month investigation into a prescription medication sales scam.
Apparently, Dr. Atiga’s past of working in a candy store influenced his tendency to hand out prescription drugs… for cash, of course. In one leg of the investigation, the good doctor was showed an x-ray of a dog by an undercover officer, only to receive the response “oh yeah, I can see why you’re in pain.” Could it have anything to do with the giant tail? Your humble blogger, while a young man and a big-shot clerk at a district attorney’s office, got to observe some parts of a similar operation involving a workers’ compensation fraud investigation and a dog as a patient.
Dr. Atiga allegedly met with patients and prescribed very powerful and addictive pain pills for payments of $200 to $400. And this doesn’t appear to be the wonderful wizard’s first stepping over the lines. Past history includes a felony conviction in February 14, 2012 for violating Business and Professions Code section 650(A), as well as other less-than-noble actions.
Your humble blogger is not usually a gambling man, but what would you say the odds are that the soon-to-be Mr. Atiga saw workers’ compensation patients as well? Or perhaps some of his colleagues did and readily prescribed medication to cash in on a workers’ compensation insurer’s reserves?
Workers’ compensation defense attorneys need to be vigilant and make sure that when something fishy is going on, their clients are informed and the authorities are notified as well. Somewhere in this story’s timeline, there was no doubt a call or letter sent by someone tipping the police off.
But applicants’ lawyers need to be vigilant against such breachors of the hipporcatic oath as well. Your clients end up hurting themselves when there is a drug dealer in a white coat not only starting their addiction but also nurturing it to the ruination of their lives.
WCDefenseCA sends its best wishes to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office in prosecuting this case.