Probation, Fine, and Financial Ruin: The Penalty for Not Committing a Crime

[MTPorcupine3]

http://reason.com/blog/2009/10/08/probation-and-a-fine-the-sente

Last month a federal judge sentenced Rosa Martinez <http://www.yakima-herald.com/stories/2009/09/17/doctor-given-probation-for-overbilling-insurance-plans>, a physician in Yakima, Washington, to a year's probation and a $1,000 fine for Medicare and Medicaid fraud. The fraud occurred when a physician's assistant in Martinez's practice mistakenly charged the government for her services at the physician's rate, which is allowed only when the supervising physician is present, which Martinez wasn't. She said she was unaware of the rule but accepted responsibility for the errors because they occurred on her watch. The overcharges totaled $22. No, that's not a typo. "Clearly," U.S. District Judge Fred Van Sickle said, "this is not any type of overt crime." Noting Martinez's dedication to her patients and her reputation for high-quality pro bono work, Van Sickle declined the prosecution's request to impose community service as part of her sentence, saying, "The kind of work you do is such that imposing some form of community service would not make sense."

http://www.yakima-herald.com/stories/2009/09/17/doctor-given-probation-for-overbilling-insurance-plans