Val-d'Oise social security scam: an oncologist and two nurses released on appeal

An oncologist and two nurses, sentenced in April 2019 to suspended prison for their involvement in a vast scam at the Social Security of Val-d'Oise, were finally released by the Court of Appeal of Versailles, according to a judgment consulted Monday by AFP.

Read also: Marne: scam of several million euros against an accounting firm

"

It's the end of a nightmare for my client, who finally has the prospect of resuming a normal life

," responded the doctor's lawyer, Renan Budet.

The Versailles Court of Appeal, in this judgment rendered on January 29, on the other hand confirmed the guilt of a nurse, considered as the "

conductor

" of this traffic, and of her companion, manager of a company. supply of medical equipment, "

Medical Home

".

The couple, sentenced to 24 and 18 months suspended prison sentence and 1.6 million euros in damages, were accused of having set up, between 2015 and 2018, a system for billing fictitious patient care presenting serious pathologies, or patients at the end of their life.

The damage suffered by Social Security was estimated at three million euros.

But investigators from the Val-d'Oise gendarmerie group had added 1.8 million euros of misuse of corporate assets.

At the start of the case, an anonymous letter and reports from patients, astonished to see reimbursements for medical acts never carried out appear on their accounts.

They had alerted the Primary Health Insurance Fund, which had filed a complaint.

Apart from these two protagonists, the Versailles Court of Appeal finally ruled that the other suspected persons, in particular an oncologist and two nurses, had not taken part in the scam.

Concerning the oncologist, a recognized hospital practitioner, founder of the oncology service of the hospital of Gonesse, the Court noted that, “

overwhelmed by his work

”, he had “

trusted

” the nurse who was the head of this fraud, "

To whom it happened to sign prescriptions for the doctor

".

She also noted that "

the study of his bank accounts had not shown any suspicious payment

."

“

My client took care of his patients.

He found himself embroiled in a breach of trust, he did not imagine that he could be traded around palliative care

, ”commented his lawyer.

The oncologist was sentenced at first instance to a 12-month suspended sentence, and to pay more than 1.6 million euros in damages to the CPAM of Val-d'Oise.