Dr. Roy Shelburne Tells His Side of Medicaid Conviction
Dr. Roy Shelburne was convicted last month of Medicaid fraud here in my home state of Virginia. The prosecution of Dr. Shelburne seems very aggressive and looks to be a test case but with very harsh consequences for the doctor. He’s awaiting sentencing of up to 120 years in prison and a fine of over a million dollars.
The fact that Dr. Shelburne held regular business meetings and actually turned a profit was used against him in trial. Dental office owners across the country should be concerned. When efficiency in business becomes a liability we are all in trouble.
A website was recently created in order to spread Dr. Shelburne’s side of the story. If this is indeed a test case, it will have wide implications for not only Medicaid providers but for all dentists.
Visit the site MedicaidRuinsGoodDentist.com
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This is not the first time that I have seen the state take a malpractice issue and put it in the criminal court, making the dentist’s malpractice insurance useless, and setting out to destroy a professional because of the costs of defending the case, and the fact that the source of income, the practice is closed, and effectively destroyed during the course of a trial. Even if a person is found not guilty, can anyone’s practice stand not operating for months, and expect to come back and reopen and expect to be as financially secure as it was prior to the allegations.
Barry - you raise a good point. The publicity begins with the allegations and once the press picks up on it, you can’t unring the bell. I did not know that malpractice insurance cannot help when the case turns criminal.
[...] To The Shelburne-Medicaid Saga After the posting of the Shelburne-Medicaid story, I received several private emails from dentists that were alarmed by what they read. Below is part [...]
[...] Click here to read a previous post regarding Dr. Shelburne’s trial [...]