Over 500 patients who filed a lawsuit against a Cincinnati doctor for medical negligence and unnecessary surgeries have had their court dates delayed, thanks to a petition filed by the doctor’s attorneys to have the trial moved to a federal court.
In July 2013, Dr. Abubakar Atiq Durrani was arrested and charged with numerous counts of medical malpractice and healthcare fraud for performing surgeries that patients did not need, solely for the purpose of defrauding Medicare and pocketing the money.
A spokesperson representing the patients says he believes the reason Dr. Durranis lawyers want to move the trial is simply to delay proceedings.
According to the spokesman, the lawsuits filed against Durrani have resulted in the biggest medical malpractice case ever tried in Ohio, and he feels the doctors attorneys are stalling because of the magnitude of financial compensation that Durrani and his affiliated hospitals will be required to pay.
It is estimated that hospitals where Durrani was employed will have to pay upwards of one billion dollars to victims of the doctors botched and unnecessary surgeries.
Between 2007 and 2013, Durrani worked as a surgeon at several Cincinnati hospitals, including West Chester Hospital, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and Good Samaritan Hospital.
During his employment, Durrani performed hundreds of medically unnecessary spinal surgeries which resulted in serious bodily harm to more than 500 innocent victims.
Shortly after being arrested, Durrani fled the country to a previously unknown location. Authorities have since located Durrani in his home country of Pakistan, where he is currently acting as Chief of Orthopedic Spinal Surgery at a Pakistani hospital.
Due to Pakistan’s extradition laws, it is unlikely that Durrani will be required to return to the United States for a trial, or that he will be required to provide restitution to the patients he harmed.
Therefore, the U.S. Department of Justice is focusing on the hospitals where Durrani was employed to determine if they are liable for the doctors wrongdoings.
To date, West Chester Hospital and its parent company, UC Health, have paid $4.1 million for allegedly submitting claims to Medicare and Medicaid for the unnecessary spinal surgeries that Durrani performed at their facility.
However, hundreds of civil lawsuits filed by former patients have yet to be resolved. According to the patients spokesman, some of Durranis victims have committed suicide while waiting for trial dates, and it is unclear as to if Durrani or his affiliated hospitals will face additional charges for these patients deaths.
If you or someone you love has been the victim of a medically unnecessary surgery, or if you have been the victim of any other form of medical malpractice, contact the compassionate and experienced medical malpractice lawyers at O’Connor, Acciani & Levy today. Our injury lawyers care about victims rights and will fight hard to ensure you receive the compensation you deserve.