The Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office on Monday indicted five people in a case involving unlicensed medical device vendors allegedly participating in surgical procedures at Taichung Veterans General Hospital.
Those indicted were Yang Meng-yin (楊孟寅), director of the hospital's oncology neurosurgery division, Cheng Wen-yu (鄭文郁), director of minimally invasive neurosurgery, and three medical device vendors, prosecutors said in a statement today.
They are charged with fraud and contravening the Physicians Act (醫師法).
Photo: Tsai Shu-yuan, Taipei Times
Prosecutors are seeking heavy penalties for both physicians, saying that Yang and Cheng had undermined medical ethics and violated patients' rights by allowing unlicensed people to carry out medical procedures.
The three vendors confessed to the allegations and surrendered NT$330,000 (US$10,474) in illicit gains, prosecutors said, adding that they would still ask that the trio be given "appropriate" penalties.
The indictment alleged that Yang and Cheng allowed the three vendors to enter operating rooms for 13 surgeries between March 2023 and October last year and illegally perform medical procedures such as bone screw implantation, electrocoagulation and tissue extraction.
Among the surgeries performed were endoscopic spinal fusion operations.
The defendants failed to disclose the involvement of unauthorized individuals to patients while charging them high out-of-pocket fees for medical devices and surgical procedures, prosecutors said.
They also applied for National Health Insurance reimbursement for related medical and surgical expenses despite knowing that procedures performed by unlicensed persons are not eligible for coverage, prosecutors said.
The five defendants allegedly obtained more than NT$1.96 million in illicit gains, the indictment said.
The vendors privately shared part of the proceeds from medical device sales with the two physicians as "public relations fees" to secure continued product use and sales, prosecutors said.
The case was referred to prosecutors in January by the Taichung City Government’s Health Bureau.
Investigators reviewed phone records, footage from multiple surgeries, operating schedules, National Health Insurance reimbursement applications and patients' medical records as part of the investigation.
Yang and Cheng were suspended from practicing medicine in accordance with the Physicians Act, while Taichung Veterans General Hospital was fined NT$100,000 for failing to fulfill its supervisory responsibilities under the Medical Care Act (醫療法), the bureau said.
The two physicians would also be referred to the Physician Disciplinary Committee for allegedly fraudulently applying for reimbursements from the National Health Insurance system, the bureau said.
Meanwhile, the hospital said in a statement that it respected the judicial process.
It said that it has improved operating room management, established reporting and disciplinary mechanisms and enhanced internal controls to safeguard patient safety.
The hospital in January originally acknowledged that physicians had permitted a vendor to enter operating rooms without proper reporting, but said an internal review found no evidence that the vendor participated in operations.
However, after video footage showed otherwise, the hospital convened an emergency management meeting and suspended three doctors linked to the case.
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