UNITED STATES - AUGUST 21: Signage hangs outside the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, U.S., on Friday, Aug. 21, 2009.
From 2013-20, Joseph Coselli, Joseph Lamelas and David Ott violated Medicare regulations dictating when surgeons can leave the operating room, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas. The doctors allegedly wrote on medical records they stayed for the entire operation and did not tell the patients they were leaving to perform another procedure.
The surgeries the doctors performed included coronary artery bypass grafts, valve repairs and aortic repair procedures – some of the most complicated carried out at any hospital, according to prosecutors. Baylor College of Medicine did not engage in conduct that violates any applicable federal law or regulation,” the school said. “It is also important to note that no patients were harmed.”