A North Carolina doctor has been convicted of fraud after she was caught re-using single-use tools for sinus surgeries hundreds of times.
Anita Louise Jackson, 59, operated three offices of Greater Carolina Ear, Nose and Throat where she would re-use devices to defraud and mislead patients.
She performed more than 1,400 of these surgeries for Medicare patients between 2011 and the end of 2017, using just 36 devices.
She’s also been convicted on charges of fabricating medical and healthcare records, paying illegal remunerations, mail fraud, and conspiracy.
Jackson faces up to 40 years in prison based on the maximum terms of each charge she was convicted of and fines exceeding $250,000. The jury already ordered forfeiture of $4,794,039.31 in Medicare fraud.
Jackson operated locations of her practice in Raleigh, Lumberton and Rockingham, where she would use the Entellus XprESS, an FDA-approved device for performing balloon sinuplasty, which treats chronic sinusitis.
The FDA has only approved it for use on one patient, for one surgery and then it is meant to be thrown away