Doctor says fraud allegations stem from irate workers
“Over time, misunderstandings and strained relationships created false rumors,” Robert Ritchie, a Knoxville attorney, said Tuesday during opening statements in the federal trial of oncologist Dr. Young Moon.
Prosecutors say Moon, 53, shortchanged her patients’ chemotherapy drugs from 1999 to 2002 then billed Medicare, TennCare and BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee for the full amount.
Moon told nurses to measure out seven-tenths, eight-tenths and nine-tenths of full doses of Procrit, a medicine used to treat the side effects of chemotherapy medication, prosecutor Ellen Bowden McIntyre told the jury.
Moon also mixed chemotherapy drugs — including Taxol and Camptosar — herself instead of leaving that job to a pharmacist or nurse and did not mix full doses, the prosecutor said.
The doctor billed for 106,181 milligrams of Taxol over a 2 1/2-year period, although records show she had purchased just 54,217 milligrams, McIntyre said.
But Ritchie contends that medical records prosecutors relied on to build their case were inaccurate and incomplete.
He also said Moon, a hard-driving physician, couldn’t find help she could trust to mix the chemotherapy drugs. She measured out full doses into syringes from vials that were overfilled — making it appear to some that she wasn’t giving patients enough medicine, Ritchie said.
Trained as a nurse in Korea, Moon earned a medical degree in the Dominican Republic and became board certified in internal medicine and oncology in the United States. She moved to Crossville with her husband, a radiologist, in 1999.
The hard work and long hours of setting up a new practice caused Moon to be short and impatient with her employees, Ritchie said. He also said her frugality got on her staff’s nerves, and false allegations arose.
The investigation began after a receptionist in Moon’s office called the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation in 2001 to report the fraud allegations.