Judge: Physician Convicted in Power Chair Scam Can’t Be Called ‘Doctor’

HOUSTON–A Houston physician sentenced to 10 years in prison for
Medicare fraud was told by a federal judge that she could no longer
be called a doctor–and must correct anyone who calls her one.

Callie Hall Herpin, 35, pleaded guilty last year to conspiring
to defraud Medicare of more than $30 million for participating in a
power wheelchair scam and distributing drugs illegally.

“I consider you a disgrace to every physician in this country
who adheres to the ethics of the medical profession and to the
Hippocratic oath,” U.S. District Judge David Hittner told Herpin at
the sentencing Wednesday, the Houston Chronicle reported.
Hittner said Herpin could not use the titles ‘doctor’ or ‘M.D.’
until her license is reinstated.

Hittner also said he would have sentenced Herpin to 17 more
years if she had not entered into a plea agreement that limited her
sentence to a maximum of 10 years.

Herpin was described as “the apex of the pyramid of illegal
conduct” in the wheelchair scam that plagued the Houston area in
2002-2003, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s
Office, Southern District of Texas.

According to the statement, Herpin and her officer manager, Etta
Mae Williams, sold certificates of medical necessity and
prescriptions for power wheelchairs and other durable medical
equipment to certain marketers and DME suppliers for about $200
each. They wrote at least 920 fraudulent power wheelchair CMNs and
prescriptions for some $184,000.

Prosecutors said Herpin admitted she did not examine all of the
patients to determine their eligibility for a power wheelchair and
most, if not all, of her “patients” were not eligible. In many
instances, the marketers brought copies of the Medicare
beneficiaries’ drivers’ license and Medicare card to Herpin and
Williams, who used the information to produce the fraudulent CMNs.
Various DME suppliers then used the fraudulent CMNs generated by
Williams and Herpin to bill Medicare in excess of $30 million.

Herpin also was sentenced for her involvement in a second
conspiracy with Williams in which they sold prescriptions for
controlled substances, including hydrocodone products and codeine
cough syrup, for cash.

As part of her sentence, Herpin was ordered to pay in excess of
$12 million in restitution to Medicare. She also will forfeit $1.88
million in proceeds generated from her illegal conduct, and serve a
three-year period of supervised release following the completion of
her prison term.