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Green-eyed Wilson Asfora sounds like he learned his English watching mobster movies. He is a Brazilian of Palestinian ancestry. He was apparently born, raised, as well as attending medical school in Brazil. Thus, he ripped off Brazil, because his medical school in Brazil seems to have been free, and yet he is not serving his country, which is short of doctors; Mannitoba let him do his residency – surely to serve as a doctor in rural Canada, and then he ran across the border for more lucrative work in the Dakotas, where he is accused of ripping off US Medicaid, Medicare, and other US health programs: “Despite receiving numerous warnings that he was performing medically unnecessary procedures with the devices in which he had a financial interest, Asfora allegedly continued to perform such procedures while personally profiting from his use of devices sold by Medical Designs and Sicage.” (US DOJ, November 19, 2019). And, yes, patients were needlessly harmed, too.

Meanwhile there are US born and trained MDs, who paid a fortune for their medical school, and who can’t get jobs: https://doctorswithoutjobs.org/about/

Most Americans probably don’t know that foreign trained doctors can be licensed to work in the United States.

Obit of his father, Theophilo Asfora, showing that the Brazil contact person for his spinal implant device “Lumbar Intervertebral Body Fusion Device“, Dr. Martha Asfora, is his sister: https://archive.li/hi432 When they were bragging about his invention he was “Brasilian born“: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20090831005337/en/Spinal-Implant-Developed-Brasilian-Born-Neurosurgeon-Receives Based on information found online, he is of the Palestinian community living in Recife, Brazil, and most likely Palestinian Christian: http://www.iosrjournals.org/iosr-jhss/papers/Vol.%2022%20Issue10/Version-2/C2210021321.pdf Apart from eye-color he looks just like this probable relative: https://archive.li/oKzec More look-a-like Asfora’s from Recife: https://archive.li/kCpt3

Now that he is charged with being a crook, he is a “South Dakota Neurosurgeon“. If Brasilians charge him with something, will America be blamed for it? That’s what India does when their bad apples sent to the USA return back to India. They blame the USA. The US was founded as a prison colony, but that was supposed to be over with the American Revolution. The US has enough crooks and needs to stop importing more! With all immigration comes good and bad. The US needs to look after its own people first.

Palestinian Christians were invited to Brazil by Brazil’s last emperor, and due to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, World War I, increasing numbers of Jews arriving in Palestine, some Palestinians went to Brazil. The Asforas are one Palestinian family in Recife, who number in the thousands: http://www.iosrjournals.org/iosr-jhss/papers/Vol.%2022%20Issue10/Version-2/C2210021321.pdf Brazil’s last emperor (d 1891) had apparently encouraged Palestinians to come: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_II_of_Brazil

“FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, November 14, 2019
United States Files False Claims Act Complaint against South Dakota Neurosurgeon and Physician-Owned Distributorships

The United States has filed a complaint against Sioux Falls, South Dakota, neurosurgeon Wilson Asfora M.D., Medical Designs LLC, and Sicage LLC alleging False Claims Act violations arising from the alleged payment of kickbacks to Asfora tied to the devices he used in spinal surgeries, the Justice Department announced today.  Medical Designs and Sicage are medical device distributorships in South Dakota owned and operated by Asfora.         

The Anti‑Kickback Statute prohibits offering or paying anything of value to induce the referral of items or services covered by Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal healthcare programs.  The government’s complaint alleges that Asfora, Medical Designs, and Sicage engaged in multiple kickback schemes designed to pay Asfora hundreds of thousands of dollars in exchange for Asfora using spinal devices distributed by Medical Designs and Sicage in his spine surgeries. 

Despite receiving numerous warnings that he was performing medically unnecessary procedures with the devices in which he had a financial interest, Asfora allegedly continued to perform such procedures while personally profiting from his use of devices sold by Medical Designs and Sicage.  The United States previously resolved related civil claims against several Sanford Health entities in October 2019.

“The Department of Justice will seek to hold accountable physicians and medical device companies that receive or pay illegal kickbacks in any form,” said Assistant Attorney General Jody Hunt of the Department of Justice’s Civil Division. “Improper inducements have no place in our federal healthcare system where medical decisions should be based on the healthcare needs of patients and not on a physician’s personal financial interest.”

“Our office will aggressively pursue anyone who colludes to violate federal law and compromise the integrity of our healthcare system,” said U.S. Attorney Ron Parsons for the District of South Dakota.

“Government health program patients should be confident that surgical procedures are medically needed, not performed to increase physician profits,” said Curt L. Muller, Special Agent in Charge of the Office of Inspector General at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  “For years our fraud alert has warned that physician distributorships are inherently suspect under the Anti-Kickback statute.”

The United States filed its complaint in a lawsuit pending in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota that was filed under the qui tam, or whistleblower, provisions of the False Claims Act.  Under the act, a private citizen can sue on behalf of the government and receive a share of any recovery.  The act permits the United States to intervene and take over responsibility for litigating the case, as it has done here.  Those who violate the act are subject to treble damages and penalties.

The government’s pursuit of these matters illustrates the government’s emphasis on combating healthcare fraud.  One of the most powerful tools in this effort is the False Claims Act.  Tips and complaints from all sources about potential fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement can be reported to the Department of Health and Human Services, at ‪800‑HHS‑TIPS‬ (‪800-447-8477‬).    

This matter is being handled by the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Dakota, with assistance from the Department of Health and Human Service’s Office of Inspector General. 

The case is captioned United States ex rel. Bechtold, et al. v. Asfora, et al., No. 4:16-cv-04115-LLP (D.S.D.).  The claims asserted against the defendants are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.
Topic(s): 
False Claims Act
Component(s): 
Civil Division
Press Release Number: 
19-1252
Updated November 14, 2019
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/united-states-files-false-claims-act-complaint-against-south-dakota-neurosurgeon-and

“An Old Diaspora: Histories of Militancy by Palestinians with a Northeastern Accent“, by Luciana Garcia de Oliveira First Published February 7, 2019 https://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X19828381

He attended Med School at the University Fed De Pernambuco in Brazil and his residency was at the University Manitoba Fac Medical Hospital.
https://www.zocdoc.com/doctor/wilson-asfora-md
https://archive.li/pa1wP

Cost of his medical school was apparently free: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/a043/fe7cb038ed827eaee832ad58ec4f5819309c.pdf

Doctors in Brazil: Too Few, or Just Too Far Between?

Brazil has had to import foreign doctors:
“The More Doctors for Brazil Project – challenges and contributions to Primary Care in the vision of the cooperated physicians“, By Hilton Silva, et al., Interface – Comunicação, Saúde, Educação On-line version ISSN 1807-5762 Interface (Botucatu) vol.21  supl.1 Botucatu  2017 http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1807-57622016.0531  Click on “texto em Inglês” to the right for English.
(Even the Cuban doctors admit to financial motivation in moving from Cuba to Brazil).


Link: https://youtu.be/gRy5LQqa3Y8


Link: https://youtu.be/cSIaJjuX2KE

Unrelated cases, except involves Brazilian and US medical incompetence:

ISMP Brazil alerts on confusion between insulin and vaccines


https://www.ismp.org/resources/fifty-hospital-employees-given-insulin-instead-influenza-vaccine

“Bartlesville Patients Expecting Flu Shot Received Insulin Instead”
https://archive.li/abJTt