Chief of Cardiovascular Surgery at Mayo Clinic arrested

Bribery and kickbacks are clearly criminal offenses, but if you ask me, Dr. O. also committed insurance fraud. He essentially robbed his patients. By taking "under-the-table" payments to jump the line, he forced everyone else to wait longer than they should have. That delay directly impacted their health—people suffered, stayed stressed, and dealt with unnecessary anxiety because of him.

@Casey Cook10/">@@Casey Cook10

Back when I used to hang out around there all the time, I honestly never saw anyone needing some official referral or paperwork. People would just show up, pay cash on the spot, and if they were short on funds, there was this little little teller window for a bank right in the lobby—I think it was Chase—where you could basically grab a quick loan for your medical bills right then and there. It sounds pretty brutal by today's standards, but man, that’s just how things rolled back in the day.

Samuel Ortiz68 said:Now he’s trying to claim hospital staff planted the money on his friend. Look, the guy might be a brilliant surgeon, but as a human being? He's absolute zero. Total trash. There are about thirty people waiting on surgeries right now. What happens if there's someone else in that group who paid their way in and is now stuck in limbo?

Give it a rest. The real question is whether there are any other surgeons actually this good, and if they can even handle the backlog of operations.
Word is that people from that area are going to have to travel all the way to Chicago for heart surgery now...

Bradley Barnes90 said:Forget that. The real question is whether there are any other surgeons this good left, and if they can actually handle the workload.
They’re saying people from that area now have to travel all the way to Chicago just to get heart surgery...

Oh, so because he’s a talented surgeon, we’re just supposed to overlook everything and hand him his job back? Is that how it works? 😠

Sure, there are probably plenty of doctors and surgeons out there who could do an excellent job, but thanks to hacks like this Dr. Scammer, those people might not even get the chance to prove it. Just yesterday, Fox News was reporting that absolutely zero surgeries in RI are being postponed... as if there’s magically a surplus of great surgeons waiting in the wings. Give me a break.

There just aren't enough surgeons out there, let alone specialists who can handle everything thrown at them. Honestly, cardiac surgeons in America are such a rare breed—if you look at the Medicare registry, there are maybe only 6 or 7 people nationwide who can actually run heart surgeries completely on their own without needing someone to hold their hand.

And that’s exactly what worries me. (Well, not me specifically, but the people who will actually need those kinds of surgeries)
That's why maybe he should be allowed to participate in high-stakes operations only OCCASIONALLY, or something along those lines—though I honestly doubt anyone would want a guy who's obsessed with money trying to save their life. There are some people out there who would rather just die waiting for an honest doctor...
There's a thread over in the psychology section if you want to check it out: are intelligent people more malicious than stupid ones???

I just want to say that the government needs to pay doctors a decent wage; maybe then they wouldn't feel the need to take bribes, and if the FBI catches them doing it, well, let them face the consequences...

I mean, come on, your average small business owner with just three years of trade school can pull in more money than what these doctors are actually getting paid...

Bradley Phillips35 said:I just wanted to say that the government really ought to pay doctors a decent wage, and then honestly, if they ever get caught taking bribes, they should just be thrown the book tossed at them...

But let's be real, your average small business owner with just a three-year trade school cert often pulls in more than what doctors are making right now...

The thing is, those specific doctors are actually incredibly well-compensated already.

See, a tradesperson with a bit of schooling is running their own private gig, so they make as much as their hustle allows. It's the same for doctors—nobody is stopping them from taking out a loan, setting up a private practice, or equipping an operating room to really stack that cash. If someone manages to pull in $100,000, hey, good for them.

When you're working within the Medicare system—which, let’s face it, is constantly drowning in its own red tape, debt, and sheer nonsense—you get what you get, and even then, it's definitely not pocket change.

Bradley Barnes90 said:That’s exactly what worries me. Not necessarily me personally, but the people who will eventually need those surgeries.
I suppose you could argue he should be allowed to participate in major procedures occasionally—just to keep his skills sharp—though I doubt anyone actually wants their life in the hands of someone whose primary passion is lining their pockets. There are likely people out there who would honestly rather face death waiting for an honest doctor than trust him.

There is absolutely no issue with using funds diverted from prison maintenance to cover surgical costs. Just put him in an open ward—where people work in the city during the day and sleep in jail at night—and he might even earn a sentence reduction for good behavior.

It comes down to principle. Even if we are importing doctors from abroad, we simply cannot allow criminals of this caliber to be part of the system.

When it comes to intelligence versus theft, it really all depends on your position. Whether it's a janitor stealing cleaning supplies, a groundskeeper using the office line for long-distance calls, a clerk taking a hundred bucks to expedite a file, or a CEO selling off a company for a fraction of its value, they are all cut from the same cloth. They all grifted as much as they possibly could. It's a classic example of a broken system where everyone is holding leverage over everyone else; that is the absolute worst scenario for trying to enforce any kind of order.

I can't help but wonder why there are only about six or seven cardiac surgeons left in the entire country. You have to assume it's because they're terrified of any actual competition showing up—because if they had to compete, those massive wait times would vanish and you wouldn't need to drop five grand just to get on a surgical schedule. The system really needs to step up, facilitate training for the next generation, and stop letting these entitled gatekeepers sit on their positions just to block anyone who actually shows promise.

@goldengull3/">@@goldengull3
I can see you're definitely not some top-tier moderator, honestly. I’m totally with you on this one—there’s basically no difference between those examples, and if they keep running things like this, there's just going to be more of the same forever.

@Justin Fox/">@@Justin Fox
You really hit the nail on the head there. They try to gatekeep everything as some sort of "exclusive" club, but the real reason we don't see more qualified people stepping up is because the whole system is just broken and stagnant, stubbornly letting things stay this way for years.

Scott Allen10 said:Doctors like him are paid incredibly well.

I mean, a small business owner with just three years of trade school is an entrepreneur—they earn whatever they can based on how much work they put in. And honestly, nobody is stopping doctors from taking out loans, upgrading their clinics or operating rooms, and making bank. If someone pulls in $100,000, then good for them, I guess.

The way things work within the Medicare system—which is already struggling with all its inconsistencies and debt—you get what you get, and even then, it’s actually not a small amount.

Okay, so doctors like him are super well-paid. Bradley Phillips35 was speaking generally about doctors, and if your last sentence is meant to apply to all doctors (and not just Šimić, who had that specific management contract), then you really don't seem to get what we're talking about here. Statements like that kind of make me feel a bit uneasy, maybe.

nimblestag31 said:Look, those doctors are incredibly well-paid. If Bradley Phillips35 was just talking about doctors in general, and if your last point was meant to cover all doctors—not just Šimić who had that specific management contract—then you honestly have no clue what you're talking about. Statements like that actually make me feel a bit sick.

Trust me, I feel even worse hearing this kind of medical corruption nonsense where people claim they only make "five or six thousand dollars a month," which is clearly the direction your post is heading. If that's really how you see things, then you're the one who should be feeling sick, just from reading your own takes.

rowdylynx38 said:Now, if there’s any justice left in this world, she'll be stuck out there growing her own tomatoes...

🤣 😬
tomatoplanter:

Justin Fox said:I can't help but wonder why there are only about six or seven cardiovascular surgeons in the entire US? It’s likely because they’re terrified of any actual competition showing up—if they did, the wait times would drop and you wouldn't be paying fifty grand just to get on an operating table. The system should be facilitating the training of new specialists instead of allowing a handful of gatekeepers to squat on positions and block anyone who dares to get close to their territory.

And honestly, that’s the exact same reason I was told "we're only looking for people without prior experience" when I applied for a faculty position. Apparently, if I have enough substance to my work, I might actually pose a threat to someone established. This kind of gatekeeping is a pervasive plague within American public institutions.

And why on earth are we waiting so long for surgeries that are literally life-or-death?
What are the doctors even doing in the meantime that justifies such a massive wait?

Bradley Barnes90 said:Why on earth are people waiting so long for surgeries that are literally life-saving?
I mean, what are the doctors even doing in the meantime?

Well, they’re out there performing surgery, I guess. Every single day. In some places, they’re pulling two major operations a day—the kind of long procedures that rarely wrap up during normal business hours—and guess what?? They aren't even getting overtime pay (plus, not everyone in the OR actually gets a slice of the pie if there's any extra money to go around).
And honestly, the system just accepts it and looks the other way, year after year.

Bradley Barnes90 said:Why on earth are people waiting so long for surgeries that are literally life-saving?
What exactly are the doctors doing in the meantime that justifies such delays?

The entire physician residency and specialization system seems to be fundamentally broken. We have plenty of personnel stationed at various departments, yet we suffer from a chronic shortage of actual specialists. You can't just run a medical training program like an assembly line and expect to speed things up...

I get it... So, does that mean the Secretary of Health is basically the one pulling the strings on most of this?

Scott Allen10 said:Trust me, I'm feeling even more insulted by this medical corruption than you are—claiming a salary of "$5,000-$6,000" is clearly what your post is getting at. If that’s really your take, then maybe you're just being a little too hard on yourself.

Kudos to you—I have to admit, you've got some pretty unique ways of measuring value.
I mean, $5,000-$6,000 is actually a great salary, especially if you're an MD—or even better, a specialist—who's actually good at their job, has years of experience under their belt, a family to support, and isn't just working a standard 9-to-5, but carries all that legal and moral responsibility to be there whenever someone needs them...
👍
Honestly, even $5,000-$6,000 seems like too much—we should probably lower it even more. Maybe they should just take $3,000 and stop complaining, right? 🙄