Daily Archives: October 17, 2006

Judge Lake dismisses the indictment against Ken Lay

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Ken Lay 070606D.jpgUS District Judge Sim Lake has overruled the Enron Task Force’s dubious opposition and dismissed the indictment against the late Enron chairman, Kenneth Lay. Judge Lake’s memorandum opinion is here, and his conclusion pretty well says it all:

Since the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has adopted the abatement rule, and since . . . the United States . . . has raised any legal basis for denying the ruleís application in this case, the court concludes that Layís conviction must be vacated and that this action against him must be dismissed. Accordingly, the Motion of the Estate of Kenneth L. Lay to Vacate His Conviction and Dismiss the Indictment (Docket Entry No. 1082) is GRANTED, . . . The indictment against Kenneth L. Lay is DISMISSED.

As noted earlier here, here and here, I don’t believe Ken Lay was guilty of anything other than making some bad business decisions (among many good ones, too). Dismissing the charges against his legacy is not only the right thing to do legally, but also morally.

Trials and tribulations at UTMB

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UTMB LOGO.gifBaylor College of Medicine’s struggle to define its future in the choppy waters of America’s health care finance system has been a frequent topic on this blog. But Baylor is far from the only medical school that is struggling with such problems. This Kevin Moran/Houston Chronicle article reports on the recent troubles at Texas’ oldest medical school, the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. Those troubles were alluded to in this earlier post.

In a year when this island city has avoided even the threat of a major natural storm, its largest and oldest employer ó the University of Texas Medical Branch ó is experiencing an unprecedented financial, employment and political tempest.
Facing a $20 million deficit and aiming to cut $130 million in spending in 2007, the 13,000-employee medical center started the year by hiring a consulting firm to heavily reduce expenses.
Faculty and staff feared that any solution involved a massive layoff. Morale dropped precipitously when UTMB announced in June it would cut 1,000 jobs. Next came a storm of dissatisfaction when administrators unveiled plans to cut salaries of tenured faculty, physicians, researchers and others.

The article goes on to report on how UTMB’s initiatives to generate more income is being opposed by competing physicians and how little of UTMB’s professional services are compensated through proceeds of health insurance. Although somewhat different from Baylor’s problems because UTMB operates its own hospital in Galveston, UTMB’s difficulties are another reflection of the cascading problems that are resulting from the federal and state governments’ failure to address America’s broken health care finance system. The risks of that broken system are a decline in the quality of physician training and medical care, which is something that should concern us all.

Two Houston docs convicted in Medicare-wheelchair scam

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Wheelchair.jpgTwo Houston doctors — Charles Frank Skripka Jr., 65, and Jayshree Patel, 62, — were among four local men who were convicted by a jury this past Friday afternoon in federal court on charges related to accepting kickbacks in a scheme that allegedly defrauded Medicare of more than $21 million. The other two men convicted were James Ekiko, 43, the owner of a medical equipment supply company, and David Dennis Brown, 47, who recruited patients into the scam.The Justice Department’s press release on the convictions is here.
The jury convicted all four men of health fraud in connection with a scheme to prescribe motorized wheelchairs to people who didn’t need them. Skripka, Ekiko and Brown also were convicted of wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud Medicare, while Skripka and Ekiko were also convicted of money laundering. Prosecutors contended that recruiters such as Brown would pay prospective patients $50 each to see the doctors, who would then prescribe motorized wheelchairs. The medical supply company would bill Medicare $4,200 for the wheelchairs that cost $1,600, pay the doctors $200 per prescription, and then pocket the balance as profit. At the height of the scam, the doctors were writing as many as 80 prescriptions a day!

Arnie’s Houston farewell

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ArnoldPalmer_Winner.jpgArnie17.jpgI’ve been remiss in not mentioning Arnold Palmer‘s announcement this past Friday during a round in a Champion’s Tour event at Houston’s Augusta Pines Golf Club that the round would be his last competitive round of golf. Steve Campbell’s article is here.
That Arnie would finally call it quits at a not particularly notable Houston course in a largely-ignored Champions Tour event (it’s football season in Texas, you know) seemed somewhat out of place. Arnie has actually been saying good-bye for quite awhile, first at Augusta National (his final major appearance) and then at his tournament, the Bay Hill Invitational, which was his final PGA Tour event. Suffice it to say the Augusta Pines is not anywhere near as dramatic a venue as either of those courses for Arnie to bid farewell to his fellow senior golfers. Too bad that the tournament couldn’t have been played a few miles south at Champions Golf Club, a venerable championship layout where Ben Hogan played his last competitive round about 40 years ago.
Palmer’s impact on golf and sports is so pervasive that it is difficult to put it in perspective. Suffice to say that there would be no Tiger Woods — at least in the larger-than-life sense that we know him — had not Arnold Palmer literally pulled the PGA Tour by its bootstraps into the forefront of televised sporting events around the world. Heck, Arnie even created the modern sports promotion business by hiring his old college chum, the late Mark McCormack, as the first real sports agent back in the late 1950’s. Scott Michaux, a columnist for AugustaChronicle.com, does as good a job as I’ve seen in this article (reg. req) of conveying Palmer’s special nature. Noting that Palmer withdrew from his last tournament on the fourth hole, but continued to play the remainder of the round for the benefit of his fans, Michaux observes as follows:

That’s what made Palmer the most beloved player in the history of golf. He was not its greatest champion and didn’t possess the finest swing, but nobody before or since has ever had the charisma that Palmer holds in spades. Whether it’s on the golf course, in the clubhouse or on the dance floor, Palmer oozes with the magnetism that has drawn his Army of fans for every step of the ride.
That the ride is finally over is as traumatic to his fans as it is to him. That Palmer never won a major championship in my lifetime didn’t stop him from being as giant a figure to my generation as he was to his own. That it has been 18 years since I witnessed him win his last tournament at the senior Crestar Classic in Richmond, Va., hasn’t made every sighting since any less thrilling.[ . . .]
Now we can only wish that Palmer will take the stage that late greats Byron Nelson, San Snead and Gene Sarazen took before him on the first tee of the Augusta National Golf Club for an honorary start to the Masters. With no other places to get a glimpse of the King, it is our last hope.
Palmer understands that no matter how awkward it might be to stand up in front of the world trying to give it that good shot, just a fix of his radiance is all we want.