A team of surgical office employees that includes nurses, an office manager and certified registered nurse anesthetist decided that enough was enough and blew the whistle on health care fraud being committed by orthopedic surgeon Robert Tominson.  The whistle blowers are represented by Don McKenna of Hare, Wynn, Newell and Newton.  With guidance and assistance from their counsel, the team of whistle blowers disclosed their allegations and material evidence to the United States Attorney's Office for the Western District of Arkansas and then filed a civil lawsuit on behalf of themselves and the United States of America under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act. 

The Government's investigation of the whistle blowers' allegations and evidence lead to the Government's opening of a criminal investigation of Dr. Tomlinson.  The whistle blowers' suit and the Governments' investigation ultimately lead to Dr. Tomlison pleading guilty to Health Care Fraud against Medicare. Click Here to read the Northwest Arkansas Online article.  Tomlinson will likely lose his medical license, be required to pay restitution and serve jail time.  A settlement of the civil False Claims Act claims is expected in the near future.

For their efforts, the whistle blowers will share in a percentage of the Governments' monetary recovery against Tomlinson.  This case is a great example of co-employees banding together as whistle blowers to stop fraud against our nations healthcare system.  All of the whistleblowers continue to be employed in the health care profession.