Feds: Employees used disabled doctor as cash cow

Here's a disturbing story from the Monitor:  Feds: Employees used disabled doctor as cash cow

McALLEN — Office staff at a Mission clinic continued to see patients and bill federally funded health care programs well after the doctor they worked for had become incapable of practicing medicine, federal prosecutors said Thursday.

Despite not having medical degrees, Eliza Lozano Lumbreras, 63, and San Juanita Gallegos Lozano, 54, made diagnoses, wrote prescriptions and racked up more than $270,000 in Medicare and Medicaid bills in their employer’s name — often while he sat nearby in a near vegetative state, according to a 13-count indictment filed against them.

At one point, the doctor “was observed sitting under a desk in his office as … Lumbreras and … Lozano continued to operate the Mission clinic,” the document says.

FBI agents arrested both women Thursday, nearly a week after another man pleaded guilty to charges that he had used the incapacitated doctor’s name to defraud Medicare and Medicaid.

The 71-year-old physician — identified in court filings only by the initials R.J.P. — was declared unfit to practice medicine in 2001 after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

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Supporting disabled nursing students in practice: a tripartite approach

Here's another great article about disabled students titled, "Supporting disabled students in practice: a tripartite approach." Here's the abstract:

Universities are required to make reasonable adjustments for disabled students. For providers of professional courses, in this case pre-registration nursing, this requirement is perceived to pose significant challenges. In part this is due to the nature of the course, where practice learning is a central component and therefore clinical hands-on experience of the care of patients/clients is an absolute requirement. Concerns around the ability of disabled students' to meet the programme requirements have been expressed. This article describes the co-development of a six-phase tripartite model that provides a supportive framework for disabled student nurses in the practice environment. A brief overview of the literature will be given and a single case study will be used to demonstrate the model in action. The development of broad partnership working between the Practice Learning Team, The Disability Service and the Student Placement Facilitator, taking a student centric approach, is outlined. Finally, the process by which a critical knowledge base, on which decisions around reasonable adjustment can be made is discussed. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Griffiths L, Worth P, Scullard Z, Gilbert D. Supporting disabled students in practice: a tripartite approach. Nurse Educ Pract. 2010 May;10(3):132-7. Epub 2009 Jun 6.
PMID: 19502110

Supporting disabled students in practice

Here's a nice article about disabled nursing students titled, "Supporting disabled students in practice: a tripartite approach." Here's the abstract:

Universities are required to make reasonable adjustments for disabled students. For providers of professional courses, in this case pre-registration nursing, this requirement is perceived to pose significant challenges. In part this is due to the nature of the course, where practice learning is a central component and therefore clinical hands-on experience of the care of patients/clients is an absolute requirement. Concerns around the ability of disabled students' to meet the programme requirements have been expressed. This article describes the co-development of a six-phase tripartite model that provides a supportive framework for disabled student nurses in the practice environment. A brief overview of the literature will be given and a single case study will be used to demonstrate the model in action. The development of broad partnership working between the Practice Learning Team, The Disability Service and the Student Placement Facilitator, taking a student centric approach, is outlined. Finally, the process by which a critical knowledge base, on which decisions around reasonable adjustment can be made is discussed. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Griffiths L, Worth P, Scullard Z, Gilbert D. Supporting disabled students in practice: a tripartite approach. Nurse Educ Pract. 2010 May;10(3):132-7. Epub 2009 Jun 6.
PMID: 19502110