A federal grand jury indicted a doctor from McKinney on charges of defrauding health care insurers and creating false medical records, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Michigan announced on February 2.
Per a news release by the Department of Justice, the indictment alleges that Dr. Daniel Castro, who is an otolaryngologist, performed functional endoscopic sinus surgeries on patients whose “symptoms, history, and computed tomography scans (CT scans) did not support the medical necessity of such procedures.”
The indictment also states that 70-year-old Dr. Castor, who formerly practiced at Bronson Hospital in Battle Creek from 2015 to 2017, allegedly billed a patient for surgery on sinus cavities that did not exist and the removal of diseased tissue (which did not exist) from inside their sinus.
According to the Department of Justice news release, the grand jury also alleged that Dr. Castro “routinely billed” his patients for complex neck dissection surgeries targeted at confirmed cancer of the head and neck only to perform much simpler surgical neck procedures that have no connection with cancer treatment.
Castro is also accused of creating false entries in his office consultation notes and operation reports to justify the medical necessity of his sinus surgeries or to show that he performed the procedures that he failed to do.
According to the news release, Castro is charged with thirty-four counts of health care fraud and eight counts of making false statements relating to health care matters. If convicted of the charges brought against him, he faces up to 5 years in prison for each false statement charge and up to 10 years in prison for each healthcare fraud charge.
Castro is scheduled to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sally J. Berens of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan on February 22.