FROM THE “IT COULD ALWAYS BE WORSE” DEPARTMENT

Let’s face it. American health care has a long way to go toward improving its quality and its availability. But things could be worse. According to today’s BBC NEWS , Sicilian physicians have been billing their state medical program for the treatment of dead patients. Some of the individuals had been dead for 20 years.

At least in our country, when our physicians commit fraud (i.e., Medicaid Fraud), they use patients who are still alive, which is smart, since a living patient can have a “need” for many invented procedures over the course of his lifetime, thereby providing a steady source of illicit income for his American, criminally-inclined doctor.