Indian-origin doctor arrested in US over graft case

An Indian-origin gynaecologist in the US has been arrested for allegedly accepting favours from a pharmaceutical company in return for prescribing its osteoporosis drugs and allowing sales representatives to access patient records, a media report said today.
Rita Luthra, 64, of Longmeadow, was indicted on one count of violating the Anti-Kickback Statute, one count of wrongful disclosure of individually identifiable health information and one count of obstructing a criminal health care investigation by lying to federal agents and directing an employee to do the same.
The indictment also seeks USD 23,500 in criminal forfeiture.
According to court documents, from October 2010 through November 2011, Warner Chilcott, a pharmaceutical company based in New Jersey, allegedly paid Luthra USD 23,500 to prescribe its osteoporosis drugs, Actonel and Atelvia, a local news station said.

On 31 occasions, a Warner Chilcott sales representative allegedly brought food to Luthra's medical office for her and her staff, and paid Luthra USD 750 to talk with her for 25-30 minutes while she ate, wwlp.Com news reported.
On another occasion, Warner Chilcott paid to cater a barbeque that Luthra hosted at her home for her friends. The company also paid Luthra USD 250 for speaker training, despite the fact that she never spoke to any other physicians, the report said.

It is alleged that Luthra's prescriptions of Warner Chilcott's osteoporosis drugs increased during the time that she was paid by the company, and precipitously declined once she stopped being paid.

Luthra also allowed a company representative to access protected health information in her patients' medical file. She further provided false information to federal agents when interviewed about her relationship with Warner Chilcott, and allegedly directed one of her employees to also lie.
The charge of violating the Anti-Kickback Statute provides a sentence of no greater than five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of USD 25,000.
The charge of disclosure of individually identifiable health information provides a sentence of no greater than one year in prison and/or a fine of USD 50,000 and one year of supervised release.

The charge of obstructing a criminal health care investigation provides a sentence of no greater than five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of USD 250,000.
Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the US Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.