General
Another Legislator Indicted in Corruption Case Involving Diabetes Health Clinic
Alabama Rep. Randy Davis has been indicted on allegations he was involved in a plan to pressure Blue Cross Blue Shield to cover diabetes treatments at a string of health clinics with which he was involved.
Davis, a Republican from Daphne, was charged by federal prosecutors in Montgomery with several counts of bribery, according to the indictment.
The allegations are part of the corruption case brought against state Rep. Jack Williams, R-Vestavia Hills; lobbyist Martin J. “Marty” Connors of Alabaster; and G. Ford Gilbert of Carmichael, California, who owned the Trina Health company. They were charged in April with bribery, honest services wire fraud and honest services fraud. Gilbert also was charged with wire fraud, health care fraud and interstate travel in aid of racketeering. Federal prosecutors added Davis to the case Tuesday.
According to court documents, Davis was recruiting investors for the health clinics and lobbied Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama officials to cover the controversial IV treatments. He also is accused of working with then-Rep. Micky Hammon, R-Decatur, to promote a bill introduced in the Legislature that would have required Blue Cross to cover the treatments. That bill did not pass.
Several news outlets covered the new indictment. You can read more at:
Rep. Randy Davis Indicted on Bribery Charges (Montgomery Advertiser)
Outgoing State Rep. Randy Davis Indicted in Bribery Case (AL.com)
Lawmaker Indicted on Bribery Charges (Associated Press)
Hustling Hope
BirminghamWatch in April ran stories published by fellow nonprofit news site inewsource, which had spent months investigating Gilbert and Trina Health operations to produce its Hustling Hope series:
Hustling Hope: Doctors Debunk Diabetes Treatment as Fraud Charges Hit Clinic Executive
Just imagine: A nonsurgical treatment that helps millions of people with complications from diabetes restore vision, repair damaged kidneys, and reverse heart disease and cognitive decline. A treatment that heals wounds in their legs and feet, repairs damage from stroke, and eliminates a common type of diabetic nerve pain called neuropathy.
That’s what lawyer G. Ford Gilbert and his network of Trina Health clinics have been promising with his IV insulin infusions offered through his Sacramento-based company. The Trina CEO calls the procedure “miraculous,” and the first “real change” in treatment for people with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes since the 1921 discovery of insulin.
Gilbert has not been deterred by the nation’s top experts in diabetes who aggressively debunk his procedure, calling it outright fraud and a scam. Nor has he seemed daunted by Medicare and some private insurance companies, which have refused to pay for outpatient insulin infusion procedures because they lack sufficient evidence of medical benefit.
Now his Trina Health operation faces a new threat. A federal grand jury in Alabama indicted Gilbert on charges of fraud and bribery in a failed scheme that prosecutors said was intended to get a state law passed to force coverage of Trina infusions. Read more.
Hustling Hope: San Diego Doctor Runs Controversial Diabetes Clinic
Just about every Tuesday morning around 7:30, John McCreary of Poway can be found waiting for Dr. James Novak’s office to open. Almost always, McCreary said, he’s the first one there.
Novak’s practice is listed as the only one in the San Diego area offering Trina Health’s “Artificial Pancreas Treatment,” a four-hour IV insulin infusion procedure for people with diabetes. Some people like McCreary, 69, who has wrestled with diabetic nerve pain for years, said they think the procedure is working for them. Read more.
You can find more segments in the Hustling Hope series on inewsource.org.