There is little doubt that Dr. Donald Chamberlain, a Chattanooga, Tennessee oncologist is committed to Medicare fraud. He was ordered by the courts to repay Medicare, TennCare and other government insurance programs a fine of $428,700 for using foreign origin drugs on his patients.
However, the issue is a little more complex than “cheating” and fraud. Is it cut-rate chemotherapy fraud?
Buying Chemotherapy Drugs
Dr. Donald Chamberlain and his practice manager, wife Karen Chamberlain, were buying chemotherapy drugs from a foreign dealer based in Winnipeg, Canada. The dealer (the source) was not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The drug itself was apparently fine and was appropriate. No patients have complained about either the treatment or the results. Dr. Chamberlain’s patients were fairly limited to women suffering from gynecologic cancers.
What rankled the government is that the prescription drugs, including the anti-cancer drug Taxotere, were purchased under a different trade name (not chemical) that is normally available in the United States. The drugs were the same drugs used in this country, only it was cheaper to source them overseas from a highly reputable distributor.
The drugs were initially manufactured in the United Kingdom and shipped to Winnipeg and ultimately sold through a Canadian company, then to Chamberlain’s practice which is outside of official FDA approval. This circuitous route is quite identical to how many “medical tourists” on fixed incomes will cross into Canada or Mexico for lower cost prescriptions.
Karen Chamberlain, who served for more than 25 years as office manager of her husband’s practice, Chattanooga GYN-Oncology PC, has repeatedly said she did not know she was doing anything wrong.
It is easy to become outraged at the system of greed and price-gouging in the U.S. while reviewing this post, were it not for the fact that Dr. Chamberlain was himself a price gouger. From 2009 to 2012, he was buying the drugs because they were cheaper, then on his Medicare billing he was charging the government for higher-priced drugs and keeping the profits.
The official FDA statement in regard to Dr. Chamberlain was as follows:
“Administering oncology drugs manufactured in other countries and not approved by the FDA, risks the safety of our citizens. We will continue to pursue aggressively, medical providers who improperly put their own financial interests ahead of the safety of their patients and who ignore rules instituted to protect the taxpayer-funded healthcare system.”
Agreed, but –
Karen Chamberlain, the person actually billing the government has been placed on probation. She could have faced jail time. As Chattanooga GYN-Oncology has been long closed following Dr. Chamberlain’s retirement, it is hard to determine additional liability at this point.
The drugs were hardly cut-rate in terms of quality. They were merely cheaper than “the same drugs” available to oncologists through channels in the United States. It is also technically illegal for your 89-year-old mother to buy her cholesterol-lowering prescription drugs in Canada, but it is well understood that the pharmaceutical itself is virtually the same.
It leads to an interesting – and troubling – ethical set of questions. It is true that Dr. Chamberlain and his wife were acting out of greed and not altruism. They were not out to save the world or to make life just a little more bearable for their cancer patients. Suppose, however, he offered his patients the option of cheaper drugs, or passing along cost savings on other services such as office visits? He may have still been wrong in the eyes of the FDA, but would he have been as wrong in our eyes? I believe not. Dr. Chamberlain was fined and his wife was almost imprisoned because they seized an opportunity. Their fraud does not exonerate them.
Does the question remain if Dr. Chamberlain had played an oncological Robin Hood would thousands, tens of thousands, risen to his defense? I believe so.
And it brings into focus yet another serious issue that neither the FDA nor “Big Pharma” wants to transparently address: why are our drug costs so high? The system seems to be taking advantage of everyone to benefit a relative handful. It seems the most unethical of all the healthcare problems, is it cut-rate chemotherapy fraud?
