Phoney doctor convicted in $4-million medicare fraud
Last Updated Mon Aug 12 14:39:36 2002
HAMILTON - Stephen Chung was given an 18-month conditional sentence on Monday after apparently providing quality health care to people in Hamilton over a period of 15 years.
Chung defrauded the provincial health care system of about $4.5 million, treating about 1,000 patients without ever graduating from medical school.
His 18-month conditional sentence includes 150 hours of community service. The Crown had asked for 18 to 24 months in jail.
The case is thought to be the largest medicare fraud in Canadian history.
Between 1983 and 1998, Chung practised medicine in Hamilton, Ont., earning a good reputation among his colleagues and without a single patient complaint to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario.
A routine check of credentials by the college four years ago uncovered the fact that he had never graduated medical school.
The degree from a medical school in the Dominican Republic which he presented to get an Ontario medical insurance (OHIP) billing number was a phoney.
After flunking out of medical school at the University of Manitoba, Chung bought the fake diploma in 1981. He took the exams required for people with a foreign medical degree and applied for an internship at McMaster University in Hamilton. In 1983, he was granted an OHIP registration number.
The college checked the degrees of all 25,000 doctors registered in the province after it discovered a Michigan man without a valid degree had been briefly granted a number in 1995.
The college now verifies all degrees before granting a registration number.
As soon as Chung's phoney degree was uncovered, he was stripped of his licence and a police investigation started.