A plea hearing has been set for Mark Kabins, MD, of Las Vegas, who is one of three defendants in a federal fraud case of allegations a network of Las Vegas physicians and lawyers conspired to commit healthcare fraud, according to a report in the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
The hearing is set for Nov. 23. According to the report, it was not known if Dr. Kabins had struck a deal to provide testimony against the other defendants in the scheme.
The fraud case against Dr. Kabins is centered on the defendants' actions involving Melodie Simon, who became paralyzed after Dr. Kabins and his partner, John Thalgott, MD, operated on her in 2000. Immunity had been granted to Dr. Thalgott and another physician, Benjamin Venger, MD, in exchange for testimony, but not to Dr. Kabins, according to the report. Prosecutors argued that the conspiracy charges were based around Dr. Kabins' attempts to avoid a lawsuit in Ms. Simon's case.
Read the Review-Journal's report about the Nevada spine surgeon's plea hearing.