Michael Omidi, MD Plastic Surgery – $350 Million Scammer
Michael Omidi is a plastic surgeon based in Beverly Hills, California. His office is located at 9735 Wilshire Blvd #300, Beverly Hills, CA 90212, US and the contact number is 310-281-0155.
Michael’s brother, Julian Omidi, is making headlines for defrauding insurance companies and the Tricare healthcare program. He submitted around $355 million in claims related to the 1-800-GET-THIN Lap-Band surgery business.
While many people are familiar with the name of Julian Omidi, very few are aware of Michael’s involvement in the scam. Unlike Julian, who is no longer a medical professional, Michael is still running a plastic surgery clinic in Beverly Hills.
The following review will take a closer look at Michael’s involvement in the scam. Furthermore, you would learn if Michael is worth trusting or not:
The Notorious 1-800-GET-THIN Scam of the Omidi Brothers – Involvement of Michael Omidi
Last year, the court found Julian Omidi guilty of 28 counts of wire fraud and 3 counts of mail fraud. He was also found guilty of making false statements relating to healthcare matters, money laundering and aggravated identity theft.
However, Julian wasn’t alone in his operation. Michael Omidi had been a part of the 1-800-GET-THIN scam for a long time.
The Omidi brothers made headlines in 2012 when their staff members exposed their shenanigans. Here’s a screenshot of the new report:
According to the report, Michael Omidi and his brother had covered up mistakes that led to the death of Paula Rojeski, a Lap-Band patient from Orange County.
Michael and Julian were running this weight-loss business from their offices in Beverly Hills. Also, the duo was telling its staff to persuade patients to get medically unnecessary surgeries. On top of that, they were billing insurance companies for procedures they never performed.
Dyanne Deuel and Karla Osorio are both former surgery center workers. They used to work with Michael Omidi, MD and they reported the unsafe and unsanitary conditions present at the clinics.
Furthermore, they shared a number of missteps which led to the death of Paula Rojeski. Deuel and Osorio were among the people who filed lawsuits against the Omidi brothers.
They shared that during the surgery of Paula Rojeski, the machine which should have provided her with oxygen was turned off. Also, the tube delivering painkillers to her mainstream became dislodged.
After the procedure, Rojeski did not have a pulse and she stopped breathing. But the anesthesiologist didn’t notify the rest of the staff for 15 minutes. Hence, by the time the paramedics arrived, it was too late.
Michael Omidi told the anesthesiologist to delete the 15-minute gap from his report. He also told his employees to remove the “defective equipment” used in the surgery and replace it with the proper ones. This way, the Los Angeles County health and coroner’s officials wouldn’t find out.
Apart from such a horrendous coverup, the Omidi brothers are guilty of defrauding insurance companies for hundreds of millions.
Julian had established procedures requiring prospective Lap-Band patients to have at least one sleep study. Then, he used the studies to find a reason so GET THIN would convince the insurance company to pre-approve the Lap-Band procedure.
After the patient underwent the sleep study, GET THIN employees would falsify the results and use it to get the pre-approval. Hence, the insurance companies would have to authorize payments for the Lap-Band surgeries based on false information.
The marketing company, GET THIN received around $41 million for the procedures. Even if the insurance provider didn’t authorize the surgery, the marketing firm was able to submit bills for around $15,000 for each sleep study. This helped them earn an estimated sum of $27 million.
The victim health care programs included Tricare, UnitedHealthcare, Health Net, Anthem Blue Cross, Operating Engineers Health, and more.
However, it’s noteworthy that Michael Omidi is still operating as a plastic surgeon while his brother (and co-conspirator) is facing charges of fraud.
Who is a Plastic Surgeon?
A plastic surgeon is a physician who performs cosmetic or reconstructive surgery on individuals with birth defects, traumas, burns, or infections to enhance or alter their appearance.
Michael Omidi, MD’s Additional Legal Conflicts
In 2011, Michael had applied to the University of California at San Diego for a cardiothoracic fellowship. For this, he had to register with NRMP and his fellowship was to start in the summer.
However, a manager at the Medical Board sent an email to the University of California at San Diego, which shared the news report I have discussed above. Later, the manager sent another report which covered the events of the GET THIN insurance fraud.
After going through those reports, UCSD requested a waiver of its match commitment to Omidi. NRMP notified him of the waiver request and it was accepted because Michael didn’t oppose it.
However, he later filed a lawsuit against the manager at the Medical Board as well as NRMP for negligence. Nevertheless, Michael lost the lawsuit because he failed to establish a probability of prevailing on his claims for intentional and negligent interference with prospective economic advantage.
You can learn more about the lawsuit here: Michael Omidi vs Schunke.
It’s not as if Michael has improved as a plastic surgeon as well. He has attracted plenty of complaints from his disgruntled clients over the last few years. Here’s an example:
Botched Surgery That Was Completed By His Nurse
According to the reviewer, Dr. Omidi didn’t complete the procedure. Instead, he butchered the procedure so horribly that he let a nurse complete the rest of the surgery.
The procedure left the reviewer with an infection for over a month and she couldn’t walk upright until she had a different doctor try to fix the mistakes Omidi made.
Running a plastic surgery clinic with such complaints available online is rather difficult. It can lead to a plethora of problems. However, instead of trying to fix his services and address the issues, Michael Omidi does the opposite.
He tries to bury them through various marketing efforts.
One of them is his Instagram account (@drmichaelomidi) where he posts pictures of his patients.
Verdict
The fact that Michael tried to cover up the negligence of his own clinic in the death of a patient, says a lot about how much he cares about his customers.
Furthermore, Michael Omidi played a huge role in the 1-800-GET-THIN marketing scam. However, he isn’t facing any severe consequences. All the blame has shifted on his brother.
Trusting Michael for your procedure would be a mistake. You can’t rely on someone who made his fortune by scamming insurance providers and lying to patients.
he is awful surgeon and dishonest. stay away. terrible nose…make you sign papers to fix his own mistakes…then wants more money. i regret going to him. all plastic surgeons are crooks..they will sue you for leavin bad review..is why you never see any bad ones
How is this criminal allowed to see patients and operate on them? ????????
Where are the authorities when you need them the most. I smell something fishy.