9
SPINE
SURGEONS
Jury Finds Neurosurgeon Dr. Sonjay Fonn & Fiancé
Owe $1.6M to Medicare, Medicaid for False Claims:
7 Things to Know
By Megan Wood
A
federal jury in St. Louis found neurosurgeon Sonjay Fonn,
DO, of Cape Girardeau, Mo.-based Midwest Neurosurgeons,
violated the False Claims Act, according to St. Louis Post-Dis-
patch.
Here are seven things to know:
1. e U.S. Attorney's office reported Dr. Fonn and his fiancé Deborah
Seeger submitted false medical claims to Medicare and Medicaid.
2. e jury found Dr. Fonn and Ms. Seeger submitted 228 false claims,
for which the defendants received a statutory penalty of $5,500 to
$11,000 for each claim, according to Southeast Missourian.
3. e jury also found Medicare and Medicaid should receive $1.65 mil-
lion in repayments, Southeast Missourian reports. e U.S. Attorney's
office reports the final damage amount has not yet been determined.
4. St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports Cape Girardeau physicians and pro-
viders filed the civil suit against Dr. Fonn and Ms. Seeger in 2012.
5. Ms. Seeger owns spinal implant distributor DS Medical. Dr. Fonn
performed spinal fusions with implants distributed by DS Medical be-
tween 2009 and 2012.
6. For every implant Dr. Fonn used, Ms. Seeger earned 50 percent
commission. During the trial, prosecutors displayed evidence that
this additional income benefited Dr. Fonn through a yacht purchase
and home improvements.
7. e defense contested the allegation of inflated commissions, not-
ing Dr. Fonn never offered conditions of using certain implants. n
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