Texas Orthodontist Loses Whistleblower Lawsuit

Amarillo orthodontist, David Goodwin, was recently sentenced to more than 4 years in prison and ordered to pay $1.8 million in restitution to the State of Texas Medicaid program, after pleading guilty to one count of health care fraud. Last week, Goodwin and his clinic, Goodwin Orthodontics, was also ordered to pay $4.2 million in damages in a related qui tam lawsuit.

The whistleblower lawsuit, filed by three former Goodwin Orthodontics employees, Kristen De Los Santos, Sandy De Los Santos and Lissa Eason, alleged that Goodwin billed the Texas Medicaid program for more than $1 million in services that were not medically necessary. In addition, the whistleblowers claimed that Goodwin billed Medicaid for services that he allegedly performed, but in reality were performed by dental assistants when Goodwin was not present. According to the lawsuit, about 95% of Goodwin Orthodontics patients were Medicaid beneficiaries.

The whistleblowers will receive a portion of any monies collected from Goodwin as their reward under the qui tam provisions of the Texas False Claims Act Statute.