SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — U.S. federal agents arrested dozens of doctors accused of obtaining medical licenses through fraud or bribery, carrying out sweeping raids across Puerto Rico Thursday.
A federal grand jury indicted 88 doctors following an investigation into members of the U.S. Caribbean territory's medical licensing board, who allegedly altered low-scoring tests to certify unqualified candidates.
The doctors, mostly Puerto Ricans who studied medicine in the Dominican Republic, Mexico or Cuba, paid board members bribes of as much as $10,000, according to the indictment. At least 75 were practicing medicine in Puerto Rico, including some at hospitals or emergency rooms, authorities said.
The arrests began near dawn. Some suspects — including Pablo Valentin, a former executive director of the licensing board — were seen on television being led away by local police and agents of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
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The DEA also is checking pharmacy records to determine whether the suspects prescribed medications, which could prompt felony charges as violations of the Controlled Substances Act, spokesman Waldo Santiago said.
Most of the suspects failed the licensing exam multiple times. One man who earned a medical degree in Spain failed the exam 16 times between 1974 and 2001 before he was granted a medical license in 2002, according to the indictment.
"We cannot allow doctors who obtained their license in an irregular way to practice medicine," said Rosa Perez Perdomo, Puerto Rico's Health Department secretary. "The health of Puerto Ricans has to be protected at all costs."
She called it "a very unfortunate situation," but said the fraudulent doctors' patients would have no shortage of alternatives among legitimate providers in Puerto Rico, where 10,000 doctors serve a population of 4 million.
At least five U.S. states recognize Puerto Rican medical licenses — Arizona, Florida, New York, Texas and Virginia — but Perdomo said none of the suspects was known to have practiced medicine on the U.S. mainland, according to Puerto Rico's medical licensing board.
In many of the fraud cases, intermediaries would approach candidates who failed tests and offer to connect them with board officials who could help, authorities said.
Yolanda Rodriguez, a former board secretary who also was indicted, allegedly received the exams from the intermediaries, cut-and-pasted passages from passing exams and photocopied the doctored exams for submission as authentic versions, according to court documents.
The defendants face charges including mail fraud and making false statements to Medicare. If convicted, most face prison sentences of five to 20 years, said interim U.S. Attorney Rosa Emilia Rodriguez.
local angle
Arizona is one of at least five states that recognize Puerto Rican medical licenses. The Arizona Medical Board said it requires all physicians to pass a U.S. licensing exam before they are issued a state license.
The Associated Press
