In case you have any questions regarding the exam

Link for the textbook

Link for Moral Issues in Business.

$6.5 million for hemorrhoid removals??

From Yahoo News:  Federal authorities charged more than 100 doctors, nurses and physical therapists in nine cities with Medicare fraud Thursday, part of a massive nationwide bust that snared more suspects than any other in history.

More than 700 law enforcement agents fanned out to arrest dozens of people accused of illegally billing Medicare more than $225 million. The arrests are the latest in a string of major busts in the past two years as authorities have struggled to pare the fraud that's believed to cost the government between $60 billion and $90 billion each year. Stopping Medicare's budget from hemorrhaging that money will be key to paying for President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.

The idea behind Medicaid was to help eligible individuals and families with low incomes and resources. It's a program intended to help the needy: funded by federal and states budgets. We taxpayers pay for the program. Fraud is a way to exploit the system, which in turn ends up making the system more difficult to support. 

Of course criminals don't stop for a second to think the social repercussions of their actions. That's a given. But then, they are not smart enough to make it more difficult for authorities to see it. Take the case of Dr.  Boris Sachakov from Brooklyn as an example: 

A Brooklyn, N.Y., proctologist was charged with billing $6.5 million for hemorrhoid removals, most of which he never performed. Dr. Boris Sachakov claimed he performed 10 hemorrhoid removals on one patient, which authorities said is not possible. An employee who answered at Sachakov's office declined comment Thursday. Sachakov had been arrested last year on charges related to a separate scam. Sachokov denied the charges.

This individual is a white-collar criminal and pretty bad at it. How could someone be so stupid to charge $6 million for hemorrhoid removals that were not performed? What can make someone so blind by greed that he can risk loosing everything? Money.

I'll close this post on Thursday, February 24 @ 11pm.

How low can people fall to enrich themselves

Photo: New York Times

According to this New York Times article, a former Pennsylvania judge went on trial in federal court on Tuesday, charged with racketeering, bribery and extortion in what prosecutors say was a $2.8 million scheme to send juvenile delinquents to privately run prisons.

The case against the judge, Mark A. Ciavarella Jr., who presided in Luzerne County, drew national attention for what legal experts say is a dangerous gap in the juvenile justice systems of many states — children appearing in court without lawyers. Mr. Ciavarella, now 60, sentenced thousands of young people, funneling them into two private detention centers prosecutors say were run by his friends who slipped him payments in a "cash for kids" scheme.

Professor Lawrence Tribe from Harvard sees it as a "Terrible lesson which highlights the dangers for juveniles who don't know their rights, haven't talked to a lawyer and are urged by overburdened courts to take a plea. Once that happens, future opportunities for the child are essentially gone." 

In court here on Tuesday, Gordon Zubrod, an assistant United States attorney, portrayed Mr. Ciavarella's actions over seven years as a plot to enrich himself. William Ruzzo, a lawyer for Mr. Ciavarella, denied the charges.
_________

Now, the charges against Ciavarella are bribery (i.e., an act implying money or gift given that changes the behavior of the recipient), and racketeering (i.e., a criminal demands money from a business in exchange for the service of "protection" against crimes that the racketeers themselves instigate if unpaid). 

The saddest part in all this is the price Ciavarella was willing to pay, that of sending probably innocent young man to jail.

I'll close this post Tuesday February 15 @ 11pm.

Homework, Chapter 3

1- In the context of Chapter 3 define:
a) justice, b) equality, c) rights (positive and negative)
2- Explain the utilitarian view of justice and its economic distribution.
3- Explain the Libertarian approach and its theory of distribution.
4- Explain the liberal approach and its economic distribution.