Former Adventist Nurse in California Calls on Sacramento District Attorney to Stop Dodging Worker’s Compensation Fraud Investigation

Nurse Barbara Clark caught in a red-tape bureaucratic nightmare, calls for new tougher investigation techniques

Sacramento (PRWEB) December 19, 2005 -- Barbara Clark, the former Adventist nurse suing John Rea, Acting Director of the California Department of Industrial Relations (USDC for EDC CASE: 2:05 - CV – 02410), has called upon Sacramento County District Attorney Jan Scully to stop avoiding the responsibility of conducting a fraud investigation of the Adventist hospital chain, located in Roseville, CA.

Clark said, “Defendant John Rea’s people have directed me to the Sacramento County D.A.’s office concerning the criminal conspiracy allegations in my lawsuit, then when I contacted the D.A.’s office they just blew me off.”

“Under Senate Bill 1218 workers’ compensation fraud is a felony. District attorneys receive millions from California’s Department of Insurance anti-fraud fund to prosecute this crime. Unfortunately, it is usually small fry work comp cheats that get busted while the ‘big fish’ get away,” cited Clark.

According to Clark, a letter from DIR lawyers, received last week, claimed that although the DIR has licensed the Adventist hospital chain to self-administer workers’ compensation claims, DIR lacks any criminal enforcement power over the hospital chain and that the nurse should direct her allegations to the county D.A. (the nurse has had a workers’ compensation claim with the Adventist hospital chain for over ten years).

Clark alleged in the federal lawsuit that a defense attorney and a claims adjustor, representing the Adventists, were involved in a criminal conspiracy to – among other things – violate provisions of the anti-Ku Klux Klan (KKK) Act (42 USC 1985) and the medical records confidentiality portions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA).

Apparently the federal lawsuit is progressing, on December 14th US District Judge Frank C. Damrell ordered a federal magistrate to prepare a “Findings and Determinations” document, in response to Clark’s recent motion for a temporary restraining order against the claims adjustor employed by the Adventist hospital chain.

For more information about Clark’s federal lawsuit visit the web site www.barbclark.org. Other background about the case is available at www.MyStateFundStory.com and www.ciaw.org.

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