An ex-Montreal familymare is accused of having fraudulently claimed about $ 200,000 in RAMQ medical acts for more than 200 patients who have never been treated.
The College of Doctors of Quebec (CMQ) criticizes the old omnipractian Isabelle Lafontaine for having billed at the Régie de l’assurance malade du Québec (RAMQ) hundreds of acts for 238 patients who have never been treated, between March and September 2022.
«Mme Lafontaine knew very well what she was doing, she admitted it, pleaded M on Wednesdaye Anthony Battah, trustee lawyer. Without the shadow of a doubt, these sums were paid in her account […] and have not been reimbursed. “
An invoice every 10 days
The survey began in the summer of 2022, after a patient discovered medical acts registered in his file. However, the man had never met the doctor. Arrested, the RAMQ noted 238 times a “patternBilling. For each patient, an act was billed every five to ten days, about ten times. The CMQ contacted 10 patients on the list randomly. None had been treated by the doctor.
The trustee did not calculate the precise sum of the acts invoiced, but it estimates it at $ 200,000.
“These are significant amounts in question,” summed upe Battah.
This disciplinary file has been dragged since 2023. Last January, the hearing had been postponed because Mme Lafontaine had not presented itself. On the phone, she said she did not have the money to move to Montreal, since she was homeless in Quebec. She resigned from the CMQ in May 2023.
The former Médecin Isabelle Lafontaine in June 2023.
Photo Martin Alarie
“You had to put me in the big misery. The roaming has put my life in danger and that of my patients in danger, “said the woman, who has no lawyer and receives social assistance.
Without house and unemployed
On Wednesday, she testified to be always homeless and she lives in an emergency refuge. Mme Lafontaine did not deny the accusations of the CMQ, but she explained that she has set up a research project with “batchs patients ”to demonstrate their RAMQ billing problems. She also went to see the police several times.
“I have not been ashamed of the profession of doctor, on the contrary, I do service. There is a problem with the safety RAMQ, she pleaded. It would be long since it would be reimbursed if I could work. ”
“If I am deleted, I can’t work, not even a job at $ 16 an hour […]. I pass for a terrible witch, “she said, adding that she was the victim of documents.
In 2019, Mme Lafontaine had been struck off by the CMQ, which had demanded that it submit to a medical examination to determine if its condition “was compatible”. This decision was reached by the Professional Tribunal in 2021.
The council will make a decision on its guilt within 90 days.
Do you have any information to communicate to us about this story?
Write us to the address or call us directly at 1 800-63SCOOP.
