Another Week: Another 'Third World Assassin'. But Who Really Cares?

An immigrant heart specialist who lived and worked in southern Kentucky has been sentenced to prison after being convicted of surgical medical fraud.

On Thursday in London Kentucky U.S. District Court Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove sentenced Doctor Anis Chalhoub to three and one-half years prison, after a federal jury found him guilty in April.

At trial, prosecutors were able to prove that Chalhoub routinely defrauded Medicare, Medicaid and other insurance providers - as well as cutting open the chests of innocent patients - for no medical reason. He did this by lying to patients and convincing them they needed pacemakers, when they did not, over at least a 5-year period that ended with his arrest in 2011. He would schedule the surgical procedures and would then bill health insurance programs for the operations and follow-up care.

Chalhoub, an immigrant from Beirut, Lebanon, was found to have fraudulently implanted 234 pacemakers into patients at St. Joseph London Hospital. During the trial numerous patients testified this medical maniac pressured them into the painful, invasive procedures.

“This doctor violated his oath to do no harm,” said Derrick L. Jackson, Special Agent in Charge at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in Atlanta. “His reckless behavior has earned him jail time for surgically implanting pacemakers that patients did not need in order to fatten his pocket.”

Chalhoub was ordered pay a $50,000 fine and repay Medicare, Medicaid and private insurers more than $250,000. His medical license has been revoked.

Anis Chalhoub - our latest on the ever-growing list of Third World Assassins - graduated from St. Joseph University Medical School in Beirut, Lebanon in 1985.

Now, will this lab coat loon be deported when he gets out of prison? Of course not. The United States does not deport criminal physicians. We allow them to move to another state, where they can be relicensed, and victimize a whole new legion of other innocent patients.

Of course, our final observation is that criminal Chalhoub was quite properly named, back in the day:

Anis.