Mason spine surgeon faces new federal charges

CINCINNATI, OH (FOX19) - A Mason spinal surgeon accused of performing medically unnecessary surgeries then billing private and public healthcare benefit programs is facing more federal charges.

Abubakar Atiq Durrani was previously indicted by a federal grand jury on five counts of making false statements in health care matters and five counts of health care fraud.

A superseding indictment was filed Wednesday against Durrani, which adds 26 additional charges to the original ten charges.

The indictment alleges Durrani "would persuade the patient that surgery was the only option, when in fact the patient did not need surgery." It also accuses him of failing to inform the patient of complications, or misrepresenting the nature of those complications.

One of the counts alleges Durrani signed blank prescription pads and had others write the prescriptions for Oxycodone while he was out of the country.

Durrani owns a private practice called the Center for Advanced Spine Technologies (CAST) with offices in Evendale and Florence. The indictment states he's worked in the area as a spine surgeon since 2005.

Durrani appeared in court for an arraignment back in August and pleaded not guilty.

One of Durrani's attorneys, Michael Lyon, told FOX19 in February: "Well, I've seen this. I've been defending doctors for 38 years. I've seen this in the past. We have several plaintiffs if you will, or patients, combined, and it's two things. It's a bandwagon effect, and it's a plaintiff's lawyer who is promoting and participating this action."

In addition, Durrani's defense attorneys said the federal complaint and civil lawsuits against their client do not take into consideration the thousands of people he has treated successfully, which you can read more about here: http://www.fox19.com/story/21289279/dr-durrani-facing-13-suits-claiming-medical-negligence

Durrani's criminal trial is scheduled for January 13, 2014.

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