massdevice.com on January 23, 2012 reported that a whistle-blower lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for Western Pennsylvania accuses 5 cardiologists of defrauding Medicare by performing unnecessary cardiac procedures. The qui tam suit, filed by Dr. Tullio Emanuele, alleges that Drs. Richard Petrella, Robert Ferraro, Charles Furr, Timothy Trageser and Donald Zone "made or caused to be made false claims and statements to Medicare to obtain reimbursement for cardiac and vascular surgical and diagnostic procedures that were not medically necessary, that were overbilled, or otherwise improperly billed," according to court documents.

The original article can be found at massdevice.com.