Illinois Regulators Sue Heart Scan Company, Alleging Deceptive Practices

The Illinois Attorney General's office filed a lawsuit today accusing the owner and manager of Heart Check America, a medical imaging company, of pressuring patients into purchasing pricey body scans that many did not need.

Last month, ProPublica published an investigation of Heart Check America, describing its marketing and sales techniques. In our story, medical experts called the company's tactics unethical and said its scans were inappropriate for many patients, exposing them to unnecessary expense and treatment. Health regulators in Colorado and Nevada have cited the company for performing medical scans without doctors' orders.

Now Illinois officials say Sheila Haddad and her son, David Haddad, the owner and manager of the company, used "unfair and deceptive business practices" to manipulate consumers, possibly numbering in the thousands, into 10-year screening contracts costing up to $7,000, plus additional annual dues.

Heart Check America officials have not yet responded to calls and emails asking for comment on the lawsuit. In our previous story, David Haddad acknowledged that the company had made some missteps, but said the company was taking steps to bring all of its centers into compliance with government standards.

He defended the value of the company's services, saying its scans gave patients peace of mind and had even saved lives. "People come back and say, 'Thank you, my wife will be [alive] because we found this,'" Haddad said. "I made my mom and sister go. People hug and kiss us goodbye in these clinics."

The Attorney General's complaint, filed in state court in Chicago, alleges a list of problems with the Heart Check America's tactics:

• Multiple scans may not be medically appropriate and sales were based on a false premise that early detection of disease always leads to better outcomes.
• The people selling the scans were not medically trained and no medical provider evaluated patients before they received the scans.
• Consumers were not informed of risks, including radiation exposure, false-positive tests and a false sense of security from false-negative tests.
• Some test results were inaccurate.
  

rest at http://www.propublica.org/article/illinois-regulators-sue-heart-scan-company-alleging-deceptive-practices