Man arrested for treating patients without license
Gerald P. Lammers, M.D., of Ida was to have opened a new medical office with his son, Larry, at 498 Monroe Street in Dundee on Monday, March 1. Instead, it was raided by officers from local and federal agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and the Department of Health and Human Services.

Larry Lammers, 54, of 2750 Lewis Ave., Ida, son of Dr. Gerald P. Lammers, was arrested on Monday, March 1, at the Dundee office, on a warrant issued by the Monroe County Prosecutor’s office. He was arraigned in First District Court, in Judge Braunlich’s courtroom on Tuesday, March 2 on three counts of practicing medicine without a license.

Bond was set at $250,000. As a condition of his bond, he is prohibited form seeing any current or former patients of his father’s. He also is ordered not to leave the state.

Sgt. Rick Galinberti, with the Monroe County Sheriff’s Detective Bureau, said Mr. Lammers has been illegally practicing medicine since sometime in September, 2003 between Ida and Dundee. He had been treating patients at his father’s medical clinic in Ida, and giving injections without necessary training and licensing, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Larry Lammers previously has been convicted in Florida and Kentucky, also for practicing medicine without a license, had had been on probation from those states.

The local investigation is ongoing. The federal Office of the Inspector General is looking into questions of Medicare fraud; if someone is not a doctor but charging Medicare for services, it is illegal.

Also, if someone is not a doctor, but practicing medicine and touching patients, that is assault, said Sgt. Galinberti. He said victims can call the Monroe County Sheriff’s Detective Bureau at 734-240-7530 to report unauthorized medical care.

“It’s hard to believe that someone has that much moxie, and is that brazen to go ahead and open up an office and do it, but obviously it worked in other places for a while,” said Sgt. Galinberti. “Anyone could be a victim of it. I’ve never asked to see a doctor’s license.”

Sgt. Galinberti said each count of unauthorized medical practice is a four-year felony.

According to the Department of Health in Florida, Mr. Lammers had been issued a chiropractor’s license on April 4, 1978 and it was null and void as of Feb. 28, 1998. According to officials, he had been disciplined during that time.

On Monday, an officer said the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office was assisting the federal agencies with their investigation. He said the doctor’s office was being investigated for questions concerning licensing and other matters, and records were being seized.

Officers and investigators were at the Dundee office for about five hours. A locksmith was apparently changing exterior locks at 2:45 p.m. while a Monroe County Sheriff’s car sat in the lot.
Dr. Lammers and his wife Barbara recently sold their Ida medical practice to Dr. Layth Maolood, and Dr. Lammers was to open a new practice in Dundee.

The Independent called the Lammers home on Monday afternoon, March 1, and asked what happened at the office that morning.

“We had to close it. We can’t open it up, because we don’t have the lease signed,” said Mrs. Lammers, calmly. “We just have to wait. Bye.”

Ben St. John, from the Office of the Inspector General, said the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Office of the Inspector General were at Dr. Lammer’s office Monday morning, as well as officers from the Drug Enforcement Agency.

“Our concern is with Medicare and Medicaid. Our mission is to protect the integrity of the programs, Medicare particularly, from fraud and alleged abuse,” said Mr. St. John. “We are addressing this as part of our investigation— to see if any federal health care programs were subject to this.”

“Our agents executed the search warrants and an arrest was made,” said Mr. St. John. “I am not at liberty to give out more information. We have to be very cautious, and see what information investigators will find when they review the documentation. We don’t know the strength of the evidence.”

In fiscal year 2003, Medicare paid out nearly $12 billion in improper claims for “fee for service,” which ranged from innocent errors to outright fraud, said Mr. St. John. There are 2,700 currently open investigations. In the last fiscal year, there were 576 criminal convictions, 243 successful civil actions and 3,275 individuals and entities were excluded from Medicare, Medicaid and other federally sponsored health care programs.

Dr. G.P. Lammers, M.D., age 82, has had a medical practice in Ida for 55 years. He has treated at least three generations of Ida residents. He came to Ida in 1948. Since the late 1960s, he was the only medical doctor in Ida, until he added Dr. Layth Maolood to his practice a few years ago. Now Dr. Maolood owns that practice.

The medical building on Monroe Street has been owned by Mercy Memorial Hospital of Monroe for several years. The building had previously been leased to Family Specialists. An employee of Family Specialists said she was surprised to learn that the hospital had let someone else move into the building, since they still had things stored in there.

Cathy Russeau, spokesperson for Mercy Memorial Hospital, said the hospital had been in negotiations with Dr. Gerald Lammers to lease the building, but they had not come to any agreement, and no lease was signed.

“We know Larry Lammers had possession of the building because he was in there, but we don’t know how he did that, or how he got the key,” said Ms. Russeau. “We found out about it because law enforcement agencies told us.”