Texas State Rep. Tara Rios Ybarra (D-South Padre Island) made an appearance in federal court in a Monday afternoon hearing that ended without a decision.
She and five other dental professionals named in an illegal kickback and Medicaid fraud case asked a federal judge to continue to be able to treat Medicaid patients.
Prosecutors allege that large groups of children and their families were hearded in the dental offices in a "cattle call" and given anaesthesia by unlicensed or unqualified personnel.
Defense attorneys deny the allegations and said Schwarz and the others provide dental care to an underserved community.
After almost an hour of hearing arguments from both sides of the case, U.S. Magistrate Judge Dorina Ramos said she would issue a ruling by 5 p.m. Tuesday.
Rios Ybarra has a dental practice in Brownsville where she's accused of getting $12,293.95 from McAllen-based oral surgeon Gary Schawrz's office between August 2008 and November 2008.
Among those named in the 16-page indictment, are:
Gary Morgan Schwarz, Oral Surgeon (McAllen)
Diana Woo Paparelli, Pecan Dental (Pharr)
Colbert J. Glenn, Pecan Dental (Pharr)
Willis David Egger (Mission)
Tara R Rios Ybarra (Brownsville)
Reynaldo Casares (Mission)
Rios Ybarra's defense attorney Eric Reed revealed that 80 percent of her patients are Medicaid recipients.
"My client has treated Medicaid patients without warning from the government or sanction from the government," Reed told Judge Ramos.
Attorneys for the others argued the same.
Glenn's defense attorney David Botsford said his client and his wife Paparelli reported that 99 percent of their patients are Medicaid recipients.
"The government is denying the defendants the ability to earn a living and fight the allegations against them," Botsford said.
Botsford said there are very few oral surgeons in Hidalgo County that see Medicaid patients.
"Patients who need our care in an area that is underserved," Botsford said. "It's unfair to the community and it's unfair to these professionals."
But prosecutor Carolyn Ferko did not agree.
She said Rios Ybarra and the other four dentists received illegal kickbacks to refer their Medicaid patients to oral surgery procedures by Schwarz.
Ferko told Judge Ramos that videotapes where children who were Medicaid recipients were being treated in mass "cattle calls" where procedures took an average of 20 minutes each.
In another moment, Ferko reported that unqualified, unlicensed dental assistant administered anaesthesia and that one child crying in pain in one of the videos.
Ferko said Schwarz did not have a license to administer anaesthesia outside his McAllen office and that Rios Ybarra and others failed to check that fact.
"It all happened in the dentists' office, not Dr. Schwarz's office," Ferko said of the procedures. "They didn't look at his license to see if he had "portability" for anaesthesia. They packed their offices to get more checks."
Ferko argued that Schwarz and the others should not treat Medicaid patients.
"There's no Constitutional right to be a Medicaid provider," she said. "They know the rules...everyone one of these defendants has an advanced degree."
Ferko argued that the majority of the patients were Hispanic children whose parents spoke Spanish.
"Dr. Schwarz does not see these patients as people, children or Medicaid recipients, he looks at it as if it's a game," she said.
Defense attorneys countered that their clients practiced their licensed profession for years without problems or disciplinary measures.
They argued that their clients provide valuable services to an underserved group in the Valley.
"These are not the only dentists in the Valley," Ferko said. "I don't think the underserved community is going to be hurt until trial."
Judge Dorina Ramos adjorned the hearib but said she would issue a ruling by 5 p.m. Tuesday.
