Tenet Alleges Government Witnesses Lied

Tenet Healthcare Corp. alleged Thursday that as many as six key prosecution witnesses lied to the grand jury that indicted the nation’s second-largest hospital chain on criminal charges of paying kickbacks to doctors in exchange for patient referrals.

Jury selection was supposed to start Thursday in a case that centers on physician relocation agreements extended by Tenet’s Alvarado hospital in San Diego to 99 doctors.

Instead, lawyers for the Santa Barbara-based chain told U.S. District Judge M. James Lorenz that they learned the night before that prosecutors believed several star witnesses had committed perjury in testimony before a grand jury.

Tenet’s lawyers urged Lorenz to hold a hearing to determine the scope and effect of the alleged lies.

Lorenz ordered prosecutors to reply to Tenet’s motion for a perjury hearing by 9 a.m. today. It was unclear whether the allegations could upset the government’s case or whether Tenet would move to have the case thrown out. The government has said it can call upward of 100 witnesses in the case.

“These were disturbing matters. We brought them to the attention of the judge,” said Kent Jarrrell, a spokesman for Tenet’s legal team.

U.S. Atty. Carol Lam declined to comment.

Tenet also alleged in court papers filed Thursday that a government witness, Dr. Paul Ver Hoeve, had lied in his grand jury testimony by saying he was not sure whether he had a prior relationship with Mina Nazaryan, Alvarado’s physician recruiter who is charged in the case, before obtaining his relocation contract. Prosecutors later learned that Ver Hoeve and the recruiter had a physical relationship, that she worked for him and she was the godmother of his child, according to court papers.

A lawyer for Ver Hoeve had not read Tenet’s motion and could not comment.

If convicted, Nazaryan and former hospital administrator Barry Weinbaum face prison terms. Alvarado Hospital could be excluded from Medicare and other government programs.