Australian abortionist Suman Sood was found not guilty yesterday of 96 charges of Medicare fraud. The case sets a benchmark for the way abortion clinics charge for their services, and overturns the verdict of a jury in April 2005, which was quashed on appeal.Sood had been accused of dishonestly obtaining a financial advantage in 2001 by claiming Medicare benefits for services for which she also received payment from patients.
Sood had charged patients a fee for counselling and theatre fees on top of the cost of the abortion, which was bulk-billed. When she was convicted after a 2½-month trial in 2005 some private abortion clinics that charged in the same way saw her prosecution as a crackdown on abortions. Last year the Court of Criminal Appeal found the trial judge had wrongly instructed the jury on legal matters, and it ordered a retrial.
Last week the jury was told Health Insurance Commission investigators who raided her Fairfield abortion clinic in October 2001 found cash receipt books under biological matter in waste bins near the recovery room. This, the prosecution said, showed Sood had tried to hide these records and was conscious of her guilt. But Sood's defence argued there was insufficient evidence she had put the books in the bin, or that she was aware she was not entitled to charge a fee while bulk-billing Medicare.
(Source: Sydney Morning Herald)
