Among the Medicare billings only recently discovered as fraudulent after being paid:
• Brooklyn, N.Y., proctologist, Boris Sachakov, was paid for performing 6,593 hemorrhoidectomies and other procedures over a 13-month period — an average of 18 every day, 365 days a year (and 6,212 more than the doctor who billed the second-highest number).
• Two Hialeah, Fla., companies, “Charlie RX” and “Happy Trips,” between them billed Medicare $63,000 for penis pumps — including a total of four to the same patient (by the way, a woman).
It’s poor
theater,
but good
lodging
The award-winning London theater company, Duckie, announced plans for a June 2011 production, “Lullaby,” at the Barbican Pit, that would feature music and performances so soothing that patrons will be encouraged to attend in pajamas and lounge overnight in bed-seats, with an early morning shower included in the ticket price of 42 pounds ($66).
Producer Simon Casson noted that, irrespective of the play, it is almost impossible to find overnight facilities in central London for that price.
(Send your Weird News to Chuck Shepherd, P.O. Box 18737, Tampa Fla. 33679 or go to www.newsoftheweird.com.)