Chemo patients sue, say KY doctors padded bills

Saying they were forced to endure unnecessary pain, anguish and in some cases "premature death," eight former patients or their estates have sued the Elizabethtown cancer doctors who paid the government $3.7 million last June to settle claims they extended chemotherapy treatments to pad their bills. The ex-patients or their families say in a suit filed in Hardin Circuit Court that the clinic negligently treated them by diluting treatment drugs and extending treatment periods, which allowed them to bill more to Medicaid and other programs. The Courier-Journal reported last June that Drs. Yusuf Deshmukh and Rafiq Rahman are under investigation by the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure.