Eldick: Healthcare Fraud

In U.S. v. Eldick, No. 05-13006 (March 22, 2006), the Court affirmed a 180-month sentence imposed after Eldick entered a plea of guilty to one count of healthcare fraud and one count of unlawful distribution of hydrocodone. The sentence consisted of consecutive maximum sentences for each count (120 as to count one and 60 as to count two). The Court rejected Eldick's argument that the language in his plea agreement, entered into pre-Booker, that the Sentencing Guidelines would apply at sentencing prohibited the district court from treating the guidelines as merely advisory and sentencing up to the statutory maximum. The Court also rejected a reasonableness challenge to the sentence imposed even though the guidelines range was 87 to 108 months. The district court found that Eldick, who fraudulently posed as a doctor, victimized over 800 individuals including a woman who was given a pelvic exam and others who claimed that Eldick's misdiagnosis or mistreatment resulted in the death of a loved one. The Court also rejected a claim of vindictive sentencing. Eldick's original sentence of 242 months' imprisonment had been reversed by the 11th Circuit.