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www.quitamonline.com
Federal Money for Whistleblowers An internet activist group is encouraging health care workers and child advocates to take advantage of a little-known law that allows citizens to sue and collect money from anyone who defrauds the federal government.
The law is called Qui Tam, or the False Claims
Act, and it allows private citizens to sue government contractors
who defraud the government, keeping a percentage of the settlement
for themselves. There is a growing field of Qui Tam lawyers
looking for witnesses to wrongdoing who will come forward with
claims against government contractors and state agencies who
practice overbilling and other wrongful acts, such as performing
inappropriate and unnecessary medical tests and procedures.
Since the False Claims Act was strengthened in
1986, over 3,400 federal qui tam actions have been filed, over 4
billion dollars has been recovered by the U.S. government, and the
private citizens filing the suits have received $630 million as
their shares in the recoveries.
Qui Tam, from a latin phrase meaning, "who
sues on behalf of the King as well as himself" dates back to
the English Middle Ages, and has been used in the United States
since the Civil War.
The activist group, DontTakeOurKids.com, hopes
that bringing public awareness to this law will encourage workers in
the field of child protection to come forward and expose wrongdoing.
The group claims that "corruption runs rampant" throughout
what they call the Child Protection Industry, with Medicaid fraud
alone costing the nation's taxpayers of billions of dollars,
depleting resources that are much needed to protect children.
"People are afraid to report corruption in this area of government," said the group's spokesperson, Leigh Ann Little. "There are almost always reprecussions for blowing the whistle." She cites the case of Tracey Bagwell, a worker for the Florida Department of Children and Families, who was fatally stabbed 30 times by Florida DCF Adoptions Supervisor Candice Fiore last June, after Bagwell discoverd that Fiore had embezzled $20,000 from a fund meant to help sick foster children. Fiore died two days later from an apparent suicide. "This shows you just how out of control this problem has become," says Little. "Usually the workers are just harrassed, and fired."
The False Claims Act provides federal protection
for whistleblowers. If retaliation does occur, the
whistleblower may be awarded "all relief necessary to make the
employee whole," including reinstatement, back pay, two times
the amount of back pay, litigation costs, and attorney fees.
DontTakeOurKids.com is staging a month-long
protest against corruption and injustice in state agencies receiving
federal money under Title IV of the Social Security Act.
For more information about the False Claims Act, visit www.quitamonline.com
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