A federal grand jury has indicted a local eye doctor and his wife on health care fraud, wire fraud and criminal conspiracy charges, prosecutors announced Friday.

Philip J. Gabriele, 44, and his wife, Marcella Gabriele, both of Granger, are accused of falsely and fraudulently diagnosing cataracts and other disorders in patients and performing unnecessary surgeries, according to a statement issued by assistant U.S. attorney Donald Schmid.

The indictment alleges that, as part of the fraud scheme, the defendants altered patient charts and records after the fact, in an effort to make it seem as if diagnoses were accurate and correct, said Schmid, who declined to comment beyond his written statement.

As a result, the couple fraudulently billed Medicare, Indiana Medicaid and private health insurers, the indictment alleges.

The charges culminate a two-year investigation led by Schmid and conducted by the state attorney general’s office, Medicaid Fraud Control office, U.S. Health and Human Services, the FBI and South Bend Police Department.

The Gabrieles operate Gabriele Eye Institute, with a main office in Edison Lakes in Mishawaka, a second office in Elkhart and a third location at 2042 E. Ireland Road in South Bend.

The couple planned to turn themselves in Monday morning, their attorneys said. They are expected to make their initial court appearance Monday.

The Gabriele’s declined to be interviewed Friday, according to their attorneys at Baker & Daniels, but said in a written statement that they will continue their practice while the case is pending.

"We are deeply saddened and dismayed by the government’s decision to proceed with an indictment," their statement said. "We will continue to focus our energies on doing what we love — working tirelessly to provide top-quality medical care for the people of Michiana."

One of their attorneys, J.P. Hanlon, said the allegations are "completely without merit."

"Dr. Gabriele has always made medical decisions based solely on the best interest of his patients," Hanlon said in the statement. "Procedures performed by Dr. Gabriele were medically necessary and resulted in improved eyesight and quality of life for countless patients."

Prosecutors simply "do not understand the practice of good medicine, the workings of a medical office, and particularly complex issues involving eyesight," Hanlon said.

Marcella Gabriele acted as an office manager and ophthalmology technician for Gabriele Eye Institute.

Prosecutors said the couple committed the fraud from 2004 through this year.

In some cases, patients had no cataracts whatsoever, the indictment alleges. In other cases, patients had early cataracts and Philip Gabriele falsely diagnosed them as more developed and "visually significant" cataracts. He also failed to perform basic diagnostic tests and procedures that were needed to determine if a patient in fact had visually significant cataracts and surgery was needed.

Gabriele fraudulently removed healthy eye lenses and inserted artificial lenses into patients, the indictment alleges. Some of these surgeries were poorly performed and resulted in the patient suffering worse eyesight. These patients then underwent further surgeries and procedures in an effort to improve their sight, including further refractive and laser procedures, prosecutors said.

The 19-page, 15-count indictment alleges Gabriele also performed unnecessary "recession and resection" surgeries, as well as surgeries to correct an eye condition called "ptosis."

Some of these surgeries were performed on children, and some resulted in "injuries and harm" to patients, the indictment alleges.

The couple also made false claims in their advertising, such as, "100 percent of patients who have undergone Wavescan Custom Lasik at Gabriele Eye Institute see 20/20 or better after their first procedure," the indictment alleges.

Marcella Gabriele falsely documented patients’ eye sight ability following Lasik procedures to, among other things, support those advertising claims, the indictment alleges.

After investigators launched their probe, Marcella Gabriele allegedly shredded documents in March 2007. Investigators executed search warrants of the three offices and the couple’s Granger home in May 2007.

Staff writer Jeff Parrott:
jparrott@sbtinfo.com
(574) 235-6320