Full article in Newsday
By: Robert Brodsky

A Deer Park orthopedic spinal surgeon, accused of copying and pasting 43 virtually identical surgical reports, has been named in another federal racketeering lawsuit, this time for providing unnecessary spinal surgeries on drivers and passengers involved in allegedly staged motor vehicle crashes with FedEx vehicles.

The wide-ranging lawsuit, filed last week by FedEx in New York’s Southern District, alleges that Dr. Alexios Apazidis, along with two dozen other physicians, lawyers, chiropractors and radiologists, conspired to bilk the mammoth delivery company through sham lawsuits and inflated medical bills.

‘Calculated effort’

The RICO lawsuit is the latest to pull back the veil on what critics contend is an interconnected fraud scheme in which motorists claim catastrophic injuries from motor vehicle crashes that they deliberately caused and then — at the recommendation of their attorneys — seek treatment at preferred medical providers. All of the accidents cited in the lawsuit occurred in the five boroughs.

“The fraudulent scheme … weaponizes state courts and medical systems to extort settlements from companies, including plaintiff, through fear of economic harm,” the suit, filed by the Texas-based Willis Group, states. “Plaintiff brings this action to expose and dismantle that scheme. Defendants’ conduct reflects a calculated effort to enrich themselves at the expense of justice, equity, and human dignity.”

WHAT NEWSDAY FOUND

• A Deer Park orthopedic surgeon performed unnecessary surgeries on drivers and a passenger involved in alleged staged motor vehicle crashes, according to a federal lawsuit filed last week by FedEx.
• Dr. Alexios Apazidis, who has an office in Westbury and lives in St. James, has previously been accused of copying and pasting 43 virtually identical surgical reports.
• The RICO suit comes as Gov. Kathy Hochul has launched a crackdown on staged vehicle crashes that she contends cause drivers’ insurance premiums to escalate
  

Several of the procedures were performed by Apazidis, a Harvard-educated surgeon now with Total Spine and Sports Care on Deer Park Avenue.

For example, on Aug. 6, 2019, a car traveling on Linden Boulevard in Brooklyn allegedly sideswiped a FedEx vehicle, the suit detailed.

Photos by police at the scene depicted only minor damage to the two vehicles and the driver complained of minor shoulder pain at the scene, court records show.

But in the subsequent weeks, the driver reported more than 120 physical therapy and chiropractic treatments, later went for trigger point and epidural steroid injections, and finally underwent surgery to his right shoulder.

On Nov. 1, 2019, the driver, who told hospital staff after the crash that he had no neck or back pain, was seen by Apazidis with complaints of lower back pain, the suit states.

Apazidis, who has been named in multiple federal staged accident lawsuits, wrote that the driver’s injuries were “causally related” to the crash and recommended spinal surgery.

Months later, Apazidis performed surgery to remove pressure on the driver’s spine at Nassau University Medical Center, the debt-ridden public safety net hospital in East Meadow.

Despite having previously seen the driver in November, Apazidis’ March 17, 2020, surgical report stated that the driver arrived in the emergency room in acute pain and that he performed the surgery simply because he was the “on-call surgeon” on duty at the time, the suit states.

More than four years later, Apazidis performed spinal fusion surgery on both the driver and one of his passengers, according to two nearly identical operative reports, which were among those documents submitted in court filings that ask the state Office of Professional Medical Conduct to investigate whether to suspend his medical license. 

Apazidis, who has an office in Westbury and lives in St. James, has attributed the duplicative operative reports to a medical records template he was required to use while performing “standardized and highly repetitive” procedures at NUMC.

Joshua Sussman, an attorney for Apazidis, declined to comment on the suit.

Previous misconduct allegations

At the time of the surgery, Apazidis was affiliated with Total Orthopedics and Sports Medicine, with four Long Island locations.

Since 2007, Total Ortho has had a contract to operate NUMC’s orthopedics department. NUMC’s new state-appointed board has launched an investigatory review of Total Ortho’s surgical cases and said it plans to reduce the company’s outsized role at the hospital.

In 2015, Apazidis had his medical license suspended for 36 months and was fined $50,000 after admitting to allegations of “negligence” and “incompetence,” according to state Health Department records. The suspension was stayed, allowing Apazidis to continue practicing while on probation after paying the fine.

Apazidis admitted improperly prescribing a compounded topical gel containing ketamine, a powerful anesthetic with hallucinogenic effects, to dozens of patients, records show. He also failed to use an official New York State prescription form when distributing the medication and inappropriately prescribed oxycodone without meeting with or evaluating a patient, according to the records.

In August, Newsday reported on a lawsuit filed by Kerry Dinallo, of Amityville, who contends she twice nearly died following spinal fusion surgery performed by Apazidis.

Nearly two weeks after surgery, after being sent home from St. Joseph Hospital in Bethpage, Dinallo’s carotid artery ruptured from her surgical wound, leaving her again clinging to life, according to court records.

Three years later, Dinallo said she can eat only baby food or yogurt, and coughs and vomits daily. She said she has twitches in her left eye and limited use of her right hand, major gaps in her short- and long-term memory, and suffers from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. 

Targeting delivery trucks

The alleged staged accident scheme, the suit contends, was perpetrated by clients of the Brooklyn-based Ikhilov Law Group and its owner, Zorik “Erik” Ikhilov.

Drivers would target FedEx delivery trucks and stage low-impact collisions — using methods known as the “swoop-and-squat,” the “drive-down” or sideswipe schemes — and then exaggerate or fabricate injuries to inflate claims and drive up settlement values.

“FedEx is committed to protecting our customers and team members from fraudulent behavior,” the company said in a statement. “Safety remains our highest priority, and we have filed this litigation to address concerning patterns in certain auto accidents and medical claims.”

In response to a request for comment from Newsday, Ikhilov referred a reporter to a Facebook post that said his firm has managed three cases against FedEx in 10 years, with no findings of fraud by the courts.

“Each client chose their own different doctor,” Ikhilov wrote. “Each client chose their own different surgeon. These were not made-up claims. These were real cases involving real people, and I fought for them just as I fight for every client who comes through my door. Just as every client would want their lawyer to do.”

The FedEx lawsuit, which follows the pattern of similar complaints filed across the country by the ridesharing service Uber, comes as Gov. Kathy Hochul has launched a crackdown on staged vehicle crashes that cause drivers’ insurance premiums to escalate. 

Long Island, Hochul said recently in Deer Park, has seen an 80% increase in auto premiums since 2019, in large part due to criminal networks that conspire to stage accidents and provide unneeded medical treatment to extort large settlements or insurance payouts.

“The FedEx RICO case underscores exactly why Governor Hochul’s auto insurance reforms are needed now,” Hochul spokeswoman Kristin Devoe said in a statement. “This case is not unique and New Yorkers are paying the price for a system that allows loopholes to be exploited by bad actors, driving up premiums across the board for everyone. The governor’s proposal is about stopping these scams, lowering premiums and protecting law abiding New Yorkers.”

Tom Stebbins, executive director of the Lawsuit Reform Alliance of New York, an advocacy organization that supports the governor’s proposed changes, said the lawsuit should serve as a “wake-up call” to state lawmakers who have resisted Hochul’s reform measures.

“States throughout the country are enacting liability reforms for a reason,” Stebbins said. “From the Big Apple to the Big Easy, staged car crashes have become big business for crooked doctors and lawyers.”