[/floatr]Yomiuri: Contact lens clinics under fireFor contact lens clinics, seeing is not always believing, at least when it comes to who is actually doing the work. The practice of placing the name of a doctor in a prominent position on the storefront of contact lens clinics when the work is actually done by others has become such an issue that the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry is to start investigating allegations of misrepresentation by clinics. According to the ministry, numerous doctors are suspected of letting their names be used as the doctor in charge at contact lens clinics even though they rarely, if ever, examine patients there. Because a doctor in charge of a clinic is supposed to work full-time there in principle, the name-lending practice is likely in violation of the Medical Service Law. The health ministry is currently inspecting and giving guidance to about 100 contact lens clinics nationwide, suspecting that improper billing for medical fees is commonplace at such clinics. As a part of the inspection, the ministry also plans to examine whether the clinics are borrowing or have borrowed doctors' names...A doctor at a general hospital in Kanagawa Prefecture, who had until recently loaned his name to a contact lens clinic in Tokyo, expressed regret over what he did. "I feel guilty. I knew I shouldn't have continued doing it, but I did it for money," he said...Even more disturbing is that the man is a psychiatrist with no experience handling eye problems...more...
