A Collin County hospice owner who allegedly told nurses to overdose patients and make them "go bye-bye" to maximize profits was arrested Friday and accused of violating a judge's order by gambling while waiting for his trial.
Bradley Harris, 36, of Frisco, was accused last year in a federal indictment of operating a $60 million health care fraud scheme with his wife and 14 others, including five doctors and five nurses.
The scheme paid kickbacks to doctors and assisted-living facilities and made medical decisions that were "often driven by financial interest rather than patient need," the indictment said.
Using prescription forms "pre-signed" by doctors, Harris allegedly directed nurses to administer "high doses of drugs like morphine or hydromorphone, whether the (patient) needed the medication or not," the indictment said. "There were instances when these excessive dosages resulted in serious bodily injury or death."
In one case, according to an FBI search warrant, Harris texted a nurse: "You need to make this patient go bye-bye."
Harris, the owner of Novus Health Services and Optim Health Services, was granted permission in December to travel to Illinois and Indiana to work for a management services company.
Harris and his wife, Amy Harris, violated conditions of their release by fraudulently applying for a $50,000 loan from Compass Bank and then losing all of it by gambling online – just three months after their indictment, prosecutors said.
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In the following months, an FBI agent learned that Bradley Harris had bet even more, sending $114,000 to an online horse-betting company, according to court documents.
Amy Harris's attorney, George Milner, declined comment.
Bradley Harris's attorney, Chris Knox, did not return an email or phone call seeking comment.
A revocation hearing is set for Tuesday.
The doctors are accused of taking money to sign documents claiming they had done face-to-face evaluations with hospice patients, when in fact they never saw them.
One doctor signed 19 face-to-face evaluations in 2013 that indicated he had traveled 200 miles to 10 locations before 1:30 p.m. in a single day, prosecutors said.
Another claimed she saw patients when she was really in Hawaii and Mexico, according to the indictment.
