What does a whistleblower look like?

A whistleblower can be almost anyone. Carolyn Ferrara, on the left, worked as an office manager for a dermatologist in Florida. Ellen Murray, on the right, went to the dermatologist about a suspicious mole. Murray discovered that the dermatologist falsely diagnosed the benign spot as cancer. She talked with Ferrara, and the two filed a whistleblower suit. Just this week, the two have been awarded a million dollars of the restitution that the federal government has recovered from the dermatologist under the whistleblower suit. The doc went to jail.

Those with direct knowledge of fraud can file a claim. In this case reported on by Susan Taylor Martin on tampabay.com, the doctor operated on Murray seven times for skin spots that experts later found were not malignant. She reported the misdiagnoses to the federal Medicaid fraud unit and to the state's Department of Health. Neither responded. When she talked to Ferrara, Ferrara knew of several other patients who had been diagnosed multiple times. The doc operated on 13 patients 20 or more times. One patient was operated on 122 times.

Murray and Ferrara decided to file in federal court. The litigation took 4 1/2 years. Ferrara suffered financially because other doctors did not want to hire a whistleblower.

Ultimately, the two prevailed, and Ferrara's financial worries are over for now. She plans to help the food banks because they helped her. Murray plans to donate some of her settlement to an organization that provides guide dogs for the blind.

Obama, Holder, and the FCA

President-elect Obama's background and his administrative picks show great promise for those fighting fraud through the False Claims Act. Before his public service career began, Obama did research and participated in writing briefs for Dr. Janet Chandler, a whistleblower who suffered retaliation for exposing fraud. Dr. Chandler reported corruption and waste in a research project involving the Hektoen Institute for Medical Research and Cook County Hospital.

Obama's firm negotiated a settlement agreement through which the county returned $5,000,000 to the federal government. Dr. Chandler received a share of the recovery.

Obama's pick for Attorney General, Eric Holder, is also familiar with the FCA. Holder faces mixed reviews from whistleblowers and their advocates.

Holder served as the second highest official in the DOJ under President Clinton. Some worry about Holder's lukewarm support of Clinton's 2001 pardon of tax fugitive Marc Fritz. Others bemoan Holder's occasional refusal to acknowledge the contribution of whistleblowers in key cases.

Many, however, look forward to the new regime. No one denies that Holder has a keen grasp of the complexities of the False Claims Act. Recently, Holder showed great skill in helping to negotiate a major pharmaceutical fraud case. In the process, he demonstrated high regard for the whistleblowers and their counsel.

Federal support of the False Claims Act should be a no-brainer. The Act punishes those who steal from the public fisc and has resulted in billions of tax dollars being returned to the taxpayers. Obama's pro-whistleblower background and his choice of Holder should result in even greater and more efficient prosecution of fraud under the FCA during the next presidential term.