U.S. v. Borrasi

In prosecution on charge of Medicare fraud arising out of allegations that defendant was placed on hospital's payroll and received salary for merely referring Medicare patients to said hospital, Dist. Ct. did not err in excluding on hearsay grounds comments contained in hospital committee meeting minutes. Substantive use of descriptions of medical services allegedly provided by defendant that were contained in said minutes would violate hearsay rule even though minutes themselves qualified as business-record exception to hearsay rule where: (1) statements contained in said minutes were written by non-testifying physicians; and (2) defendant failed to lay any additional foundation for establishing any other exception to hearsay rule that would cover said statements. Ct. further found that prosecutor did not misstate law during closing arguments by suggesting that jury could convict defendant on charged offense even if portion of hospital's payment to defendant was for legitimate employment purposes.