State officials,\u00a0the doctor’s petition said, also failed to consult with Weinstein\u2019s patients, review their medical records or interview any expert witness.<\/p>\n
‘Sinister implications’ not supported<\/p>\n
But Schenectady County Supreme Court Justice Thomas Buchanan, whose review was limited to determining if the board’s decision was “arbitrary and capricious or an abuse of discretion,”\u00a0wrote in his four-page March 6 decision that “the sinister implications asserted by petitioner simply do not find support in the record.”<\/p>\n
WHAT NEWSDAY FOUNDAn upstate judge denied a petition by an\u00a0orthopedic spinal surgeon from Valley Stream seeking to appeal a 2025 ruling barring him from treating injured workers with\u00a0workers’ compensation claims.Dr. Joseph Weinstein appealed the workers’ compensation board\u2019s ruling, arguing it was “riddled with inaccuracies and false conclusions,” but a\u00a0Schenectady County judge disagreed and upheld the ruling.The doctor was named in federal racketeering\u00a0lawsuits\u00a0alleging he conspired with a\u00a0network of medical providers, lawyers and other individuals to collect millions of dollars in insurance payouts for bogus accident claims.<\/p>\n
Weinstein, Buchanan wrote,\u00a0failed to prove that the board was biased against him\u00a0because he was\u00a0named in federal racketeering\u00a0lawsuits\u00a0alleging he conspired with a\u00a0network of medical providers, lawyers and other individuals to collect millions of dollars in insurance payouts for bogus accident claims.<\/p>\n
“The [Board’s] denial letter cites specific shortcomings in petitioner’s practices and potential adverse consequences,” Buchanan wrote, while also rejecting Weinstein’s request to produce additional documentation supporting his claims.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Weinstein’s attorney did not respond to requests for comment, while a board spokesman declined to comment.<\/p>\n
In a Feb. 27 letter to the court, Paul Schafhauser, Weinstein’s Manhattan-based attorney, described the stakes of the case as “enormous. Through its actions, the board has visited profound and irreparable professional and reputational harm upon petitioner. A statewide nonrenewal not only precludes petitioner from treating workers\u2019 compensation patients, but also carries a stigma that impacts referral relationships, professional standing, and public perception.”<\/p>\n
‘Professional misconduct’<\/p>\n
On April 2, the board rejected an application by Weinstein, who also has offices in Rego Park in Queens, Manhattan and New Jersey associated with Comprehensive Orthopedic & Spine Care, that would have allowed him to continue treating patients with workers’ compensation claims.<\/p>\n
The board said\u00a0at the time that it conducted investigations of four patients with workers\u2019 compensation claims that were treated by Weinstein and found they lacked credible documentation or medical justification, exhibited billing irregularities or appeared to show a predetermined outcome on the need for highly risky surgeries without considering less invasive and more conservative treatments.\u00a0Altogether, the behavior, officials wrote, amounted to “professional misconduct.”<\/p>\n
For example, Weinstein fused the spine of a 28-year-old patient involved in an alleged workplace accident, the board said, without considering less invasive and more conservative treatments.<\/p>\n
Weinstein, who contends the\u00a0surgery was needed because the patient suffered a severe spinal injury after falling 50 to 60 feet from a scaffold, appealed the board\u2019s decision, arguing it was “riddled with inaccuracies and false conclusions and ignore or overlook pertinent patient records and treatment history.”<\/p>\n
But when the board rejected Weinstein’s appeal and ordered him to cease treating workers\u2019 compensation claimants, the surgeon filed a petition in state court in Schenectady County seeking to annul the state’s denial.<\/p>\n
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