July 21, 2009
DOCTOR TO BE ARRAIGNED FOR MAKING FALSE STATEMENTS TO FRAUDULENTLY COLLECT INSURANCE
CLAIMING WORK-RELATED INJURY
SANTA ANA - A medical doctor was arrested by Orange County District Attorney's Office Investigators today for making
false medical statements claiming to have suffered a hospital work-related injury that left her unable to sit, stand, or
walk, with the intention of committing insurance fraud. She was caught on surveillance videotape engaging in various
physical activities. Maryam Bahramfarsi, 36, Laguna Niguel, is charged with 10 felony counts of making fraudulent
statements and representations and faces a maximum sentence of 14 years in state prison if convicted. The
defendant is being held on $20,000 bail and is expected to be arraigned tomorrow, Wednesday, July 22, 2009, at 1:30
p.m. in Department C-57, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana.
Bahramfarsi worked as a physician for Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Aliso Viejo. On July 10, 2007,
Bahramfarsi is accused of calling the name of a medical assistant from an examination room, where she was found
laying on the floor. She is accused of claiming that she was unable to get up after slipping on an oily substance on
the floor and falling on her lower back and neck.
Between July and December 2007, Bahramfarsi is accused of visiting two doctors claiming to be suffering from
severe pain as a result of her fall. She is accused of complaining that the pain made her unable to sit, stand, or walk
for more than five minutes at a time, and telling the doctors that she spent most of her time lying on her side in bed.
Bahramfarsi is accused of claiming that all the prescribed pain medication and physical therapy was not effective,
and that she was unable to sleep or rotate her body due to the pain. She is accused of arriving to several of the
doctors' appointments in a wheelchair, stating that she was in constant pain and was unable to walk or stand for
more than 10 minutes. She is accused of claiming that she had trouble finding rides to make it to her appointments.
The defendant is accused of being placed by doctors on modified work restrictions, but failing to return to work at all
after Kaiser Permanente was unable to accommodate her restricted terms. Various examinations, x-rays, MRIs, and
bone scans detected no abnormalities and offered no explanation as to the pain from which Bahramfarsi claimed to
be suffering.
As a result of concerns by her treating doctors that they could find no objective evidence to explain her pain, Kaiser
Permanente hired an investigative service to conduct surveillance of Bahramfarsi on three occasions between
September and November 2007. While unknowingly being observed and videotaped, Bahramfarsi is accused of
participating in physical activities such as sitting, standing, and walking, which she had claimed to doctors she was
unable to do as a result of her injury from falling at work.
Under surveillance, Bahramfarsi is accused of carrying two 1-gallon jugs of water and placing them in the trunk of her
car without apparent struggle. She is accused of walking and carrying items to and from a gravesite at El Toro
Memorial Park, standing to clean a grave, and stepping onto and off of a step stool while cleaning and decorating the
grave and a tree above it. On one occasion, she is accused of driving herself to a doctor's appointment, getting out of
her car without visible trouble, and then being pushed in her wheelchair by a male companion into the doctor's office.
Bahramfarsi is also accused of repeatedly entering and exiting her car without apparent restriction to her movement
and driving and sitting for extended periods of time.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Jo Escobar of the Insurance Fraud Unit is prosecuting this case.
DOCTOR TO BE ARRAIGNED FOR MAKING FALSE STATEMENTS TO FRAUDULENTLY COLLECT INSURANCE
CLAIMING WORK-RELATED INJURY
SANTA ANA - A medical doctor was arrested by Orange County District Attorney's Office Investigators today for making
false medical statements claiming to have suffered a hospital work-related injury that left her unable to sit, stand, or
walk, with the intention of committing insurance fraud. She was caught on surveillance videotape engaging in various
physical activities. Maryam Bahramfarsi, 36, Laguna Niguel, is charged with 10 felony counts of making fraudulent
statements and representations and faces a maximum sentence of 14 years in state prison if convicted. The
defendant is being held on $20,000 bail and is expected to be arraigned tomorrow, Wednesday, July 22, 2009, at 1:30
p.m. in Department C-57, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana.
Bahramfarsi worked as a physician for Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Aliso Viejo. On July 10, 2007,
Bahramfarsi is accused of calling the name of a medical assistant from an examination room, where she was found
laying on the floor. She is accused of claiming that she was unable to get up after slipping on an oily substance on
the floor and falling on her lower back and neck.
Between July and December 2007, Bahramfarsi is accused of visiting two doctors claiming to be suffering from
severe pain as a result of her fall. She is accused of complaining that the pain made her unable to sit, stand, or walk
for more than five minutes at a time, and telling the doctors that she spent most of her time lying on her side in bed.
Bahramfarsi is accused of claiming that all the prescribed pain medication and physical therapy was not effective,
and that she was unable to sleep or rotate her body due to the pain. She is accused of arriving to several of the
doctors' appointments in a wheelchair, stating that she was in constant pain and was unable to walk or stand for
more than 10 minutes. She is accused of claiming that she had trouble finding rides to make it to her appointments.
The defendant is accused of being placed by doctors on modified work restrictions, but failing to return to work at all
after Kaiser Permanente was unable to accommodate her restricted terms. Various examinations, x-rays, MRIs, and
bone scans detected no abnormalities and offered no explanation as to the pain from which Bahramfarsi claimed to
be suffering.
As a result of concerns by her treating doctors that they could find no objective evidence to explain her pain, Kaiser
Permanente hired an investigative service to conduct surveillance of Bahramfarsi on three occasions between
September and November 2007. While unknowingly being observed and videotaped, Bahramfarsi is accused of
participating in physical activities such as sitting, standing, and walking, which she had claimed to doctors she was
unable to do as a result of her injury from falling at work.
Under surveillance, Bahramfarsi is accused of carrying two 1-gallon jugs of water and placing them in the trunk of her
car without apparent struggle. She is accused of walking and carrying items to and from a gravesite at El Toro
Memorial Park, standing to clean a grave, and stepping onto and off of a step stool while cleaning and decorating the
grave and a tree above it. On one occasion, she is accused of driving herself to a doctor's appointment, getting out of
her car without visible trouble, and then being pushed in her wheelchair by a male companion into the doctor's office.
Bahramfarsi is also accused of repeatedly entering and exiting her car without apparent restriction to her movement
and driving and sitting for extended periods of time.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Jo Escobar of the Insurance Fraud Unit is prosecuting this case.
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