Ziering Medical Worldwide Craig Ziering, Ziering Medical, Dr. Ziering Scam, Fraud, Sexual Harassment, Racial Profiling Newport Beach California

Dr. Craig Ziering Scams Patients Out of Thousands of Dollars

 Hair Restoration Specialist Accused by Patients of Adding Unscrupulous Charges Before, During and After Operations

 LOS ANGELES, California – November 25, 2013 – Dr. Craig Ziering, Founder and Medical Director of Ziering Medical, has been accused of scamming hair transplant patients out of thousands of dollars at Ziering Medical locations around the country. A former employee of Ziering Medical and three patients have come forward with detailed accounts of these abuses as the embattled Dr. Ziering faces allegations of fraud, racial profiling/discrimination, sexual harassment and wrongful termination suits.

 According to the first account, the mother of a patient at Dr. Ziering’s Beverly Hills location agreed to Dr. Ziering performing the maximum number of grafts for her son’s hair transplant back in 2010. Once the patient was in the procedure room, Dr. Ziering approached the patient about adding additional grafts and added the charges to the credit card used for the deposit without the consent of the patient’s mother. According to a former employee, after complaints from the patient and his mother, the patient account was flagged “do not contact” on Ziering Medical’s patient systems.

 An anonymous source at Ziering Medical Corporation has state, “Prior to the surgery day (on the initial meeting and consultation) Dr. Ziering would have made recommendation on the number of grafts for the patient. On the morning of the surgery, patients would sign paperwork stating how many grafts were being conducted which don’t reflect costs and this paperwork was taking place.” They continued, “Prior to taking Valium, they would sign, date and time new instructions while witnessed by the Patient Advocate. Photos were taken, all financial transactions completed. Again, witnessed by the Patient advocate. Patient was then walked into the surgery room where the Nurses would prepare them for surgery and give them Valium.     Dr. Ziering would then review the patient's bald or thin areas and start to discuss how the patient could use more grafts. Sometimes, when the person was face down on the table and he would be making the donor incision, he would talk about how he could get more donors than he thought. Very rarely would the person say “no.” They were usually pleased that he could do more until later that day before leaving the surgery center. The Patient Advocate would speak with them about the additional money owed. Instructed by Practice Manager, VP of Marketing would, when possible, keep the credit card number and just charge the amount without discussing it. Then after repeated charge-backs after some refused to pay, they were advised they must keep the actual card to swipe the card to prevent a charge-back by the credit card company. Many times, the PA was instructed to follow-up and collect or figure out a payment plan. Times when patients would understand that meant they would owe more money.            Dr. Ziering himself would negotiate with them in the surgery room with all nurses listening to his suggestions of his compassionate remarks such as,"Well, if you can't afford to pay for the extra grafts, which you really could benefit from, how about you pay for half and I'll pay for half? Yes, that's right. I will give you half free.” This was an on-going and repeated practice that EVERYONE in the office was aware of and instructed to comply,” says the anonymous source.

 In 2011, another male patient at the Beverly Hills clinic agreed to a specified number of grafts and paid in full the morning of his procedure. After the procedure, the patient’s partner arrived to pick up the patient and was told that there was an outstanding balance. The patient’s partner used his own credit card to pay these charges. The patient was shocked to hear of these charges, which were never mentioned or agreed upon prior to the procedure.

 Finally in 2011, a third patient was referred to Dr. Ziering by his dermatologist and underwent two hair transplant procedures. After paying in full, the patient found an additional $2,000 charge added to his credit card without notice or consent. The patient has yet to determine the source of this charge. None of the three patients have been able to recuperate from the spurious charges.

 Ziering Medical has 28 locations in the United States as well as clinics in the UK, Spain, Ireland and Dubai. Dr. Ziering serves on the medical advisory board of Biologix Hair Inc., Histogen, Inc. and Sunetics International.