Health

Massive Fraud Murder? White Collar Crime Killing Kids With Cancer

by Tina Kells | February 19, 2009 at 01:30 pm

287 views | 2 Recommendations | 1 comment

A shocking and sad twist to the Stanford massive fraud case could lead to the deaths of kids with cancer. For people who think that white collar crime is mild in comparison to other forms of crime, it is time to think again.

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, a world renowned critical care facility that treats children with cancer for free, will lose a substantial portion of its funding as a result of the Stanford Group $8 billion fraud case.

Millions of dollars that hospital staff had been expecting to receive from the Stanford Group will never arrive and that loss could translate into the deaths of children at the hospital.

While the hospital has vowed to cut other expenses before scaling back medical treatment the most successful approaches to managing cancer are multifaceted and any cutbacks could cost the the children dearly.

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is not the only charity hit hard by the financial crisis exposure of corruption on Wall Street; many charities were also impacted by the Bernard Madoff arrest.

"We were shocked, and we were surprised," said hospital spokesman Jerry Chipman, adding that he tried to get information about the implications for the hospital after reading that a judge had frozen Stanford's assets.
The hospital treats all patients for free and relies heavily on private patrons to raise money for salaries, procedures, and transportation and lodging for patients and their families.

"We hate to lose any of our corporate sponsors, especially considering that it costs over $1 million a day to run the hospital," Chipman said.

For charities, news of the allegations against Stanford, whose whereabouts are unknown, comes at a difficult time. Only two months before, Wall Street investor Bernard Madoff was accused of a $50 billion fraud that forced some charities to close and left others with massive losses.

Learn more about the Standford "massive fraud" indictments.

31 See all footage | View Slideshow

Share: email story | add to any | | facebook | stumbleupon