A former HCA employee has filed a whistleblower suit against the giant hospital chain alleging that the company subjected patients to dangerous and unnecessary cardiac procedures and then billed  Medicare for fraudulent claims for the procedures.

The Feds have  recently been investigating the company to determine whether some of its cardiac procedures have been medically unneeded and done simply for the money.

HCA settled federal criminal- and civil-fraud charges for a total $1.7 billion in 2000 and 2003.  The charges included improperly billing Medicare and other federal health programs and paying kickbacks to physicians.