Kansan ordered to pay after false liver transplant claim

WELLINGTON, Kan. (AP) – A man from Sumner County, Kansas has been ordered to pay $31,755 in restitution after pleading guilty to insurance fraud.

Mychael Hauss, 53, of Wellington, was sentenced last Tuesday in District Court for one count of fraudulent insurance act and one count of forgery. Hauss pleaded guilty on May 25 to the charges. In addition to the restitution, District Court Judge William R. Mott imposed a $2,500 fine and placed Hauss on 24 months of supervised probation.

An investigation by the Kansas Insurance Department determined that Hauss had a liver transplant in 2015 and had purchased a policy to cover other expenses which were covered by a supplemental insurance carrier. Hauss then submitted a second claim with the supplemental insurance company for another alleged liver transplant in 2017, which was also paid.

However, investigators discovered Hauss never actually received a second liver transplant and the claim was therefore determined to be false. Investigators further determined Hauss had forged a doctor’s signature as part of the false second claim.