Poor Mojo's Newswire

Two doctors, Peter J. Ajemian of Syosset and Peter J. Lesniewski of Rockville Centre, both orthopedists, have been accused by prosecutors of running “disability mills,” using unnecessary tests and exaggerated narratives to prepare disability applications for employees who were not disabled. A federal complaint cited 587 workers who had received disability benefits based on the two doctors’ recommendations; those retirees have already received more than $121 million in disability benefit payments, and were scheduled to receive another $274 million, the complaint says. The two doctors (and a third who has died) accounted for about 86 percent of the disability applications filed during the period of the alleged conspiracy, which began in 1998, the complaint says. The fraudulent scheme could cause the federal Railroad Retirement Board to pay unwarranted benefits of more than $1 billion, the complaint added.

“Big Hy” — his handle among many loyal customers — would almost certainly be cast as Hollywood Enemy No. 1 but for a few details. He is actually Hyman Strachman, a 92-year-old, 5-foot-5 World War II veteran trying to stay busy after the death of his wife. And he has sent every one of his copied DVDs, almost 4,000 boxes of them to date, free to American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. With the United States military presence in those regions dwindling, Big Hy Strachman will live on in many soldiers’ hearts as one of the war’s more shadowy heroes. “It’s not the right thing to do, but I did it,” Mr. Strachman said, acknowledging that his actions violated copyright law. “If I were younger,” he added, “maybe I’d be spending time in the hoosegow.” Capt. Bryan Curran, who recently returned from Afghanistan, estimated that from 2008 to 2010, Mr. Strachman sent more than 2,000 DVDs to his outfits there. . . .

Planned Parenthood clinics in at least 11 states have noted suspiciously similar walk-ins in recent weeks by young women asking remarkably similar questions, and suggesting they want an abortion only if they are pregnant with a girl. The apparently coordinated series of "hoax visits" has Planned Parenthood bracing for another "propaganda campaign" by anti-abortion activists who selectively edit secretly videotaped visits to "promote misinformation about Planned Parenthood and our services," spokeswoman Chloe Cooney tells The Huffington Post. Are we about to see a new series of "sting" videos? Here's what you should know: What happens in these "hoax visits"? "Patient privacy laws prohibit Planned Parenthood from offering specific details about the visits and where they occurred," says Laura Bassett at The Huffington Post, but the script is always the same: A woman walks into the clinic, says she's pregnant, then asks a series of provocative questions, including how soon she can find out the baby's sex, how it could be done, and whether she can schedule an abortion if she's carrying a girl. . . .