Miami

Popular Doctor Arrested For Elderly Neglect, Running Illegal Facility

A popular South Florida doctor was arrested Monday after a months-long investigation into alleged abuse at two illegal elderly care facilities, police said.

Raul Arcadio Tamayo, 66, was charged with two counts of neglect of an elderly or disabled adult. He was handcuffed and taken to jail from his Miami Beach home. He is also accused of falsifying records and Medicare fraud.

Tamayo operated two unlicensed elderly living facilities in Monroe County with Amarylis Maristan, 47, police said. Detectives are searching for Maristan, who is listed as the facility’s caregiver and is wanted on the same charges.

Tamayo was aware that the facilities were unlicensed and that Maristan, who supervised patients at the practices, lacked medical training, according to an arrest report. The pair cared for six elderly patients, who all had chronic and acute medical conditions that required medical attention and several prescription medications, police said.

Detectives began investigating the facilities in November, after an 85-year-old woman died one day after she was rushed to the hospital in cardiac arrest. Officials said the patient was covered in urine and infected bed sores. An autopsy later revealed the patient died from "complications of septic shock due to pneumonia". She was also malnourished and suffered from seizures.

A police report says Tamayo knew the woman suffered from seizures and billed Medicare for medication, but never treated the woman. He falsified records to indicate that a doctor was caring for the woman, police said.

Another woman at the facility was discovered with untreated pneumonia and Parkinson’s disease. She has since been transferred to a different licensed care facility.

Tamayo was ordered held on $200,000 bond.

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