I don't UNDERSTAND

[BloatedGuppy]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/01/31/dentist-paper-clip.html?cmp=rss

A former Massachusetts dentist was sentenced to one year in jail for using paper clips instead of stainless steel posts in root canals.

Dr. Michael Clair pleaded guilty earlier this month to a list of charges, including assault and battery, defrauding Medicaid of $130,000 US, illegally prescribing medications and witness intimidation.

Prosecutors said Clair sometimes used sections of paper clips when performing root canals in an effort to save money. Some of his patients reported infections and other problems.

Okay, sure...defrauding people. I get it. I don't condone it, but I think I understand it. I think everyone understands greed. Maybe it says something bad about me that I so readily accept astonishing immorality as commonplace, but there you have it.

What I don't understand is WHAT THE HELL WAS HE THINKING? What kind of retarded fucking plan was this? How did he expect to get away with it? It's not even going to work once, and you've really got no way to deny it or defend yourself once the inevitable happens. This guy was a dentist! Presumably he was an educated man. This is one of the stupidest schemes I've ever heard of.

Are there not better ways to make money?

Hell, just be a legitimate dentist! Even that seems like it would be more profitable.

 

[CAPTCHA]

Maybe his plan was for his patients to come back and pay him again when it all went tits up. Otherwise, yeah, pretty dumb.

 

[McMullen]

People do lots of inexplicably stupid things that are against their own interest. It's hard to tell if some of these stories are true sometimes, but some of them are even though it doesn't seem possible that they could be.

I think that, like children, some people simply have no ability or desire to consider the future that results from what they do at any given moment.

I'm not actually confused about why this guy did that stuff. What confuses me is how such a person could become a certified dentist.