Engineering and the law: the False Claims Act and scientific misconduct

In previous articles, we have discussed the investigation and punishment of misbehaving scientists by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the Department of Health and Human Services. While these were often characterized by the “Alice in Wonderland” notion of punishment before verdict, the actions of the Appeals Boards in overturning several egregious claims was heartening to many scientists. In this article, we discuss a new avenue for punishing miscreants/pillorying the innocent: The False Claims Act (FCA). Topics considered include: i) history of the FCA, ii) what is a claim? iii) when is a claim false? iv) but I did not mean to cheat, and v) what is the penalty?