re: How this Metairie doctor got rich by suing health care companies

Dr. LaCorte embodies both sides of the debate. He once got a letter from a federal prosecutor's office praising his "good citizenry" in a suit that helped win the government $187 million.

But his track record is mixed. Of his 10 cases that have concluded, he failed to win a payout in five. A judge who threw out one of his suits called it a "threadbare" recitation of public information.

His two other suits are pending. The government has joined one and declined to join the other, which the defendant calls "glaringly deficient."

Dr. LaCorte says all his allegations sprang out of his practice, that money wasn't his main motivator and that even some of his unsuccessful suits helped government cases. "I did not go looking for most of it," he says of the allegations behind his suits. "It came to me."

Would-be whistleblowers got new incentives in 1986, when Congress enacted higher potential rewards and easier filing procedures for people who sue under the 1863 False Claims Act, or "Lincoln Law," which penalizes companies or people who defraud government programs.