OUR VIEW: Doctor might deserve a second shot, but ...

» The community should keep a watchful eye on a man with a criminal past who wants to join a Culpeper medical practice.

Maruthi S. Manney, a doctor with a criminal past, is striving to regain his medical license and hoping that the newly opened Culpeper Medical Walk-In Clinic will be his chance at a fresh start.

If a state board sees fit to restore his license — the hearing is today in Richmond — patients and authorities should keep a watchful eye so that issues that plagued him and his wife don’t resurface.

Manney, 51, is coming off a three-year federal prison stint. In September 2005, he and his wife, Lakshmi Manney, both of Montgomery Village, Md., were convicted of defrauding employee groups that used their health benefits plan. (It should be noted that his wife now works in the front office at the Culpeper walk-in clinic.)

The couple formerly ran SAI Plus, based in Rockville, Md. There, they processed claims and printed checks for their clients, which included school districts and businesses in east Texas.

According to court records, the Manneys never mailed the checks and failed to pay the medical claims.

In short, the Manneys took people’s money for health insurance without providing coverage. It’s a severe violation of trust, not to mention a criminal act.

Judging from legal documents, case files and other newspaper reports, Dr. Manney’s issues were not a result of the way he practiced medicine. His conviction stemmed from mismanagement of a business office that was charged with administering claims and handling insurance matters for customers and patients.

If the Department of Health Professions Board of Medicine determines that Manney can again be licensed to practice medicine, who are we to say otherwise? America is a nation of second chances.

With that said, patients, agencies, insurance regulators and the general public should be aware. Manney, who is friends with the walk-in clinic’s owner, should stick to medicine and leave business matters to people with a proven track record so these past issues don’t happen here.