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Medical Profession—Anti-Kickback Statute: Licensed Medical Practitioners May Not Receive Financial Benefits From Referral Of Patients Or Sale Of Medical Supplies To Patients.—Day V. Inland Empire Optical, Inc., 76 Wash. Dec. 2d 566, 456 P.2d 1011 (1969); Rcw Ch. 19.68 (1969), Anon

Washington Law Review

The five defendant ophthalmologists and defendant Inland Empire Optical, Inc., whose stock was wholly owned by these doctors, occupied the same building. Inside the waiting rooms of the doctors' offices were three strategically placed signs which informed patients of the presence of the optical shop on the floor below. Plaintiff doctors and a corporate optical firm brought suit to enjoin this cooperative practice, alleging a violation of Washington's anti-kickback statute. Upon defendants' appeal from a superior court decree granting the injunction, the Washington Supreme Court affirmed as modified. Held: Ophthalmologists are entitled to own stock in a dispensing optical company, …