April 15, 2017 Recent Legal News
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US v Nagarwala
Indicted
Dr. Jumana Nagarwala, an ED physician in Detroit, has been indicted for performing female genital mutilation, a felony. She is said to have done the procedures in a clinic in Livoria.
US v Compagno
Guilty
Dr. John Compagno of Napa, California, has plead guilty of tax evasion and will spend three years in jail. He is a pathologist in Hercules, California, and filed a false corporate tax form. He has also been told to pay back taxes of $5,426,239 and a $75,000 fine.
Colorado v Fernandez
Guilty
Carlos Hernandez Fernandez, a surgical assistant, opened a plastic surgery clinic in Denver and actually performed surgery on patients. He was originally charged with 126 counts against 37 people. He plead guild to one count in a plea deal. He will be sentenced to prison later but must first pay $152,000 back to the patients. Top
US v Ceasar
Guilty
Metairie, Louisiana physician Shannon Ceasar pled guilty of fraud. He also dispensed narcotics without a legitimate reason. Lastly, he pled guilty of threatening to assault a federal officer and threatening to kill them.
US v Wisconsin Department of
Health Services
Settlement
The state agreed to pay the feds almost $7 million to settle allegations of manipulating SNAP quality control findings.
Massachusetts v UHS
Filed
The Sate has filed to intervene in an implied certification law suit against the mental health service company. This is a follow up to a US Supreme Court case which allowed this theory of law to be posited.
US v Norman Regional Hospital
Settlement
The Oklahoma hospital along with its administrator and several physicians agreed to pay $1,618,750 to settle allegations that they employed radiology techs and billed for their services against the law as they were not supervised in the room by a radiologist.
California Hospitals v
Kimberly-Clark
Guilty
The hospitals sued the company for falsely representing their MicroCool surgical gowns were impermeable and did not provide the represented protection against serious disease. The verdict was for $454 million which will be appealed. Top
Yaakov v FCC
For Plaintiff
There is a law that unsolicited faxes must have an opt out on the fax. This suit in the DC Circuit is about whether this is true for solicited faxes as well. there is a group of attorneys that are attempting to sue companies for sending faxes to soliciting customers without the opt out on them. This suit hopefully puts the kibosh on their shenanigans. Top
US (OCR) v Community Provider
Network
The health care center will pay $400,000 to settle allegations it did not have processed in place to safeguard PHI. A hacker accessed and obtained the information on 3200 people. The center had not done a risk analysis prior to the hack. Top
Paris Companies v Westfield
Insurance Co.
Fi
Paris, a launderer for UPMC, has been sued six times for their role in the mold cases. they are sing two insurance companies for coverage and to determine which company is the responsible insurer. Top
Gomez v Memorial Hermann Hospital
Jury Verdict
In a very rare court case Dr. Gomez, a surgeon at the hospital filed suit for defamation and won. He was peer reviewed and not for quality reasons but for retaliation for moving his practice to a competing hospital. He won $6.4 million. This follows a Texas Supreme curt verdict last year that allowed Dr. Gomez to discover peer review information that the hospital was trying to not disclose relative to to anticompetitive action. The jury found Memorial acted with malice in attempting to smear him when he attempted to move the practice. This case may survive the appeal process.
Shaw v Superior Court
Ca Ct App
In a procedural case a former HR person sued her former boss Kindred Hospital for wrongful termination under the California whistleblower statute. She wanted a jury trial but the court says that that this is only to be heard by a judge. She is getting a jury trial anyway via her other claim. Top
Dao v United Air Lines
Filed
Dr. David Dao is the now famous person that was dragged off of the United flight to make way for four United personnel flying to Louisville to staff another plane. It has come out that he is also a past drug dealer who had his medical license suspended in 2004 until it was reinstated in 2015 as well as a very accomplished poker player coming in second in the World Series of Poker. This is his past and is not relevant to what happened to him. Top
DISCLAIMER: Although this article is updated periodically, it reflects the author's point of view at the time of publication. Nothing in this article constitutes legal advice. Readers should consult with their own legal counsel before acting on any of the information presented.