April 15, 2019 Recent Legal News
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New York v Spence
Sentenced
Allison Spence was sentenced to up to 8 years in prison for the fatal silicone injection of a patient. The fake nurse injected silicone into the btt of a person who wanted a JLo ass. She got a pulmonary embolus instead.
Indiana v Cavins
Indicted
Dr. Jonathon Cavins of Jamestown, Indiana, has been incited sexually abusing young boys in his pediatric practice. He has agreed to give up his medical license for 90 days.
Ohio
v Sakkal
Trial
A trial is underway against Dr. Saad Sakkal for the overprescribing of meds leading to the deaths of two women. He is accused of giving narcotics to all for money.
North
Carolina v Hasson
Bond Reduction
Dr. Michael Hasson of Wilmington, North Carolina, an oral surgeon, was accused of sexually abusing patients while they were under anesthesia in his office. His license has also been revoked. A judge lowered his bail from $1.1 million to $300,000.
New Jersey v Tyshkov
Arrested
Pediatric gastroenterologist Michael Tyshkov of Livingston, New Jersey, was charged with sexually assaulting one patient multiple times over a decade.
US v Neisler
Indicted
Dr. Justin Neisler, a Denver physician, was charged with child pornography and is being held without bond. He allegedly videotaped children naked on a spy pen. Top
US v Carewell Urgent Care
Settlement
The Rhode Island company agreed to pay 2 million for inflating and upcoding claims to both Massachusetts and Rhode Island Medicaid. They also were alleged to fail to provide the identities of those who performed the billed services. Carewell used a template that practitioners were instructed to use to game the system. Even if the practitioners did not fill in the boxes there were defaulted answers.
US v Fresenius Medical Care
The dialysis company agreed to pay $231 million to settle criminal and civil charges that they paid bribes to various countries government officials. The company admitted it paid Angola and Saudi Arabia officials.
US v Barchsa
Sentenced
Odette Barcha, the former director of outreach at Larkin Community Hospital in South Miamai was sentenced to 15 months in prison for her part in the paying and receiving kickbacks.
US v Jazz Pharmaceuticals
Settlement
Jazz Pharmaceticals, Lundbeck and Alexian Pharmaceuticals agreed to pay the feds $122.6 million for their part in paying kickbacks for physicians to use their products.
California v Anderson
Arrested
Dr. Laura Anderson of Carmichael was arrested for fraud and grand theft for allegedly submitting false claims to the State Compensations Insurance Fund. She is accused of billing for services not performed and upcoding.
US v Davis
Convicted
John Davis of Franklin, Tennessee, was convicted of all counts of fraud . The former CEO of Comprehensive Pain Specialists arranged for referrals to a co-conspirator for kickbacks. He also paid money to providers who referred patients to the co-conspirator.
US v Multiple People
Arrested
On 4/9/19 the feds raided many locations nationally in a telemarketing scam. So far several dozen have been arrested including physicians and medic device people. A cold call was made to Medicare patients promising free or very low cost braces for back shoulder, wrist or knee. Once the insurance info was received physicians who received kickbacks wrote phony prescriptions and multiple braces would go the to the un-needed patients.
US v Esformes
Guilty
Philip Esformes, the former owner of a South Florida facility was convicted of fraud for giving kickbacks to physicians to refer patients. He also offered bribes to the basketball coach at the University of Pennsylvania to get his son into the university by getting him on the basketball team.
US v Hills
Sentenced
Dr. Edward Hills DDS, the former COO of Metro Health Hospital System ws sentenced to 15 years in federal prison. He will also have to pay undetermined restitution. He along with other several other dentists were involved in a scam to allow the other dentists to work in private offices while being fulltime at Metro. He also gave bonuses to the other dentists for their continued paying of bribes to Hills.
US v Forest Park Physician
Convicted
At rial seven of nine defendants were found guilty. They included four physicians Dr. Douglas Won , Dr. Michael Rimlawi, Dr. Shawn Henry and Dr. Mrugeshkumar Shah along with the Wilton Burt, a co-founder of the hospital, Jackson Jacob, a recruiter for the hospital and nurse Iris Forrest. They were convicted of agreeing to send patients to the hospital in return for bribes or paying the bribes. A total of 21 were charged. Ten plead guilty prior to trial. The hospital gave advertising money to the physicians in marketing agreements. Top
US v Court
DC Ct App
The state of Arkansas along with the US Justice Department filed an appeal against a District Court judge ruling that blocked requirements for Arkansas and Kentucky to make Medicaid recipients work, study, volunteer or perform other community engagements. The administration has approved the state's requests for these programs. Top
Patients v Baystate Health
To Be Filed
The company had a phisihing attack and 12,000 people were violated. After the fact they are taking steps to prevent the attacks.
Amrhein v eClinical Works
D Mass
The court tossed the suit alleging a class action based on the unreliability of its EMR. There was no injury so no case. Let's hope the attorney lost a great deal of money bringing this case. Top
Highmark v University of
Pittsburgh Mdical Center
Judge
A judge has ruled that the contract between the two entities is over. The state AG attempted to insert his nose into the local matter but was rebuffed by the judiciary. The AG will do what AG's do after losing. He will appeal.
Boston Children's Hospital v
Prince Abdelilah bin Abdelazia bin Abdulrahman Al Faisoal A Saud
Filed
The hospital ahs sued the Saudi royal Prince for $3.5 million. A patient is 2 years old and been in the hsopial since November 2017 with type1 spinal muscular atrophy. The drug used to treat the patient is not available in Saudi Arabia. The Prince learned of the boy's plight and offered to pay for the care in the US. He paid the initial $750,000 but then nothing. Top
Patients v Sharp Grossmont
Hospital
Filed
The hospital is finally getting sued. The former CEO had a vendetta against an anesthesiologist and wanted to catch him stealing narcotics. She ordered camera mounted on anesthesia carts and these took videos of women getting surgery. The videos were open to all to access and the anesthesiologist left the hospital with no charges from neither the hospital nor the state. The hospital has offered an apology for the illegal taping but it is too little too late for the hospital. This will cost them millions.
Blinkinsop v J&J
Jury
One week after the company settled three cases of cancer and baby talc, a jury said the plaintiff mesothelioma was not caused by the J& J product.
Huitt v The Iowa Clinic
Jury
The plaintiff had a prostate biopsy and was told he had cancer for which he received a radical prostectectomy with resultant impotence and incontinence. No cancer was found in the specimen. It turns out the pathologist who originally read the slides mixed them up with a patient with prostate cancer. The clinic admitted the error and the jury awarded $12.25 million.
Eaves v Chevron
Jury Verdict
Two brothers sued Chevron after they got cancer while working at a Chevron owned tire factory. they claimed Chevron did not warn them about a solvent (benzene) they used could cause cancer. One brother died of leukemia and the other of non Hodgkins lymphoma. The attorney also stated that no one wore protective garments nor respirators. Chevron will probably appeal to get a better settlement as the jury awarded the families $21 million.
Tebault v e. Jefferson General
Hospital
La Ct App
The patient sued a physician as well a the hospital for malpractice and the hospital for negligent credentialing. The hsopital tried to get out of the negligent credentialing by invoking HCQIA immunity. The law does not apply to med mal cases and the court rightly threw the hospital's claim out.
Morris v Peoria Uunity Point
-Methodist Hospital
Filed
Morris was a patient in the hospital and pregnant when the hospital allegedly was given Methotrexate, a drug that could harm the fetus. The patient wanted to keep the child but the hospital is alleged to have pressured her to get an abortion including offering her $2000 to pay for te abortion. She eventually had the abortion. She is now suing for voluntarily doing what she could have not done. This would not negate the potential malpractice of the hospital in giving the drug. Top
Wadler v Bio-Rad Labs
9th Circuit
The Circuit Court upheld the verdict of $2.96 in compensatory damages and $5 million in punis in a whistleblower retaliations suit. The inhouse counsel reported suspicions of employee misconduct and was then terminated. The company said it was due to poor performance but the attorney had positive review records.
Schreiber v Detroit Medical Center
Filed
Dr. Ted Schreiber filed a wrongful discharge suit against the hospital. This renowned cardiologist was the founding president of the new hospital heart hospital. The heart hospital is part of the poorly regarded Harper Hospital that is on track to have its Medicare license revoked. Schreiber and two other cardiologists state they were forced from their leadership roles after complaining to the administration about the quality of care at the hospital. Two other cardiologists have already filed suit against the hospital and it boss Tenet.
Kazminy v Dignity Health
Jury Trial
A hospital pharmacist sued the organization after she was fired for refusing to lie for the Woodland, California, hospital by fudging the pill total for an audit. She won $1 million in compensatory and an additional $2.4 million in punis. 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.