April 15, 2023 Recent Legal News
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Colorado v Craig
Arrested
Dr. Toliver Craig DDS of Aurora, Colorado was arrested for the poisoning death of his wife. He had driven her to the hospital where she immediately lapsed into a coma and finally had her ventilator turned off.
Massachusetts v Ferrick
Arrested
Dr. Bradford Ferrik of the Boston area was arrested for possessing child sex abuses images on a hidden camera designed to look like a bracelet. He is a resident in family medicine at Baystate Franklin Family Medicine.
Florida v Kamlet
Arrested
Dr. Jeffery Kamlet, a psychiatrist specializing in addiction was arrested for having sex with a minor and delivery of a controlled substance to a minor.
US v Adelglass
Sentenced
Dr. Howard Adelglass of Manhattan, New York, was sentenced to 150 months in prison for illegally prescribing oxycodone. He did this in exchange for sex, money and other pain-relief meds. His office manager Marcello Sansome was a partner in this scheme at the pain management clinic. Sansome had been previously sentenced.
US v Barrio
Settlement
Dr. George Barrio of Panama City, Florida, agreed to pay $225,000 and surrender his DEA for allegedly writing prescriptions in violation of the CSA.
New York v Deshmukh
Trial
Dr. Sudipt Deshmukh of Rochester is on trial for murder. He is accused of causing the death of a patient by overprescribing drugs more than the guidelines recommend. However, guidelines are not absolutes, they are guidelines only. He spent much more than usual with patients, not hte sign of a drug dealer. However, he also was looked at by the state for overprescribing opioids in four patients. This is not germane as the state came later and often piles on. The trial is now and the "crime" occurred in 2015. Different "guidelines" then.
Virginia v Damron
Indicted
Debrah Dameron, RN, was charged with manslaughter in the death of a patient. The patient was in an adult detention center where Dameron was the on-duty nurse. It is alleged that she did not do the required medical checks and she falsified records. The patient died of acute fentanyl toxicity.
Florida v Kosowski
Arrested
Dr. Tomasz Kosowski of Tamp, Florida, was arrested for first degree murder. It is alleged that he killed an attorney whose body has not been recovered. He had sued his prior employer for falsifying information for his billing and costing him his reputation. He filed the suit against Laufer Institute in 2018 and the case has been allegedly stonewalled.
US v Lamartiniere
Sentenced
Dr. Randy Lamartiniere of Baton Rouge, Louisiana was sentenced to 180 months in prison for the illegal distribution of controlled substances.
US v Ghearing
Guilty
A jury convicted Dr. Gilbert Ghearing of Celina, Tennessee, of 21 counts of prescribing controlled substances without a medical reason.
US v Campbell, Dyer
Sentenced
Dr. Jeffery Campbell of Kentucky was sentenced to 105 months in prison for conspiracy to unlawfully distribute and dispense controlled substances. His Advanced practice registered nurse Mark Dyer was sentenced to 60 month for the same. Campbell's practice Physician's Primary Care, PPLC was order to pay $1 million.
Iowa v Piper
Arrested
Dr. Scott Piper of Cedar Rapids was arrested on one count of sex exploitation by a counselor/therapist. He had previously been sued civilly by a female patient for having sex with her while she was emotionally dependent on him. She got pissed when she found out he was having sex with other females.
Missouri v Philippe
Sentenced
Dr. Jonathan Philippe of Platte City was sentenced to 27 years in prison for having sex and abusing a 13 year old.
Colorado v Matthews
Arrested
Dr. Stephen Mathews was arrested and charged with sexual assault. He states they had consensual sex.
US v Keller
Sentenced
Dr. Thomas Keller,, a pain doc in Santa Rosa, California, has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for illegally distributing controlled substances. He was convicted after a patient he treated with large doses of narcotics died.
California v Chacon
Arrested
Dr. Carlos Chacon was arrested and charged with murder. He did a breast augmentation on a patient at the Divino Surgical Center in Bonita when she went into cardiac arrest. It is alleged that he did not call 911 for 3 hours and told his employees not to do so. It is also alleged that he left the patient who was dying to see four other patients. He is also accused of using a nurse untrained for anesthesia to give anesthesia.
US v Shah, Purdy, Agarwal
Guilty
A jury has convicted Chicago based Outcome Health former CEO Rishi Shah, former President Shradha Agarwal and former COO Brad Purdy guilty of fraud. The company did advertising and placing for free screens for the ads in physician offices. The company apparently misled advertisers as to how many screen they had placed and therefore overcharged them. They paid $70 million in 2019 to resolve the issue with the company.
US v Paduch
Indicted
Urologist Darius Paduch of New York was indicted for inducement of a person to travel to engage in unlawful sexual activity. He is accused of sexually abusing multiple mal patients while doing urological exams.
Kentucky v Hunter
Guilty
Lexington RN Eyvette Hunter was originally charged with murder. She accepted a guilty plea of manslaughter in the death of a patient who was given un-prescribed narcotics. Top
Arkansas v Hyatt
Payments Suspended
Dr. Brian Hyatt was the chair of the Arkansas State Medical Board. He resigned his position after his Medicaid payments were stopped for allegedly over billing for his psychiatric services. He is also being civilly sued for holding patients at a mental health facility against their will.
US v Auzenne
Guilty
Dr. Gregory Auzenne of Meridian, Mississippi, plead guilty of not notifying federal officials of questionable activity of a pharmacist. He was fined $20,000 and ordered to pay restitution of $116,000 for his part in a pain cream scheme.
US v Gooding
Convicted
Dr. Frederick Gooding of Wilmington, Delaware, was convicted by a jury of fraudulently billing fed med for injections he did not perform and for complicated injections for which he did not have the necessary equipment.
US v LaMonda
Guilty
Dr. Justin LaMonda of Moberly, Missouri, plead guilty to billing services to fed med when the services were actually performed by his father whose license was suspended years earlier.
US v Ghosh
Indicted
Dr. Mona Ghosh of Inverness, Illinois, was indicted for allegedly billing for services not performed.
US v Fonn, Seeger
Settlement
Dr. Sonjay Fonn and Mx. Deborah Seeger both of Cape Giardeau, Missouri, have agreed to pay $825,000 to settle allegations that they violated the FCA by soliciting and receiving kickbacks from spinal implant companies. The most interesting thing here was that it was a qui tam case started by six other physicians.
US v Genotox Labs
Settlement
The lab has agreed to pay at least $5.9 million to settle allegations tyhat they violated the FCA by paying kickbacks to sales reps and marketing firms to promote the ordering of tests. This is a qui tam and the former billing manager will get $1 million.
US v Covenant Healthcare, Adams, Yunus
Settlement
The regional hospital system paid the feds $69,191,436 and the state of Michigan $1.8 million for improper financial relationships with physicians. They screwed up their medical directorships, and rented office space too cheap along with poor lease arrangements with a physician owned investment group. Then they billed for services performed by these physicians. Drs. Mark Adams, neurosurgeon, and Asim Yunus will pay $406,551 and $345,987 respectively for their relationships with Covenant. This is also a qui tam and the whistleblower will get over $12 million.
US v Istomin
Sentenced
Alexander Isotomin, RN of East Greenwich, Rhode Island, was sentenced to 7 years in prison for billing for services not rendered. He had a ghost office that was only used for mail. He was also ordered to pay a fine of $30,000 and pay restitution of almost $12 million.
US v Nguyen
Settlement
Pharmacist Gisele Nguyen of Huntington Beach, California, agreed to pay $4 million to settle allegations that she billed for meds not dispensed.
US v Siefert, Ehn
Convicted
A jury convicted Drs. William Siefert of Dayton, Ohio and Timothy Ehn of Union, Kentucky of fraud for billing fed med for urine tests not needed or performed on faulty equipment in their pain management office.
US v Shistrer
Sentenced
Alexander Shister of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for billing for pharmaceuticals at the four area pharmacies he owned after paying for referrals. This was mostly for pain creams which are compounded and expensive.
US v Arlington Ophthalmology Association
Settlement
The Texas medical group has agreed to pay $3 million to settle allegations that they paid kickbacks to optometrists for referrals for cataract surgery. They co-managed post op patients that did not need to be co-managed.
US v Nwankwo, Ajaja
Sentenced
Joseph Nwankwo and Stacey Ajaja of the Houston areas were sentenced to 36 and 14 months in prison for paying bribes for referrals to their DME business. Also Nwankwo must pay $1.2 million in restitution and Ajaja is to pay $238,000.
US v Erlanger Health
Filed
A whistleblower suit was filed against the organization for illegal billing practices. The are accused of billing for overlapping surgeries and allowing trainees to operate without physician supervision. The whistleblowers are two physicians, a husband and wife, along with the former chief information officer. They all had lost their jobs and are suing for retaliation. Top
Utah
v Wyatt
Sentenced
Paul Wyatt of Salt Lake City plead guilty to performing surgery after his license was removed. He was sentenced to four terms of 0-5 years in prison to be served concurrently. He will also be ordered to pay restitution but had filed for bankruptcy.
Chaney v CVS, Rite Aid
Jury Decision
Dr. James Chaney of Kentucky sued the pharmacies for defamation and won $14 million. The wrong was awarded as 53% for CVS and 45% for RiteAid. Chaney was responsible for the rest for not doing enough monitor prescribing data about himself. Due to the companies saying he was an overprescriber Chaney lost his medical license and will now ask for reinstatement of same. It was shown that Chaney name was used for overprescribing but it was actually by a physician he had hired for office practice.
Fouche v US
USDC Texas
Fouche would not disclose his Covid vax status and his job with the feds was threatened. He sued and the court has ruled that the administration could not require federal employees to be vaccinated and said employees could not be disciplined for failing to comply. This extends the administration losses to the federal sector as they have already lost in the private sector.
Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v FDA
DC Texas
A federal district court judge did something unusual. He substituted his "medical knowledge" for that of the FDA and said they were not reasonable when they approved the abortion drug mifepristone. This will be appealed and probably overturned. However it may lead to the discussion of how much power should an administrative body have versus Congress. This was immediately appealed to the 5th Circuit who will allow the continued use of the med but not the part that let the FDA expand access to the drug. This is being immediately appealed to the US Supreme Court.
American First Legal Foundation v HHS
District Court Texas
Another federal judge ruled that the OCare provisions for preventative care are illegal. This was specific to PrEP. The plaintiffs also said that the PSTF is illegal as it recommends what should be covered with the free preventative care and they are not a true appointive body.
Patients v J&J
Bankruptcy
The J&J offshoot that is handling the talcum powder cases have declared bankruptcy again. This time they have said they would require 75% of the plaintiffs to agree that J&J woul pay a total of $8.9 Billion to settle all claims. To date about 60,000 have agreed.
Dorn v Florida
Filed
Dr. Joseph Dorn prescribed medial marijuana to undercover agents from the State Department of Health. The medical board investigated and cleared Dr. Dorn of all charges. He was one of the first to prescribe medical marijuana after it was legalized. He is now suing the Department of Health for their alleged illegal behavior. Top
Doe v Contra Costa Regional Medical Center
Filed
Jane Doe had her medical records breached by a contractor at the hospital and they were posted on line after she tested positive for a STD. This will be settled.
Patients v OU Health
To Be Filed
OU Health found out a laptop computer was stolen in December but did not notify patients until now that their information may be compromised. they also did not say if the computer was password protected.
Attias v CareFirst
DC DC
The court threw a monkeywrench in the class action suit by denying the class certification. They say that the risk of future harm by itself does not constitute a injury in damage suits.
New York v Heidell, Pittoni, Murphy & Bach LLP
Settlement
The law firm agreed to pay $200,000 to settle allegation that they failed to do the necessary security procedures to allow a 2021 data breach that allowed th data of about 114,000 people to have their data breached. Top
Lopez v American Medical Response
Ca App
Ubaldo and Leobarso Lopez were injured in a MVA between the ambulance they were being transported in and another vehicle. Eleven months later their attorney sent a demand letter and a few days prior to the one year anniversary sent a notice to sue letter. Eleven weeks later the filed an action. The trial court and the court of appeals both agreed this is under the med mal statute and the statute of limitations is one year. This may or may not be medical malpractice but it certainly sounds like legal malpractice.
K,L v Hackensack University, Virtua Voohees Hospitals
Filed
Two women sued the hospitals for drug testing them prior to giving birth without their consent. They were both found to have "abnormal" levels. There is debate as to when the hospital uses as a threshold and what the standard is. Also both say the levels generated were from poppy seed bagels they consumed.
Anderson v University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical
Center at Towson
Jury Verdict
Anderson was diagnosed as being in preterm labor when she presented with lower abdominal cramping and back pain. Medical tests showed no signs of labor or placental abruption. She was taken to surgery and had an emergency C-Section. The baby was brain damaged as he was 23 weeks gestation. The jury found the hospital guilty of malpractice and surgery without consent. They awarded $20 million for future med expenses, $3 million for lost earnings, $1 million for past medical expenses and $10 million for pain and suffering. This last will be reduced to $1.3 million under the malpractice caps.
Carrillo v Santa Clara County
Ca App Ct
Carillo was in jail when a nurse over his objections popped a blister. This led to infection, gangrene and eventually amputation. He sued but was denied since they missed the statute of limitations of both the MICRA of one year and the statute for suing governments of 6 months after the government rejects the claim.
Luppold vc Lowell General Hospital
Jury Verdict
Luppold went to the ED of the hospital with a history of sciatica that radiated down his leg but this pain in his leg felt different. He was seen and examined by a NP and sent home with the diagnosis of sciatica. He really had a arterial blood clot and eventually lost his leg. He was awarded $10 million for having to live without a leg and another $10 million for pain and suffering. A simple ultrasound would have diagnosed the problem.
Doe v NorthShore University Health System, Ortega
Settlement
After a trial with a hung jury the parties settled this case for #35 million. Mrs. Doe had twins with the younger one having Cerebral Palsy after a C-Section. Dr. Fabio Ortega was the OB on call and left the hospital after telling the parents he would remain at the hospital. He showed up late for the C-Section. It was alleged that Ortega made a wrong incision, failed to timely deliver the youngest twin, failed to deliver her without trauma, failed to make sure the umbilical cord blood gas was performed post surgery. Since this surgery he was convicted of sexual assault and spent time in prison. He also lost his medical license. Top
Nwaneri v George Washington
University Hospital
Dr. Ngozika Nwaneri began working at the hospital in 2002. He states that starting in 2010 he began to notice a pattern of discrimination due to race etc. In 2017 he had his privileges revoked after a surgical problem and peer review. This was changed in 2019 to 10 vascular cases done under review. He sued in 2022 for discrimination. He lost since he missed the statute of limitations which is 3 years for breach of contract.
Ilayan v Beaumont Athens Clinic
Filed
Dr. Ilayan was hired as an attending after finishing his residency at the hospital. He requested 5 minute breaks for daily prayers and time to attend weekly Friday prayers which he says were denied. He was put on a performance review for missing patient appointments and was later fired without a reason. He has sued for discrimination.
Husel v Trinity Health
Filed
Dr. William Husel was accused and went to trial for the murders of people in the ICU of the hospital where he worked. He was acquitted on all charges. He had prior filed a defamation suit against the hospital and now this is for malicious prosecution. Husel had relinquished his medical license since he knew hat even if acquitted he could never practice medicine again due to his reputation. 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.