August 1, 2024 Recent Legal News
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US v Ahmed
Indicted
Anosh Ahmed, the former CFO of Loretto Hospital in Chicago, was indicted for embezzlement along with Loretto's chief Transformation Officer Heather Bergdahl and a medical supply owner Sameer Suhail. It is alleged that they scammed $15 million by paying for items not received and splitting the proceeds.
Pennsylvania v Miller
Indicted
Sara Miller, RN, a former nurse at Wellspan Chambersburg Hospital in Pennsylvania, has been charged with three misdemeanor charges of falsifying medical records. it is alleged that she diverted drugs for personal use and falsified the medical records to cover her tracks.
Texas v Haywood
Indicted
Dr. Kenneth Haywood of Smith County was indicted by a grand jury for seven sexual assault charges. He had his medical license suspended in 2023 but continued to see patients and give ketamine injections after his suspension.
US v Fletcher
Convicted
A federal judge convicted Dr. Michael Fletcher of Tulsa for unlawfully prescribing opioids. He was a former member of the Kentucky Medical Board.
California v Vanderhyde
Arrested
Nicholas Vanderhyde, a chiropractor working at a clinic in Valencia, California, was arrested on suspicion of possession of obscene material depicting a person under age 18. He is no longer at the clinic. A camera was found in the toilet pointing to the commode.
Utah v Pederson
Sentenced
Gordon Pederson had plead guilty of posing as a physician and sentenced to three years in prison.
US v Tan, Tan
Indicted
Dr. Claribel Tan and her husband Daniel Tan of Anchorage, Alaska, were indicted for fraud, tax evasion and injecting patients without consent by lying to the patients as to what medicine or what doses they were receiving. Dr. Claribel Tan is a rheumatologist and is accused of a 13 year term of submitting false claims.
US v Guardant Health
Settlement
The Palo Alto, California, company agreed to pay almost $940,000 to settle allegations that they knowingly violated the False Claims Act. The issue was one of a physician in Austin, Texas, contacted Guardant and requested they hire a close friend of his family and then later his step daughter. Guardant hired the friend and later promoted the friend to make room for the step daughter. The physician then ordered a lot of additional tests from Guardant which Guardant billed fed med for.
US v Gentiva (Kindred at Home)
Settlement
The company agreed to pay $19.428 million to settle allegations that they submitted false claims for patients who were not eligible for hospice services. This also settles a kickback violation alleging they paid a physician to induce hospice patients.
US v Dean
Guilty
Dr. Ronald Dean of Whitefish, Montana, plead guilty of billing fed med after being paid by a telemed company to sign DME forms without seeing patients. He will be sentenced later but will have to repay at least $780,000 in restitution.
US v Murphy Medical Center
Filed
The feds have filed suit against the hospital corporation for violating the Stark law and paying physicians well above fair market value to induce referrals. This is a qui tam suit.
US v Brown
Settlement
Kevin Brown, a chiropractor in Menifee, California, has agreed to pay $180,000 to resolve allegations that he falsely submitted claims to fed med for implanting neurostimulators. He actually taped a disposable Stivax to patient ears.
US v Contreras
Guilty
Dr. Victor Contreras of Santa Paula, California, plead guilty of fraud. He lied attesting to the need for hospice services to patients.
Malpractice
Irwin v Zoll Laboratory Services, Zoll Medical Corp.
Filed
The patient alleges that she got a Zoll Heart monitor and that it erroneously recorded several potentially serious events. This led to a pacemaker that needed to be implanted erroneously as the data was from a different patient.
Amin v NBC
To Trial
Gynecologist Dr. Mahendra Amin sued NBC and MSNBC for defamation. It is alleged that they falsely reported that Dr. Amin performed mass hysterectomies on ICE detainees. He states he has worked at the center for 3.5 years and only did 2 hysterectomies during that time. This was started by a nurse writing a letter with accusations but no proof of Dr. Amin's sins. The story led to a Senate witch hunt by Democratic Senators who found nothing amiss.
Mackenzie v Mutat, Greenwich Hospital, Summit Health,
Yale New Haven Health Services
Filed
A suit was filed against the OB Dr. Jay Mutat and the corporate figures for the
death of a newborn. They say that a vacuum was used 15 times during the
infant's delivery and he died soon after.
Patients v Providence
Filed
The class action suit was filed against the Oregon hospital for allowing patients to be potentially exposed to hepatitis B and C along with HIV. None had any of the diseases. Don't you love attorneys. This is why they are rated below lab rats in trust.
Peer Review and Employment
Coppola v California
Jury Trial
Dr. Anthony Coppola, a former prison psychiatrist, was a senior person at Tracy and also had a part time position as a psychiatrist at Alameda County's Santa Rita jail. He had a huge untaken leave from the state and used 2 days a week of the leave to work at the Alameda jail. The state Dept. of Corrections started an investigation of Dr. Coppola to see if he was double dipping. He sued the state and a jury awarded him nearly $2 million plus an additional $2 million in attorney fees. The state had unilaterally stated that Dr. Coppolo had accrued leave illegally and took his unaccrued leave from him. They lied.
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.