August 15, 2010 Recent Legal News
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Disability rights New Jersey v New
Jersey
USDC
New Jersey has been sued for allowing it's psychiatric hospitals to force medications on their patients. They do not require an outside juror or arbiter to agree with the need to medicate the patient. The patients can only appeal to the hospital officials and these are routinely turned down. Top
Law v Baptist Medical Ctr
Filed
Jean Law, a nurse, of course, was seen in the ED of Baptist in Jacksonville, Florida. She had sepsis and was sent home with pain pills. She lost eight fingers and both legs. The hospital states their employees were not at fault.
Ryan v Renny
New Jersey Supreme Court
The state high court has ruled that any physician, not just one in the same specialty as is being sued, can sign an affidavit attesting to med malpractice. This changes the law of the legislature which stated that the affidavit must be by one of the same specialty. The patient had a colonoscopy by a gastroenterologist and suffered a colonic tear. She attempted but could find no GI physician to attest to med malpractice. She found a general surgeon who had performed over 100 colonoscopies and had repaired colons injured by colonoscopy.
Jimenez-Salgado v LA County
Settlement
The patient had a double mastectomy at LA County-USC Medical Center. Two outside pathologists said her biopsy was cancerous but after the surgery she was told she did not have cancer. This was found when she had reconstructive surgery and her slides were reviewed. She received $198,000 plus $24,756 of her bills not covered by Medicaid.
Richie v SSM DePaul Health Center
To Be Filed
Ritchie, a 16 year old female was at the health center in restraints and sedated. She suffocated to death. The nurse and aides did not check her pulse or breathing in the Bridgeton, Missouri facility. Top
US v Berkowitz
USDC
A jury has exonerated Dr. Wallace Berkowitz of St. Louis, Missouri, of health care fraud and making false statements. The feds accused him of billing for procedures never performed and overstating the time he spent with his patients. The defense attorneys proved he did the procedures but did them faster than the other physicians so could do more.
US v Center for Diagnostic Imaging
(CDI)
Settlement
In a whistleblower case filed five years ago and sealed by the court has been opened and the government has intervened and announced a settlement. The CDI will pay $1.2 million for billing fraud. The whistleblowers state that the amount is not enough and they would fight the settlement in court. The claims are for not only false claims but also for illegal kickbacks to physicians for referrals and not requiring physician written orders for exams. The government only joined the whistleblower law suit in the portion that was for upcodintg. CDI has asked the court to dismiss the remaining claims except for the wrongful termination of one of the whistleblowers which they want to go to arbitration.
Investors v WellCare
Settlement
WellCare Health Plans has settled the class action law suit for $427 million. The suit claimed earning statement irregularities and had been previously investigated by the regulatory agencies and the company fined. Recently a court gave permission for WellCare to sue its former executives. There had been whistleblower claims against the company accusing it of increasing profits by dumping sick newborns from its insured rolls.
US v Williamson
Arrested
Dr. Diana Williamson of New York City has been arrested for her part in a drug ring. She apparently has written $4.39 million in prescriptions and of that almost $1 million was for oxycodone for people with no medical need over a 12 month period. Another person, Lenny Hernandez supposedly recruited the patients and then sold the drugs to a third person. Top
EEOC v Fairbrook Medical Clinic
4th Circ
The court reversed a summary judgment for the clinic and remanded the issue for trial. A female physician states she was harassed by the male physician and owner of the clinic and complained to the EEOC who prosecuted the case. The court stated that female presented enough evidence to allow a jury to make a decision as to whether the physician owner's harassment was attributable to the clinic.
Nassar v U of Texas Southwest
USDC Texas
Dr. Naiel Nassar not only won his discrimination lawsuit against the hospital but then turned around and sued the hospital again for attorney fees. He won again. In the first case he won $438,000 in back pay for his illegal discharge plus $3,187,000 in compensatory damages. In the second case he won an additional $500,000 in attorney fees and $10,000 in costs.
Wentworth-Douglas Hosp v Young
& Novis, Inc
D NH
The hospital sued a group of pathologists that lost it's hospital contract and then accessed and removed data from the hospital computers. The hospital is suing under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. The Act provides a private right of action against anyone who suffers damages or loss because of intentional illegal access to computers and obtains information from the computer. The physicians hooked up an external device when it was not legal to do so. The Court did not drop the case by the hospital and lets it go to trial.
Mitchell v Winkler County, Texas
Settlement
Nurses Mitchell and Galle were dismissed from their jobs at the county hospital after filing charges with the Texas Medical Board against Dr. Arafiles. The nurses were exonerated from criminal charges against them by the county sheriff, a friend of the physician. They sued for wrongful termination and are splitting $750,000 as a settlement. Neither have been able to find work since the incident. The hospital also paid a fine from the state for their actions and the physician had limits placed on his license. Top
Guinn v Mt. Carmel Health
SD Ohio
The physician was suspended from the hospital and sued for federal discrimination as well as state claims. He filed for discovery for records of other physicians who made the same error he had to show discrimination. The court agreed with the physician as there is no federal peer review protection and also allowed the records for the pendant state claims. The court only allowed those records to be obtained that were narrowly tailored and were to to possibly lead to discovery of admissible evidence. The original action was for a medical procedure where Dr. Guinn inserted a medical device into a patient.
Williams v University Med Ctr of
S. Nevada
D Nevada
This is the second time this court has heard this case. The first time in February, 2010, the appellate court ruled that the physician who had been summarily suspended and reported to the NPDB could not sue the hospital for some claims and remanded the case on other claims. The District Court said in this case the expert witness against Dr. Williams was entitled to testify as an expert. Top
York v Alaska Medical Board
Alaska Supreme Court
The physician and the Medical board had a memorandum of Understanding and the physician states that a condition precedent was breached by the Board. The lower court agreed with the Board but the Supreme Court overturned the lower court and said the court needed to do a trial de novo to determine if there was a condition precedent and if it was broken.
US v Mann
Guilty
Dr. Randeep Mann was found guilty of bombing a member of the Arkansas Medical Board. The charge was using a weapon of mass destruction which carries a potential life sentence. He had illegally possessed 98 unregistered grenades. Dr. Mann had his narcotic license revoked but still providing narcotics according to the Board. Top
Mastej v Physicians Regional Med
Ctr
Filed
The former CEO of the hospital has filed a whistleblower suit against his former hospital for paying physicians to refer patients to the hospital. The suit was filed in federal court in Tampa, Florida. The CEO was fired eight months after his hire. He claims that the payments were in the form of on-call payments, reduced or free office rentals and flying physicians by private jet to the Masters in Augusta, Georgia.
Lipkowitz v Hamilton Surgery Ctr.
NJ Superior Ct.
The court affirmed summary judgment for the Surgery Center against two physicians who would not turn over their shares in the Center and who did not do the requisite percentage of cases at the Center. The physicians had been paid $185,000 for their share which was purchased for $69,000. The physicians wanted more and the court said nope. Top
Wauwatosa v Wheaton Franciscan
Hosp
Wisc App Ct
The city of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin took away the non profit status of the hospital's outpatient center. The rationale was simple. The outpatient center did not do any inpatient care, the majority of space was for office space and patients were treated on an appointment basis. 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.