August 1, 2003 Recent Legal News
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US v Washington Univ. Network
Settlement
The two parties agreed to settle their disagreement. They will no longer be able to negotiate agreements between its physicians and health plans. The FTC stated that the group negotiated the contracts without enough clinical integration of the physicians. Top
US v Tenet
The Government has subpoenaed Tenet Corporate and all seven California hospitals for information regarding payment for relocation since 1995. There will be criminal as well as civil charges on this issue. Following the subpoena a federal grand jury has indicted Alvarado Hospital in San Diego of illegal payments to doctors to send their patients to the hospital. This come one month after the CEO of the hospital was separately indicted on the same criminal offenses. Top
Gordon
v Lewistown Hospital
MD PA
The lower federal court through out another antitrust case against a hospital by a physician who got booted off the staff. The physician. who by anyone's standard, was disruptive was given a second chance by the hospital. The physician screwed it up and was tossed.
Fox
v Good Samaritan Hospital
Cal Ct. App
In this case that the Court say should not be published in the official reports. the medical staff adopted a rule for designation of coverage. A pediatrician did not follow the rule and was removed from the staff. He was not given a hearing since the removal was for administrative reasons and not having to do with quality of care by Dr. Fox. Fox sued and lost on all points. The physician should follow the Medical Staff Bylaws as long as they are not unilaterally changed by the hospital.
Chao
v Kewah Delta Hospital
Ca. App. Ct.
Dr. Chao was summarily suspended from the hospital by the MEC. He requested and was granted a judicial review hearing. Following the hearing the JRC ruled that Dr. Chao was below the standard of practice on some cases but did not deserve removal from the staff or his privileges. The MEC did not agree with the JRC and it went to a sub committee of the Board who sent it back to the JRC for reconsideration. The JRC refused to reconsider their recommendation of monitoring the practice. The Board then adopted the MEC position and tossed the physician. I am almost always on the side of the physician and believe strongly that the MEC should abide by the JRC recommendation. This medical staff has a twist. The bylaws state that the Board shall affirm the JRC recommendations if the JRC's decision is based on substantial evidence, following fair procedure. In this case the Board did not fault the procedure nor the facts of the cases just that the JRC decision was not based on substantial evidence. This is a great case to show why an attorney paid by the hospital should not be allowed to write or amend bylaws unless the medical staff has its own attorney to keep the hospital attorney in check. Top
Richman
v Rideout Hospital
Filed
Dr. Richman, a cardiac surgeon, has filed a suit against the hospital and four cardiologists. The hospital had cancelled his privileges after the physician pled no contest in being under the influence of cocaine. He is accusing the hospital and the physicians of interfering with open heart procedures so they could make money on their invasive cardiology. Sounds like he may still be using.
Parker
v St. Mary's Health
Nev. Superior Ct.
The jury found that St. Mary's had performed a malicious peer
review against Dr. Parker and had awarded her $500,000. When they returned
to court to determine punitive damages, the judge stated the case was
over. He through out the verdict and ruled as a matter of law that the
hospital and physicians could not be sued under HCQIA. The judge really goofed,
not necessarily on the ruling, but letting the case go three weeks prior to
making the ruling. On three separate occasions he ruled the case should go to
trial. This has cost Dr. Parker about $400,000. The case is to
appealed. Top Gier
v CGF Health The physician
was on call and in the lower court won a summary judgment since he showed he had
no patient physician relationship since he was never notified of the patient's
admission. The upper court turned it around to send it to trial when the
plaintiff showed affidavits showing the hospital had a routine procedure to
notify physicians of admissions and the chart showing that the physician was the
one to be notified. Like hospitals always follow their procedures. This
should be an easy case for the
physician.
Conrad-Hutsell v Colturi The plaintiff with Crohn's Disease sued for prescribing
addictive drugs and failed to recognize she was becoming addicted. The
trial court ruled for a summary judgment for the defendant due to the patient
assumed the risk of addiction. The Court of Appeal reversed and remanded
the case for trial. Their rationale was the physician may or may not have
considered the possibility of the patient becoming addicted when he prescribed
the medicine and this is a question for the jury. Just because the
plaintiff knew of the risk and took excess narcotics and lied to the physician
and lied to obtain more drugs, the physician still has a duty to monitor his
patients for signs of abuse. Is it any wonder why Ohio has a
malpractice premium problem? I just received a response from the plaintiff. It
follows verbatim: I am that Crohn's patient that became addicted due to
excessive prescribing. I saw your opinion and now that I've settled I can speak
freely. The one important issue you did not comment on is the amount of
narcotics my Dr. prescribed...3,800 in an 8 month period and he finally obtained
my records from the Cleveland Clinic at the end of my treatment (after
prescribing thousands of pills). In court, he claimed that I forged them, but we
later obtained all the original prescriptions and they were proven to be his. As
a physician, I would think you'd understand that addiction is not an overnight
occurance. My Dr. knew I was taking more than what was prescribed, he mentioned
it in his notes after 3 months of treatment (yet he continued to prescribe
narcotics). He told me that sometimes "all we can do is medicate".
That message played a large role in me being able to justify my use. He also
didn't document many Schedule II narcotics, and on many occasions prescribed
without an examination which is a criminal offense. I was healthy, no disease
and no need to treat with narcotics. Actually, after treatment at the
Cleveland Clinic Pain Management Department I learned that opiods can actually
cause abdominal pain. It would have been nice for a physician specializing in
Gastroenterology to know that. Don't you think? My life was destroyed by drugs
but I am sober today and have been for 5 years now. I know I have my part of
blame in all of this but I didn't have the medical training nor the life
experience to understand addiction, my Dr. did. I wasn't looking to get rich.
Honestly, I wanted my medical bills paid... that's it. I feel my case will help
protect the patients who unwittingly become dependant and addicted. There is
also an article on Medscape to support my view. "The Gastroenterologists
Side of the Story". Simmons v Arnold Palmer Hosp. A nurse was cutting the name tag off a newborns ankle when
she inadvertently snipped off part of a toe distal to the nail. The area
was reattached but it remains to be seen how much
takes. Iriondo v Hartford Hospital A twelve year old boy was diagnosed
with a benign spinal tumor and admitted to the hospital. He was scheduled
for surgery 3-4 days later. While in the hospital the tumor swelling
became worse. He lost control lost movement of his arms and legs.
This was noted and recorded in the chart by a medical student but no one paid
attention. The remainder of a team never saw the child. The boy is now
permanently quadriplegic with a permanent tracheostomy. The jury awarded
$9.8 million in economic loss and an additional $2.7 million for pain and
suffering. Top HealthAmerica v Susquehannna A judge ruled for the health system
against the HMO. The HMO originally sued since a merger creating a strong
health system led to better bargaining for the system. The judge said that
the system is a solitary system and can not conspire against
itself. Top US
v Pennock Hospital Pennock
Hospital in Hastings, Michigan will pay the feds $850,000 to settle charges that
they upcoded pneumonia charges. The hospital could not substantiate their
coding for the more severe form of pneumonia. They blamed an inanimate old
computer system not the people who entered the data into the inanimate old
computer system. US
v Chicago Hospitals The University
of Chicago and Northwestern University have settled a claim by the government in
a whistleblower suit regarding doing transplants on patients who were not
appropriate candidates. The fines were $1115,000 and $23,587
respectively. The University of Illinois is being sued for triple damages
for over $3 million. It was accused by a transplant surgeon of inflating
the numbers of eligible liver transplant patients to make sure it would continue
to receive federal and state
funding. Top Belavilas
v Weller The
plaintiff waited to see the physician for three hours and then left. He
sued the physician in small claims court for $5000. He won $250. The
physician never explained to the patient why he was late nor even offered an
apology. Bad manners deserve to be punished. The physician plans to
make matters worse by appealing the decision. I truly hope he
loses. 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.
NY APP Ct.
Ohio Ct. App. (From the August, 2002 Legal News
I think I am most proud of the effects it
had on the law in the state of Ohio. As the medical community is handing out
anti-depressants and various drugs to patients of all ages it worries me
that we are becoming a nation dependant upon pills, that is such a wrong message
to send. Drug companies are marketing straight to the consumer. Physicians are
literally wined and dined so they can prescribe these drugs. I managed a fine
dining resturant and saw Dr.'s enjoy the bottles of 1999 Far Niente and 2 Lb
lobster tails. I don't see them standing up for the patient that struggles to
pay for their $200.00 heart medication. The medical community can't demand
respect because they have turned medicine into big business. They don't hold
each other accountable actually they bend over backwards to cover each others
asses. The medical community has many issues and a little self reflection
couldn't hurt. If they would examine why these cases are filed perhaps
they could educate to minimize their mistakes. Instead they would rather mame,
injure and kill patients and have no consequences. Treatment at the patients
risk.
My advise to you is don't be ignorant by
commenting on cases if you don't have all the facts. This physician violated
FEDERAL LAW. He could have his license revoked! My issue was to protect others
and to stop this physician from addicting another patients! By the way PIE the
insurance company went bankrupt because executives were lining their pockets by
inflating earnings and assets! Are you familiar with what damages are? It's not
a dollar amount you pull out of the sky! J. Hutsell
Case not yet filed
Conn. Superior Ct.
DC PA
Settlement
Settlement
Nev. Small Claims Ct.