December 15, 2019 Recent Legal News
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Georgia v Ulbrich
Sentenced
Nathaniel Johnson III, a former physician, Dr. Peter Ulbrich and Shannon Williams were sentenced for their role in running a fake cosmetic clinic in Cobb County. Johnson will serve 15 years in prison. Ulrich will also get 5 years in prison and 20 more on probation. He is also forbidden to practicre medicine. Williams, the secretary at the clinic, was sentenced to 15 years on probation.
Tennessee
v Rinehart
Guilty
Dr. Darrel Rinehart of Columbia, Tennessee, plead guilty to distributing controlled substances.
US
v Germeil
Sentenced
Dr. Jeanne Germeil was sentenced to 17 1/2 years in prison for prescribing opioids and then fleeing to her native Haiti to avoid prosecution. Top
US
v Freedman
Guilty
Dr. Gordon freedman, an New York physician who was paid by Insys to be a speaker was convicted by a jury of receiving a kickback. He is the fourth one to stand trial. He is also indicted in the death of a patient who died of a Fentanyl overdose.
US
v Sun
Guilty
Dr. Kenneth Sun of Easton, Pennsylvania, plead guilty to kickback charges. He admitted to accepting $140,000 from Insys for giving talks and for over prescribing Subsys.
US
v Carillo
Sentenced
Dr. Eduardo Carillo of McAllen, Texas, was sentenced to 24 months in prison for fraud and identity theft. He billed for deceased patients and sold names and for cash.
US v Goyal
Indicted
Dr. Ameet Goyal, an ophalmologist in New York was indicted for health care fraud. He has been accused of billing for complex eye surgeries not performed. He upcoded according to the indictment. He is also accused of falsifying records and going after patients for not paying the false increased charges.
US
v Shtindler
Guilty
Eduard Shtindler of Paramus, New Jersey plead guilty of health fraud by paying bribes to physicians. He also falsified prior authorizations to get meds paid for.
US v
Reddy
Indicted
Ravitej Reddy of Monroeville, Pennsylvania, was charged with paying kickbacks for referrals for his genetic testing labs. He would do genetic sequencing to detect cancer where these tests did not work.
US
v Bryant
Sentenced
Darrell Bryant and his wife Gifty Kusi of Hilliard, Ohio, were sentenced to prison for billing for services not rendered and falsifying prescriptions.
US
v Mathieu
Sentenced
Dr. Paul Mathieu of New York was sentenced to 48 months in prison for his part of a scheme in which he falsely claimed to own medical clinics actually owned by a non-medical person. These clinics were mills for OT and PT. Mathieu signed false papers testifying the therapy was needed when actually it wasn't or never done. Top
Hospitals
v HHS
Filed
The hospitals have filed a suit to stop HHS from recouping money from the hospitals for overpayments made by HHS to the hospitals.
Nandigam
v Beavers
Filed
The Nashville neurologist is suing his patient for defamation after she posted a negative review on Yelp.
AHA
v HHS
Filed
The hospitals are fighting the order that they become transparent with their charges. They are asked to posrt the actual negotiated charges on the internet for God and all to see.
Hospitals
v Connecticut
Settlement
The high tax state reneged on its promise via legislations with the hospitals. The hospitals sued and a settlement freezing the taxes on the hospitals plus paying them part of what is owed ensued. Top
US
v Sentara
Settlement
Sentara Hospitals has agreed to pay $2.175 million to settle allegations that they did not notify HHS of a HIPAA breach as required by law. They mailed 577 patients bills contains others medical information. Sentara did not know the law and misinterpreted the law. They also did not have a business associate agreement in place as required. They need a new attorney and HIPAA officer.
Patients v
Choice Cancer Care Treatment Center
To Be Filed
The center is notifying 15,000 patients of their potential exposure of PMI to a third party. This happened in May and they are notifying now.
Henderson
v Kalispell Regional Healthcare
Filed
The plaintiff is contending that the hospital did not take reasonable and necessary steps to protect his information. The attorney wants to get a big payday and make this into a class action suit. This was a hacker gaining access by getting employee login information.
Patients
v Banner Health
Settlement
A federal court sanctioned the settlement of the Banner health breach of healthcare and financial information. Banner will pay $6 million to settle the costs of 2.9 million patients. They willl also pay for two additional years of credit monitoring and a $1milllion reimbursement insurance covering losses secondary to identity theft. They will also pay $2.9 million in plaintiff legal fees.
US
v Korunda Medical
Settlement
The Naples, Florida, primary care and pain management provider agreed to pay $85,000 for not forwarding electronic medical records to a third party. Top
Caskey
v Univ. of Iowa
Settlement
The state agreed to pay the plaintiff $1.2 million to settle claims that the hospital left a towel and staple in his bowel during surgery. He had an emergency cancer surgery and the items were left behind the duodenum. Nine months later and after multiple trips back for problems he had an exploratory with removal of the items. The settlement does not represent an admission of liability and won't cover any costs or damages later due to the incident.
Patients
v Children's Hospital Seattle
Filed
A class action suit has been filed against the hospital for the deaths of patients secondary to mold from the hospital OR.
Oklahoma
v J&J
Appeal
After the judge reduced the amount the company was to pay the state for its role in the opioid epidemic, the company filed an appeal of the decision. They believe the judge misapplied the law. The state is also appealing the low amount. Top
Bertroche
v Mercy Physician Assoc.
ND Iowa
A female physician was upset that after 20 years she was not getting as much as her male colleagues. She wasn't working as hard. They were all being paid under the same RVS formula and some saw more patients and were more productive than others so got more money. She lost not only the case but hopefully money as well.
Physicians v Drexel
Filed
Seven Drexel University physicians filed suit against the university for breach of contract. They contend that Drexel did not give them enough notice of their termination following the closure of Hahnemann University Hospital and the merger of Drexel with Tower Health. Drexel want to end the employment on Janyary 14, 2020 and the physician say they can not do this until June 30, the end of the academic year.
Aukamp-Cocoran v Penn Medicine Lancaster
General Hospital
Filed
The LPN sued the hospital for religious discrimination after she was fired for refusing a flu shot. The hospital, according tot the suit, she applied for a religious exemption but was refused and then fired for refusing the shot. 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.