December 15, 2023 Recent Legal News
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US v Barrett
Conviction
Dr. Melissa Barrett of Baton rouge, La. was convicted of tax evasion. She owed over $1.6 million in back taxes and tried to weasel out of paying the money. She concealed money in a safe deposit box instead of depositing the money in a bank. She also purchased real estate and personal property to hide the cash.
Virginia v Henry
Arrested
Keith Henry, NP of Spotsylvania County, Virginia, was arrested after allegedly touching patients. There are two alleged incidents.
Georgia v Camp
Arrested
Jessica Camp CNA of Walker County, Georgia, was arrested over alleged inappropriate sexual contact with patients and taking money from patients.
US v Lightner
Sentenced
Dr. Oscar Lightner of Houston, Texas, was sentenced to seven years in prison. He and a co-defendant Andres Martinez, Jr. were previously convicted of writing prescriptions for patients without a legitimate medical reason. They did this at their Jomori Health an Welfare pain management clinic.
US v Pettyjohn, Gallagher
Indicted
Dr. Janet Pettyjohn and Shelly Gallagher of the Tampa, Florida area were indicted for illegal drug distribution. Pettyjohn continued to write narcotics after her DEA license was removed. Gallagher is Pettyjohn's granddaughter and is accused of ordering controlled substances for herself and others. She does not have a medical license.
Pennsylvania v Cohen
Charged
Dr. Amy Cohen of Narberth, Pennsylvania, is accused of starting a fire in a home. This is the result of a disagreement over teh Israel Hamas war.
Colorado v Cooper, Cichuniec
Trial
Two paramedics working with the Aurora, Colorado Fire Department are on trial for manslaughter. A patient died after he was given ketamine by the paramedics after a forcible restraint was used by two officers. The officers went to trial and were let off by blaming the death on the ketamine and not the forcible restraint. The attorney says the DA is criminalizing deviations fro medical protocols and errors in medical judgment instead of allowing a med mal case to to forward. He was injected with a dose of ketamine for what was accepted at the time as "excited delirium" that was too much for his weight. The fire department at that time was consistently administering ketamine for the condition and were using more than the allowable dose.
US v Haider
Indicted
Dr. Khursheed Haider of Roseville, California, has been indicted for distribution and possession of child porn. The pulmonologist and vice president of a tele health company was getting the child porn from an operation in Hawaii and was caught in a sting operation.
US v Aalbers
Arrested
Dr. Brian Aalbers of Overland Park, Kansas, was arrested for possession of child porn. He is a pediatric neurologist who allegedly placed secret cameras.
California v Sills
Trial
Dr. Eric Sills of San Clemente is on trial for the murder of his wife. He is a fertility physician and is accused of strangling the wife and then throwing her down the steps of their home to make it look like an accident. The defense in this case also has a fairly good case.
California v Robicheaux
Dr. Grant Robicheaux, a hand surgeon originally accused but never convicted of drugging and assaulting women, plead guilty to a felony count of possessing an assault rifle. He was given probation and will have this dropped to a misdemeanor. This is a real put down for the local DA who could never prove anything against him. He actually lost his job over this case.
Colorado v Lambros
Sentenced
Christopher Lambros RN was sentenced to over 20 years in prison. He was convicted of sexual assaults while a nurse at the St. Mary's Hospital ICU.
Pennsylvania v Tarter Jr
Arrested
Eric Tarter Jr. a medical assistant in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, was arrested for allegedly posing as a physician and inappropriately touching patients.
New Hampshire v Nichols, Richarson
Indicted
Robin Nichols and Lisa Richardson, nurses at Catholic Medical Center, were indicted on charges of alledly taking fentanyl from syringes intended for patients and replacing it with saline. Top
Texas v Barroga, Barroga
Indicted
Drs. Desi Baroga and Dr. Deno Baroga of the Dallas, Texas, area were indicted for allegedly defrauding insurers by requiring patients to visit once a month and sending them out with prescriptions for narcotics. They allegedly would bill for various procedures on the patients which were never carried out and set up fake medical records. Both had been previously disciplined by the Texas Medical Board. Deno for narcotic prescribing and Desi for medical record issues.
US v Borgfeld, Nguyen, Nguyen, Salinas
Settlement
The former CFO of Little River Hospital in Texas agreed to pay $325,000 plus later payments along with her exclusion from fed med for five years for her part in the submission of false claims to Medicare on patients who were referred from kickbacks. Drs. Linh Nguyen and Thuy Nguyen agreed to pay $409,814 for allegedly receiving kickbacks to order lab tests from Little River Healthcare and others. Dr. Herberto Salinas agreed to pay $15,386 for allegedly receiving kickbacks.
US v Kurtzer, Kurtzer
Guilty
Dr. Yitzchok Kurtzer and his wife Robin of Monsey, New York, and offices in Pennsylvania, plead guilty to charges of receiving kickbacks and bribes in exchange for ordering, collecting and sending DNA samples to genetic labs for unnecessary testing.
Arkansas v Hyatt
Indicted
Dr. Brian Hyatt, who has been accused for false imprisonment by patients, is now under indictment for fraud for filing false Medicaid claims.
New York v Toobian
Convicted
Dr. Payam Toobian of Kings Point, New York, and his company America's Imaging Center were convicted of paying kickbacks and doing procedures not requested nor need on patients.
US v Jenkins
Guilty
Daphine Jenkins NP of Virginia, plead guilty of telemedicine fraud for ordering DME on patients that were not necessary or never seen.
US v Orobor
Guilty
Simon Orobar owned Devotion Medical Supply in Houston, Texas, plead guilty to paying kickbacks to get DME ordered from his company.
US v Dolor Technologies
Settlement
The feds announced that the Utah based company will pay payments depending on its ability to pay. The company allegedly paid providers to used their unapproved device to treat migraines. This is a qui tam case the the whistleblower will get a portion of all collections. Top
Cox v Texas
Texas Supreme Court
Cox is a pregnant female with a fetus that has a fatal diagnosis. She sued the state to get an abortion and the lower court granted her the right. The Appellate Court reversed as her life was not in danger as the law required. The Supreme Court rejected the idea that a good faith determination by the physician is all that is required. The physician would have to determine that in the physician's reasonable medical judgment that a patient had a life threatening condition and that an abortion was necessary to prevent the patient dying or having an impaired major bodily function. Cox left the state and had an abortion.
Walia v Coup de Thai
Filed
Dr. Harjasleen Walia, a nurologist in San Jose, California, is suing the Thai restaurant claiming the food burned her vocal cords, esophagus and the inside of her right nostril. She ordered the spicy dish but asked the server to to make them with less spice. She alleges that the chef actually made them more spicy causing her injury.
Vaught v Tennessee Nursing Board
Decision
In a continuing miscarriage of justice, the judge refused to allow RaDonda Vaught the return of her nursing license. She lost it after she was immorally convicted of reckless homicide for a hospital error. She should never have been criminally tried for her error caused by both her and the hospital.
Emanate Health v Optum
Filed
The Covina, California, hospital is suing Optum accusing them of pressuring the hospital not to compete in the primary care business and of taking patients fro those physician who left Optum to join the hospital.
Kowalski v John Hopkins
Filed
In the original trial Kowalski won a $261 million verdict against the hospital. This new filing by Hopkins alleges jury tampering and bias. They allege that juror's wife kept a daily blog on the case using information she could only have gotten from her juror husband and using information she obtained in court that the jurors should not know about.
FTC v John Muir Hospital
Filed
The feds have filed an action to break up the purchase of San Ramon (California) Hospital by neighboring John Muir. The contend this will raise prices and be anti-competitive. John Muir now owns 49% of San Ramon and Tenet owns the majority. Top
HIPAA
HHS v Lafourche Medical Group
Settlement
The Louisiana medical group is paying $480,000 for allowing a phishing attack. They had not done enough to identify vulnerabilities prior to the attack.
HHS v St. Joseph Medical Center
Settlement
The hospital agreed to pay $80,000 for disclosing PHI of Covid patients to a reporter. Top
Malpractice
Patients v MicroPort Orthopedics
Filed
MicroPort Orthopedics of Tennessee makes the Profemur hip prosthesis. The necks of the prostheses have failed and cracked or corroded leading to re-operations. Suits have been filed against them and the products recalled but only for updating the product packaging.
Byers v Chippenham Hospital
Filed
The parents of a 34 year old sued the hospital after their son was killed by the police while wielding a hatchet and attempting to break in a house. Byers had been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and hospitalized in the hospital. The suit accuses the hospital of falsifying an assault charge in order for the police to arrest him.
Allison v St. Luke's Health System
Filed
The patient sued the health system for missing a diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis. She had headaches and saw a neurologist in 2007 and had cluster headaches in 2012. She also had slower cognitive functioning and visual changes according to the suit. An MRI showed abnormalities but she ws told it was not MS. Later she saw another physician who said she had MS.
Patient v Reifschneider
Filed
A pediatric endocrinologist has been charged with conspiracy to perform an invasive procedure without a license and performing an invasive procedure without a license. He allegedly saw the patient pre-op for a consultation for a hair transplant procedure that was performed at a private outpatient center. The procedure went awry and the patient is left with permanent scars. it is alleged that the physician said he would participate in the surgery but did not and it is alleged tht the surgery was performed by an unlicensed person.
Patients v University of Iowa
Settlements
In the first case the patient had a 12 millimeter tumor and was operated on by an ENT. During the procedure for the apparent neuroma a hole was made in the dura and a neurosurgeon consulted. The patient had post operative problems that were not present preoperatively. He sued and was settled for $750,000. The second case was a breast implant performed without consent and using an implant not agreed upon. Settlement was $30,000.
Comprehensive Neurosurgical v The Valley Hospital
New Jersey Supreme Court
The court is to hear arguments in this case soon. The practice alleges that the hospital entered into an exclusive agreement with a competing practice after terminating the neuro practice staff privileges illegally. The neuro practice prevailed at trial and won $24.3 million. The hospital then appealed. One of the arguments was and is that the hospital terminated the privileges without regard to the fair hearing section of the medical by laws.
D'Cunha v Northwell Health
2nd circuit
The medical resident requested a religious exemption regarding Covid vaccination. This was denied as was a request for a medical exemption for her pregnancy. She did not get the jab and was terminated from the program. She sued and lost in the district court due to failing to allege discrimination under a fed law. The 2nd Circuit affirmed.
Gatchalian v Kaiser Foundation Hospitals
Decision
Maria Garchalian RB worked at Woodland Hills Kaiser for many years. She complained to Kaiser in 2021 about patient safety issues due to understaffing. They attempted to fire her for cause stating she placed her bare feet on an incubator while she was a charge nurse. She won $41.49 million. 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.