February 1, 2023 Recent Legal News
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US v Flynn
Convicted
Dr. Freeda Flynn of St. Clairsville, Ohio, was convicted of illegal distribution of controlled substances.
Florida v Tavokoli
Arrested
Dr. Keivan Tavakoli of Access Health Care in Tampa was arrested and charged with exposing himself and touching himself inappropriately.
US v Hadden
Convicted
After his state trial resulted in no jail time and only surrender of his license the feds stepped in. Dr. Robert Hadden of Englewood, New Jersey, was convicted by the federal jury of federal sex crime charges. He is to be sentenced in April. Top
US v J&J
Settlement
The company agreed to pay $9.75 million to settle allegations that a subsidy gave free products to a surgeon to use in Boston. The whistleblower got over $1 million on this case.
US v Berro
Convicted
Suzan Berro of Dearborn, Michigan, was convicted by a jury of fraud for providing fake names for a coupon scam to get money from pharmacies co-pay assistance programs.
US v Reid
Sentenced
Richard Reid of Astoria, Oregon, was sentenced to two years in prison. He had previously been convicted for getting almost $4 million in kickback payments by steering urine drug test specimens to labs.
US v Tauth
Settlement
Dr. Jeffery Tauth of Hot Springs, Arkansas, agreed to pay $900,000 to settle allegations that he placed unnecessary cardiac stents. This is the result of a National Park Medical Center agreeing to a settlement with the feds over this issue. The cardiologist states he did not do the things he is accused of doing.
US v Peripheral Vascular
Associates
USDC Texas
The court refused to reverse a jury decision against the medical group but changed th amount. A jury agreed with a whistleblower that the group erred in billing fed med for vascular ultrasounds prior to they being done. They were actually done at a later date. The original verdict was for at least $8.2 million plus statutory penalties of $21.8 million. The court will later tell the damages but the statutory penalties are good to go.
US v Goisse
Sentenced
Larry Goisse NP of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to 24 months in prison for illegally prescribing Aderall after his license had been revoked.
US v DePuy Synthes
Settlement
The subsidiary of J&J agreed to pay $9.75 million to settle allegations that they paid a surgeon to use their products. This is a qui tam procedure so the whistle blower, a former DuPuy sales rep, will get $1.37 million.
US v Savani Group
Indicted
The Pennsylvania dental group owners and others were indicted for fraud. They allegedly lied to authorities when recruiting foreign people to work for them. They allegedly said they were to serve as specialty occupations but only did office support.
US v Zarobliewicz, Fermin, Mirza
Indicted
Kuba Zarobliewicz of San Antonio, Texas and Anthony Fermin of Boca Raton, Florida were indicted for paying kickbacks to firms owned by Farrukh Mirza of Richmond Texas, for signed doctor's orders for DME. Top
US v Barnet Dulaney Perkins Eye
Centers
Settlement
The Southwest United States eye conglomerate agreed to pay $$950,000 to patients and a fine of $50,000 due to their refusal to operate on patients that needed to have help transferring from wheelchairs. They also required patients to pay for third party assistance for help. They had to enter a decree to end the policies.
US v North Memorial Health
Settlement
The Minneapolis, Minnesota, owner of two hospitals will pay $180,000 for failing to hire an applicant who is deaf for a greeter position and failing to provide reasonable accommodation. They also had to sign a consent decree agreeing to abide by the ADA.
Coast Surgical Center v Insurance
Companies
Filed
The Huntington Beach provider is suing insurance companies for either not paying for procedures the authorized or grossly changing the amount they pay.
US v Moore, Burgoyne , Flores
Indicted
Dr. Michael Moore and his two employees were indicted for fraud and conversion. They had a scheme where they ordered Covid vaccine from the government, dumped the vaccine and gave out fake Covid cards to adults. They also gave saline shots to minors instead of the vaccine.
Physicians v California
USDC
A judge has said the California law that was to combat Covid misinformation is illegal for being unconstitutionally vague. I could not agree more.
Bennett v Hurley Medical Center
Dismissed
Mia Bennett says she has generalized anxiety disorder and applied to be a nurse intern at the hospital and also applied for her to bring her service dog with her who senses an upcoming panic attack and allows Bennett to take medicine. Her application was approved but later revoked after a staff member and a patient had allergic reactions to the dog. She sued since her dog was a direct threat to staff and patients. Top
Patients v Logan Health Medical
Center
Settlement
Patients sued the Montana hospital for allowing breaching of their medical record system for the second time in three years. They paid a settlement of $4.2 million in 2020. This settlement is for $4.3 million plus attorney fees of one third plus costs not to exceed 150,000. Rebranding from Kalispell Regional Healthcare did not help their poor concern for security. Top
Settle v Charleston Area Medical
Center
Filed
Not wasting any time, while still in the hospital, Dallas Settle has filed suit against the hospital for lying about removing his appendix. He went to one hospital complaining of abdomen pain and was diagnoses with diverticulitis with rupture. They cold not operate on him so he was sent to Charleston Hospital. The following day he had an exploratory surgery and had an appendectomy performed. His condition continued to worsen with many complications and he had other exploratory surgeries performed. He was told later by his original physician, not the operating surgeon, that his appendix was never removed. He was eventually transferred to the Cleveland Clinic where he is still in residence.
Adams v Texas Health Presbyterian
hospital
Jury Decision
Judy Adams had back pain but need to make a long drive for a funeral. She went to Premier Interventional Pain Management for an epidural injection so she could make the trip to Ohio from Texas. The physician may have nicked a blood vessel so she could not feel her legs. After 90 minutes she was transferred to the hospital. The ED ordered a stat MRI in preparation for immediate surgery. The MRI was not started for over 90 minutes after the order and the surgery was not started until after 5 hours after admittance. This was a direct violation of policy. She is now paralyzed and in a wheelchair. She got $10.1 million.
Koel v Citizens Medical Center
D Kansas
Koel went to the ED of the hospital with a right eye injury. He lost vision in that eye and sued. During the pre-trial phase his attorney asked for the net worth of the ED physician and several others as they are suing for punitive damages under EMTALA. The court said this was OK but limited how much information they could receive and agreed to not release the information until after a ruling on the issue of punis.
Patients v J&J
3rd Circuit
The 3rd Circuit has tossed J&J's attempt at bankruptcy was not successful. It ruled that the subsidiary company that was spun out for the lawsuits still had access to the over $6 Billion of J&J. This means all the cases that alleged J&J's talcum powder gave them cancer can go back on the docket. This is an overturn of the bankruptcy judge. 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.