February 15, 2019 Recent Legal News
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Tennessee v Vaught
Indicted
A Vanderbilt University nurse Radonda Vaught is being railroaded by a prosecutor with too much time or political ambitions. The nurse erred and gave a patient the wrong med. She gave vecuronium, a paralyzer, instead of Versed for claustrophobia. The nurse got the med via a med machine in error. The patient was in a MRI machine for 30 minutes before anyone realized she was not breathing. The patient died the following day. This is a tragic error, not criminal. No res mensa. Top
US v Ramirez
Sentenced
Dr. John Ramirez of Houston was sentenced to 25 years for defrauding Medicare. He signed fale documents for patients to get un-needed home health. His co-conspirator was sentenced to 30 years in prison and to repay $20 million.
US v Do
Sentenced
Dr. Anh Do of Houston was sentenced to 36 months in prison and to repay $1.8 million for also signing false medical docs to get patients to have un-needed home health services.
US v Conway Lakes NC,LLC
Settlement
The Orlando, Florida, company and its principals agreed to pay $1.5 million to resolve allegations that it was involved with illegal kickbacks. The company allegedly paid orthopod Dr. Kenneth Krumins to refer patients to the company for rehab. This also settles a similar complaint against Krumins with another home health agency.
US v Inform Diagnostics
Settlement
The Irving, Texas, pathology company will pay the feds $63.5 million for giving kickbacks to referring physicians in the form of discounted or free technology services including EMR systems.
US v Iyer
Sentenced
Dr. Jayam Iyer of Clearwater, Florida, to six months in the pokey and to forfeit $52,000 as well as lose her DEA license for the next 20 years. She ran a pain management program that billed for face to face visits when none occured. She then issued Schedule ii meds to family members.
US v Pentec Health
Settlement
The Pennsylvania compounding pharmacy agreed to pay $17 million to settle allegations that illegally waived copays and deductibles to get patients to obtain the compounded drug Proplete. They also were accused of duplicate and improperly coding claims.
US v Union General Hospital
Settlement
The Blairsville, Georgia, hospital agreed to pay $5 million to settle allegations it paid physiians for referral and then billed for those services.
US v Greenway Health
Settlement
The Tampa EMR developer agreed to pay $57.25 million to settle allegations that they caused their users to file false claims by misrepresenting the capabilities of their system and providing pay to have them use and recommend the system. The feds claim that Greenway falsely obtained certification for its "Prime Suite" EMR.
US v Nikpavar-Fard
Indicted
Fourteen people in the Philadelphia area including Drs. Mehdi Nikpavar-Fard, Vincent Thopson, Loretta Brown, Fredrick Reichle, Marcus Avrom Brown, William Demedio and Neil Cutter were indicted for running pill mills in the area. they are charged with conspiring to distribute narcotics.
US v Fishman
Settlement
Drs. Craig Fishman and Jeffery Sheridan ophthalmologists in Florida agreed to pay $157,000 to settle allegations that they committed fraud by billing for eyelid repair surgeries that were mutually exclusive. The suit was initiated by a former partner.
US v Aboshady
Sentenced
Dr. Moustafa Aboshady of Lake Frest, California, was sentenced to 75 months in prison and to pay restitution of $1,852,459 for making false statements by fabricating patient records in Massachusetts in the now defunct New England Pain Management Associates, Inc. His co conspirator Dr. Fathalla Mashali had been previously sentenced to 8 years.
US v Tennessee Health
Management
Settlement
The company did not have each patient who entered their nursing homes evaluated by a physiian as required by law. they will pay $9.7 million. Top
American Beverage Assn. v San
Francisco
9th Circuit
The liberal 9th Circuit for the second time shot down San Francisco's law requiring warnings on sod and other sugary drinks. They, for the second time, ruled this is free speech and the law was not based on established fact.
Maryland v US
Dismissed
A federal judge tossed the suit by the Maryland Attorney General to declare Ocare constitutional. The judge tossed the case since there was no impending harm.
Athena Diagnostics v Mayo
Collaborative services
DC Circuit
A patent for a method of diagnosing via antibodies was given to Quest's Athena unit. They sued Mayo for royalties whcih Mayo won in the lower courts. they argued one could not patent a law of nature, the correlation between certain antibodies and myasthenia gravis. The appellate court voted 2-1 with Mayo. This is an important case and it should require Congress to pass a law determining which diagnostic tests can be patented.
New York v BronxCare Health System
Settlement
The hospital agreed to repay to all billed for rape kits the full price plus a little for the state. They illegally billed patients for rape kits and physician fees.
Physicians v American Board of
Internal Medicine
Filed
A class action law suit against the ABIM for its MOC rules has now been amended to include racketeering and unjust enrichment claims under RICO. Top
Office of Civil Rights v Cottage
Health
Settlement
This settlement of the payment of $3 million by the hospital for breaching of information of over 62,000 people. What is new is that the OCR has announced that in 2018 they collected in 10 cases with vastly larger amounts paid. Top
Santa Clara County v Becerra
Bankruptcy Judge
The California Attorney General lost big. He attempted to stop the purchase of two private hospitals by the county. The judge wrote he no power to regulate the deal and the county could purchase the hospitals. The state attorney will now ask a federal court to stay the sale.
Pennsylvania v UPMC
Filed
The state AG sued to pressure UPMC into taking Highmark patients. He accused UPMC of being out of compliance with the state's public charities law. Top
Pinilla v US
4th Circuit
The plaintiff was born on July4, 2010 with shoulder dystocia at a federal cooperative by a federal employee. A suit was filed three years after the birth when it was found the injuries were permanent. the lower court dismissed the suit under the statute of limitations but the 4th overturned that stating the statute did not start until the permancy of the injuries was verified by experts not lay knowledge.
Norman v Anderson Regional Medical
Center
Mississippi Supreme Court
Norman had a cardiac cath and afterwards had signs of a stroke. The wife told the nurses who failed to notify the physician and when he found out 7.5 hours later it was too late to administer tPA. He had permanent damage and died after going to a nursing home. The hospital agreed the nurses were negligent but they argued that giving tPA was not an option as Norman was not a candidate. The plaintiff experts opined that if given tPA Norman would have had over a 50% chance of better outcome. The hospital argued the medical literature only supported a 10% chance. The trial court excluded the expert opinion and awarded the judgment to the hospital and the high court affirmed
Jefferson Hospital Association v
Smith
Ark App Ct
In February 2014 Smith had a CT with contrast and had an allergic reaction at Jefferson. About six months later she again had a CT scan with contrast and died as a direct result. Jefferson was sued as were multiple individuals. Plaintiff moved to compel discovery of a global report on the incident. Jefferson refused stating it was privileged for the use of the QA committee. The trial court said that the report should be given to the plaintiff since no QA or other per review meeting was convened. The appeals court reversed stating a meeting is not a prerequisite for privilege.
Does v USC
Filed
The bandwagon has been jumped on. Six male graduate students have filed suit accusing another USC physician, now retired, of making demeaning remarks, harassment and sexual battery. The battery is doing rectal exams that they say were not needed. They want money for negligent hiring of this physician many many years ago. None of these "victims" had reported anything to USC nor to the police. The physician states that dog a rectal swab is standard practice when inspecting for venereal warts.
Reed v Ascension Columbia St.
Mary's Hospital
7th Circuit
Reed sued the hospital for discrimination under the ADA when she claims the hospital took away her communication device she need to help her communicate when she was a patient. The district court dismissed the case when the hospital said it had a religious exemption to the ADA and that the patient was put into seclusion for reasons other than her disability. The 7th Circuit re-instated the case stating there had not been enough discovery to make any judgments. Top
Economy v Sutter East Bay
Hospitals
Ca App Ct
Dr. Kenneth Economy was employed by East Bay Anesthesiology Medical Group working at Sutter East Bay Hospital. The state public health department made an unannounced inspection and found Dr. Economy was responsible for deficiencies regarding one drug. He went through a mandated course and was readmitted to the staff. Then a pharmacy manger that Economy broke rules regarding administrating meds. He was taken off the schedule and asked to resign by his medical group. He refused and was fired. Economy then sued Sutter for removing him from the schedule before giving him his required due process. At trial Economy won and was awarded $4 million. Sutter appealed and lost. They violated the very tenet of due process.
Henry v Adventist Health Castle
Medical Center
D Hawaii
Dr. David Henry, a Caucasian surgeon, had his privileges removed and sued for discrimination under Title VII. The dumb attorney forgot that one can not sue under this if you are not an employee and Dr. Henry was an independent practitioner. He tried to make him employee by stating his on call contract made him an employee. Did not fly.
Odrzywolski v Auburn Community
Hospital
Filed
Dr. Karen Odrzywolski is suing the hospital for retaliation after she says she complained about a physician harming patients. She, among many other, complained about the care by Dr. Barnett, an intensivist. He no longer works at the hospital. That is not surprising since a state investigation uncovered the hospital did nothing regarding the many complaints against the physician until the story came out about the delay. She is the second person who was retaliated against by the hospital as Dr. Gregory Serfer also claims in a suit that he complained about Barnett and was retaliated against. It sounds like the hospital may be wise to strike a deal.
Hoover v St. John's Pleasant
Valley Hospital
Jury
The California hospital lost $1.03 decision for discrimination. The former radiology tech got the money after the hospital failed to make reasonable accommodations for her on the job injury and eventually fired her. The hospital said they accommodated her by a leave of absence and that she could not perform the essential job functions. This is another Dignity Health hospital.
Harris v University of
Pennsylvania
Filed
Harris was a anesthesiology tech at the hospital who developed breast cancer. She had been off work for nine months for her radiation and chemo therapy and asked for 27 more days as requested by her oncologist. She was then fired and her slot filled. 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.