January 15, 2022 Recent Legal News
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York, Maine v Brennan
Settlement
Dr. Stephen Brennan of Cape Neddick, Maine was paid $325,000 by the York police for their treatment of him during a routine traffic stop. He was pulled over for failure to dim his high beams and then ws subjected to an attack by a police dog. The dash camera showed the truth and not what the police said.
Nevada v Dennis
Guilty
Dr. Gregory Dennis plead guilty of killing his wife by giving her a deadly coctail of painkillers and antifreeze. He plead guilty to take the death penalty off the table.
US v Belfiore
Sentenced
Dr. Michael Belifiore of Long Island was sentenced to 23 years in prison for causing the deaths of two patients due his his illegal prescribing of Oxycodone. He also had to pay $7270 in fees he got from the two patients and pay $17,000 in costs. During the trial his medical license lapsed. Top
US v Jackson
Indicted
Dr. Anita Jackson, an ENT in Raleigh, North Carolina, was indicted for illegally billing for balloon sinuplasty. She did not have her patients pay the copays and reused the balloons, a single use item.
US v Holmes
Guilty
Elizabeth Holmes, the former CEO of Thernos, was found guilty in 4 of 11 charges of wire fraud on her investors. She was found not guilty on four counts of defrauding patients. The remaining counts were undecided.
US v Integrated Pain Associates,
Central Texas Day Surgery Center
Settlement
The entities agreed to pay $836,000 to resolve allegations that they overbilled fed med for injections and ablations. It was alleged that they billed for more units or levels than actually performed.
US v Hagen
Sentenced
Leah Hagen and her husband Michael Hagen of Arlington, Texas, owned DME companies. They were convicted of paying kickbacks for doctor orders for DME equipment. She was sentenced to 151 months in prison. the two were also order to repay $27 million in restitution.
US v Marchetti
Convicted
Vincent Marchetti, Jr. of Coronado, California, was convicted of paying and receiving kickbacks for pharmacogenomic testing.
US v Academy Health Care Services
Settlement
The Columbus, Ohio, company agreed to cease operations and pay $500,000 to settle allegations that they billed for services at a higher level than provided.
US v VanPelt (Corkrum)
Sentenced
Hunter VanPelt AKA Ellen Corkrum, was sentenced to 41 months in prison for submitting false PPP loan applications to four different lenders in behalf of companies that she owned or controlled.
US v 13 Defendants
Indicted
Thirteen people were indicted in a scheme to defraud insurance companies using no fault insurance in New York state. Thos indicted included physicians and lawyers. The first major indictment (Gulkarov) centered around the fraud of owning medical practices. The owners then billed foor unnecessary and excessive medical treatments. They bribed runners who interned bribed 911 operators and others for information of accident victims. Also indicted was one police officer who logged on to police computers on off hours to find auto accidents. The other indictment (Pierre) charged others who also owned medical clinics and also an MRI scanner. They are accused of the same type of crimes.
US v Foot Care Store dba Dia-Foot
Settlement
The Wellington, Florida, based company agreed to pay $5.5 million to settle allegations that they sold custom made diabetic shoe inserts but in fact sold generic foot inserts.
Massachusetts v Home Heath VNA
Settlement
The company paid $630,000 to settle allegations that they billed for services not authorized by physicians.
US v Interventional Pain
Management Center, Poonia
Settlement
The New Jersey company and its owner Dr. Amit Poonia have agreed to pay $7.4 million to settle allegations that they used and billed for P-Stim treatments which are acupuncture and therefore not reimbursable.
Members v UnitedHealth
Settlement
In a class action suit UnitedHealth agreed to pay it affected members $10 million to settle allegations that they reduced out of network payments to mental health providers causing the members to pay more.
US v UC San Diego Health
Settlement
The academic health system paid $2.98 million to settle allegations that they ordered unnecessary medical genetic testing. Top
OCR v The Oaks, Life Care centers
of America
Settlement
The Massachusetts skilled nursing facility will pay $5000 in penalties due to not admitting a patient because he was taking medicine to treat Opioid Use Disorder. They also will have to change their policies.
DOJ v Adventist Health Systems
georgia
Settlement
The hospitals will pay $50,000 to the harmed patient and an additional $10,000 to the patient's companion. They did not provide a deaf patient an interpreter for labor and delivery and she was forced to lip read or relay on her companion.
Saint Francis Hospital v Hartford
Healthcare
Filed
Saint Francis sued its rival complaining that the monopolized regional care when they purchased physician practices and they demanded that these practices refer all cases to them. The practices were those that had previously referred patients to Saint Francis.
Ohio v OSHA
United States Supreme Cpourt
The high court voted 6-3 to toss the Biden administration edict to mandate Covid vaccinations in large businesses (over 100 employees). This ruling is temporary until the rule works its way through judicial system.
Biden v Missouri
United States Supreme Court
At the same time as the above case the court allowed the administration edict on vaccination in health care to proceed while the case wends its way throught he courts.
Walecki v Broward Health
Filed
A potential class action dsuit has been filed against the Florida company after a cyber-attack exposed over one million patients health information in October, 2021. Top
Smith v Dignity Health, St. Rose
Dominical Hospital
Filed
The parents of Brayden Smith, a one time Jeopardy contestant, filed suit against multiple parties after their son died post operatively. He had surgery to remove his ulcerative colitis colon. The parents claim he should have been give anticoagulants to prevent blood clots which killed him three weeks post operatively. Top
Jordan v Northern Light Eastern
Maine Medical Center
DC Maine
Burt Jordan,DDS. a pediatric dentist was removed from the staff of the hospital after a peer review hearing on his quality of work and he was reported to the NPDB. He sued on abuse of peer review and violation of the Whistleblower Act. He lost. He did not cite any state laws (federal court), he did not cite any evidence that he was denied due process, he failed to file under the statute of limitations for the Whistleblower Act and under the defamation claims. No leave to amend.
Faber v Mountain States Physician
group
DC WD Virginia
Dr. Raymond Faber was a hospitalist working at Johnston Memorial Hospital. He was terminated after three years due to inability to get along with his fellow physicians. He would not admit patient from the ED stating that it would be Medicare fraud to do so. He sued alleging retaliatory discharge but failed to prove same.
Khalil v Oakwood Healthcare
6th Circ
Dr. Ali El-Khalil did not have his privileges renewed and sued claiming it was due to his whistleblowing. The problem is that he filed this claim over three years later, past the statute of limitations. He lost in lower court and now in the 6th Circuit on the issue of being time barred. 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.