January 15, 2023 Recent Legal News
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US v Ruan, Couch
11th Circuit
Drs. Xiulu Ruan and John Couch had been previously convicted of running pill mills and are serving 20 year sentences in prison. They had appealed their convictions for unlawfully prescribing substances to the US Supreme Court and won. The high court said that jury instructions were wrong. The 11th then knocked out the convictions for illegal dispensing but not the convictions for conspiring to violate the CSA, racketeering and accepting kickbacks. The DA must now decide whether to retry or go straight to re-sentencing.
US v Hess
Sentenced
Megan Hess of Montrose, Colorado, was sentenced to 20 years in prison. She and her mother had been convicted of chopping up bodies in their funeral home and selling the body parts.
California v Patel
Arrested
Dr. Dharmesh Patel of Pasadena was accused of attempted murder for driving his Tesla intentionally off a cliff with another adult and two children inside. All were alive after the Devil's Slide fall.
Illinois v Cadigan, Finley
Arrested
EMTs Peter Cadigan and Peggy Finley were arrested on first degree murder. A patient incorrectly placed the patient prone on a paramedic stretcher with a medical strap across his back. He died shortly after arriving at the hospital. The autopsy stated that the patient died from "compressional and positional asphyxia due to prone face-down restraint on a paramedic transportation stretcher by tightened straps across the back"
US v Flynn
Convicted
Dr. Freeda Flynn of St. Clairsville, Ohio, was convicted of prescribing narcotics without a legitimate medical reason. She has previously had her license revoked and has given up her DEA number.
US v Robinson
Sentenced
Trevor Robinson of Olathe, Kansas, was sentenced to 11 years in prison. He was the owner of a Suboxone outpatient clinic but was also in possession of illegal drugs and was convicted of methamphetamine trafficking.
Great Briton v Alemi
On Trial
Zholia Alemi, from Iran, went to school in New Zealand but never passed her exams so never graduated. She came to Great Britain and allegedly forged documents good enough for her to become a physician in the country. Actually the forgeries had many errors but they were not picked up ty the NIH. She practiced for 20 years as a psychiatrist and even passed her Royal College of Psychiatrist exams after several attempts. Top
US v Bernard
Sentenced
Dr. Morris Bernard of Great Neck, New York, was sentenced to 30 months in prison. He earlier had plead guilty of health care fraud. He had billed for over $3 million in procedures that were never performed. He was also ordered to pay restitution of $1.4 million which he received illegally.
US v El-Khashab
Settlement
Dr. Amr El-Khashab, a podiatrist in Cypress, Texas, agreed to pay $900,000 to settle allegations that he and his previous employer Dr. Judith Rubin billed fed med for the surgical implantation of neurostimulators when in fact they only did electro-acupuncture.
US v Jet Medical
Settlement
Pennsylvania based Jet Medical agreed to pay $200,000 to settle criminal charges plus an additional $550,000 to settle civil charges. These were related to the introduction into interstate commerce a device that had never been tested and had not been approved by the FDA. How stupid must they be?
US v Ligotti
Sentenced
Dr. Michael Ligotti of Delray Beach, Florida, was the medical director of about 50 sober home or other facilities. He signed orders for unneeded urine tests which were billed to fed med. He was also ordered to give up his medical license.
US v Pandya
Settlement
Dr. Aarti Pandya of Georgia will pay $1.85 million to settle allegations that she did tests and surgeries that were not medically necessary along with elevating office visit codes. This is a qui tam filed by a former employee. Pandya also lost her ability to bill fed med for two years while the settlement was pursued. She can now bill fed med again but forfeited the money she would have billed. Top
Patients v CommonSpirit Health
Filed
A class action suit was filed against the Chicago company by a patient for failure of implementation and following basic security procedures to protect PMI.
Patients v Memorial Health System
To Be Filed
The Lake Charles, Louisiana, company announced that someone had hacked and obtained files from their network.
US v Life Hope Labs
Settlement
The Sandy Springs, Georgia, lab agreed to pay $16,500 for refusing to provide access to a copy of her deceased father's medical records.
Roe v Phillips County Hospital
Kansas Supreme Court
The Supreme Court ruled must provide the patient access to her EHR records in their native digital format. The hospital only wanted to give her paper records. Top
Bowman v Pergolizzi
Va Ct. App
Bowman had a hemorrhagic stroke that left her permanently impaired. She was referred to Dr. Richard Pergolizzi who recommended a procedure to treat a brain aneurysm. He did mention pre-op to just watch since he thought the aneurysms had ruptured. Prior to her date for the procedure he had the return of her terrible headaches and she went through the procedure as an emergency. She then sued for failure of informing her of alternative procedures. The trial court awarded her $3 million. The court of appeals, fortunately for the physician, reversed.
McGovern v BHC Fremont Hospital
Ca App Ct
McGovern was attacked and injured by a fellow patient at the hospital. Her attorney sent a letter to the hospital to preserve the evidence and then filed suit. The hospital moved to squash due to the statute of limitations. The court agreed and MCgovern appealed. The court of appeal agreed that the letter sent by the attorney was not a notice of intent to sue and therefore did not toll the statute of limitations. Legal malpractice?
Dominquez v Bonta
Ca App Ct
The heirs of a deceased patient sued for med mal and also filed against the state challenging two med mal statutes. The court ruled the malpractice plaintiffs lacked standing to sue on this MICRA challenge. 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.