March 1, 2022 Recent Legal News
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Colorado v Kim, Meeker
Arrested
Dr. Geoffrey Kim and NA Rex Meeker were arrested after an 18 year old died following being given anesthesia for a breast augmentation in 2019. Dr. Kim was charged with aggravated assault and criminally negligent homicide and Nurse Meeker was charged with manslaughter. They are accused of leaving her unattended for 15 minutes while under anesthesia during which time she went into cardiac arrest. It is also alleged that they waited five hours before calling 911. There is a separated malpractice case filed.
Florida v Nwabucko
Arrested
Dr. Onyekachi Nwabucko, an ER physician at UF Health, was arrested for battery. He believed a patient was faking her medical condition for hitting her in the face with her own hand. He did this by holding the hand over the face and letting it go. If a person is faking the condition they will usually move or stop the hand from hitting them. This person did neither. Top
US v Massachusetts General
Hospital
Settlement
The hospital paid $14.6 million to settle allegations that they billed for surgeries performed by trainees without proper supervision as the supervising surgeons were working in a different OR. This is the third time they have paid for this concurrent surgery. This claim is a qui tam by a anesthesiologist who just funded her retirement.
US v Triggs
Guilty
Anderson Triggs of Palm City, Florida admitted being part of a kickback scheme in Clifton, New Jersey, where a pharmacy paid kickbacks to physicians for writing prescriptions for high price compounded drugs.
US v Keepers
Guilty
Dr. Jerry Keepers of Kingwood, Texas plead guilty of soliciting and receiving bribes for writing false prescriptions for compounding drugs. He received money from OK Compounding.
US v Albin, Grapevine Billing and
Consulting
Settlement
Ted Albin and his company in Stuart, Florida, have agreed to pay $50,000 for violations of the False Claim Act. It is alleged that they provided consulting services to Arriva Medical and Alere, Inc., He was basically in charge of the reimbursement department and write off co-pays which was illegal. Alere had previously agreed to pay $160 million and Arriva's founders an additional $1 million.
US v Jones, Putulin
Sentenced
Jessica Jones of Lakewood Colorado and Elizabeth Putulin of Houston, Texas, were sentenced to three years supervised relaes and Jones was ordered to pay restitution of $8.6 million and Putulin $20.7 million. They were part of a ring that did a multi-state DME scam.
US v Brockton Urology Clinic
Settlement
The Massachusetts plumbers paid $100,000 to settle allegations that they were paid by a hospital for work never performed while referring patients to the hospital, a no no.
US v Escandon
Settlement
Dr. Jose Escandon, a GP in Mission, Texas, has agreed to pay $504,000 to settle allegations that he billed for unnecessary ultrasounds.
US v Alosa
Sentenced
Frank Alosa of Virginia Beach, Virginia, was sentenced to 51 months in prison for his role in a DME scheme to defraud Medicare. He was convicted of purchasing orders for unnecessary DME and then submitting the billing for same.
US v LaParl
Sentenced
Nathan LaParl of Boca Raton, Florida, was sentenced to three years probation for his part in a DME scheme. He received kickbacks for calling people and getting demographics which he sold to another. He was also required to pay $220,000.
US v Hoffberg
Sentenced
Dr. Howard Hoffberg of Reisterstown, Maryland, was sentenced to 8 months in prison and one year of supervised release for accepting money to prescribe Subsys. He got the money as honoraria for speaking about the drug.
US v Ateeq
Sentenced
Muhammad Ateeq of Pakistan was sentenced to 12 years in prison and ordered to repay $48 million. He worked in Islamabad in an office that controlled Medicare billing for over 20 home health agencies. He caused the agencies to submit fraudulent claims for services no rendered.
US v Geriatric & Adult
Psychiatry
Settlement
Dr. Alan Siegal and his LLC agreed to pay $311,000 for allegations that he employed an person who was excluded from all fe med. He hired excluded Dr. Eric Ressner as the clinic director of the LLC. Siegal used money obtained from seeing Medicare patients to pay Ressner. Top
Carmen v Health Carousel
Filed
Three Filipino RNs sued the company for being duped. They say the company forces them into "slave labor" by not counting overtime and orientation sessions toward their required commitment period. These women are recruited from the Philippines to work in US hospitals. They can not leave the company until they pay a required amount and sues those who leave the company anyway.
US and States v J&J, Cardinal
Health, AmerisourceBergan, McKesson
Settlement
The companies agreed to pay $25 Billion split between basically all counties and states in th country for their role in the opioid epidemic. The companies felt it was okay to settle as enough had agreed to settle and not sue independently.
US v UnitedHealth, Change
Healthcare
Filed
The feds sued to stop the takeover by UnitedHealth. It remains to be seen if the takeover will occur or will it be fought in court.
Washington v Providence
Filed
The state has sued the hospital conglomerate for their collection tactics and their failure to ensure discounts for eligible low income people.
Texas Medical Association v Biden
Judge
A Texas federal judge has ruled the the administration reg that determines how much an insurer will pay the physician for surprise billing is unconstitutional. Top
Apuri v Parkview Health Sys
Ind. Ct App.
Dr. Bhaktavatsala Apuri did not have his privileges renewed at the hospital due to documented complaints. He sued in federal court on the civil complaints and lost and then sued in state court for breach of contract etc. The trial court said nope due to HCQIA. The appellate court agreed. 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.