March 15, 2020 Recent Legal News
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California v Curtis
Arrested
Dr. Keith Curtis, a FP of Riverside, was arrested for possession of a controlled substance and illegally owning weapons.
US v Escobar
Indicted
Dr. Martin Escobar of Youngstown was indicted by a federal grand jury of distribution and dispensation of controlled substances. He was alleged to prescribe narcotics for illegal purposes. He is also accused of causing the deaths of two patients due to his prescribing patterns.
Ohio v Gupta
Arrested
Dr. Manish Gupta, a plastic surgeon from Sylvania, was arrested and accused of drugging women and molesting them.
Connecticut v Tripodi
Arrested
Dr. Guiseppi Tripodi, a surgeon in Middlebury, was arrested and charged with sexually assaulting a former employee.
US
v Brown
Sentenced
Sarah Brown, an ex RN from Acra, was sentenced to 2 and one half years in prison. She lied to a grand jury. She falsely told them she extorted money from her ex-lover Dr. Myra Mabry, an OB from Catskill. In reality Mabry paid Brown to say that in order for her to keep her license. Both women are addicts. They had a scheme were Mabry would write phony opioid prescriptions and Brown would pretend to be those people and get the prescriptions filled. Mabry was sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison.
Colorado v Ryan
Guilty
Dr. Mark Ryan, an anesthesiologist at Sky Ridge Medical Center plead guilty to felony assault and was sentenced to three years probation. He was turning off the alarms on the recovery machines when nurse Beth Duche asked him not to. He continued to do so and was again asked not to turn off the alarms. She was then choked by Dr. Ryan. Ryan has permanently given up his license to practice and will have his felony removed if successfully completes his probation. He is being sued civilly for this act.
US v Menez
Guilty
Dr. Eugenio Melez from Fairmont, West Virginia, plead guilty of trading pain pill prescriptions for sex. Top
US v Sandoz
Settlement
Novaritis, the head of Sandoz, agreed to pay $195 million to settle allegations that they fixed priced in a criminal indictment. They also have put aside an additional $185 million to settle future civil problems arising from the same facts.
US v Sanofi
Settlement
Sanofi has agreed to pay $11.9 million to settle allegations that they used a charity to help Medicare patients pay out of pocket costs as a way to pay kickbacks.
SEC v Cardinal Health
Settlement
The company has agreed to pay $8.8 million to settle allegations that they bribed Chinese government officials. It is alleged that the company did not do enough to oversee the their employees conduct.
US v Trina Health-WichitaNW
Settlement
The company and its owner have agreed to pay $775,000 for billing Medicare for its "artificial pancreas" treatments which could not be billed under the regs. They pulsed insulin IV weekly. It was supposed to be a remedy for neuropathy and retinopathy.
US v SpineFrontier
Accused
The company is accused of paying $8 million in kickbacks to physicians in sham consulting fees causing illegal revenue of $100 million. Five surgeons have so far agreed to pay fines for receiving the illegal kickbacks.
US v STG Healthcare of Atlanta
Settlement
The company and its execs agreed to pay $1.75 million to settle allegations that they submitted Medicare claims for people who were not eligible for hospice as well as paying physicians for referrals.
US v Abarientos
Settlement
Dr. Crispin Abarientos and his wife Dr. Antonieta Abarientos agreed to pay $4.9 million to settle allegations that they submitted false claims to Medicare and Medicaid for Remicade for patients not on the drug. They then infused the drug in patients who had better insurance and billed that insurance for the drug keeping all the profits. Top
Patients v Arizona
Arizona Supreme Court
The State high court voided an Arizona law that allowed hospitals to bill Medicaid patients for money collected after they have collected from Medicaid. This is against federal law according to the court. The hospitals had been placing liens on those responsible for the Medicaid patient's injury. No more. Top
US v Quest
Class Action
The company has agreed to pay $195,000 to settle a data breach in 2016. About 34,000 patients had their PMI compromised in the hack. Each patient is eligible for up to $325 in compensation. this settlement includes attorney fees.
Office of Civil Rights v Porter
Settlement
Dr. Steven Porter of Ogden, Utah agreed to pay a fine of $100,000 to settle allegations of a violation of HIPAA. Dr. Porter filed a breach report with the feds related to a dispute with a business associate. He had not done a risk assessment and implement security measures. He will now. Top
Bright v Sorenson
Utah Supreme Court
The state high court ruled that a fraud allegation suspended the state statute of limitations on med mal. This allows hundreds or a thousand med mal suits to be pursued. Dr. Sherman Sorenson, a Cardiologist in Salt Lake City, was accused of med mal for performing unnecessary patent foraman ovale and atrial septal defect closures. He had done this on about 000 patients.
Nguyen v Kim
Filed
Dr. Geoffrey Kim of Denver did a breast augmentation on 18 year old when she went into cardiac arrest. She was given anesthesia by a certified nurse anesthetist. Kim resuscitated the woman but failed to call 911 for five hours. She remains in a minimally conscious state unable to speak walk or feed herself. Kim admitted to unprofessional conduct and has his license on probation for three years. He must complete a program, an ethics program and only do surgery with a licensed anesthesiologist. 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.