March 15, 2022 Recent Legal News
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US v Titus
Sentenced
Dr. Patrick Titus of Milford, Delaware, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for unlawful drug distribution. He had an internal med practice where he prescribed high doses of the dangerous narcotics in exchange for cash.
US v Navarro
Sentenced
Dr. Emilio Navarro of Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to 18 months in prison and three years supervised release plus a fine of $5000 for prescribing narcotics in exchange for sex. Top
US v Multiple People
Sentenced
Sixteen Michigan and Ohio defendants were sentenced for their part in illegally prescribing controlled substances to individuals after making them agree to unneeded facet joint injections. They forfeited over $16 million in fraud proceeds. Those sentenced included 12 physicians. They were Drs. Spilios Pappas 9 years in prison and pay over $32 million in restitution; Tarq Omar 8 years in prison and pay over $24 million in restitution; Joseph Betro 9 years in prison and restitution of over $27 million; Mohammed Zahoor 8 years in prison and over $36 million; Zahid Sheikh 70 months in prison and over $2 million; Abdul Haq 4 years in prison and over $6 million; Steven Adamczyk 42 months in prison and over $1.2 million; David Weaver 3 years in prison and $220,000; Glenn Sapperstein 20 month in prison and over $2 million; Manish Bolina 20 months in prison and $311,000; Hussein Saad 10 months in prison and $415,000; David Yangouyian 6 months in prison and $35,000. Also sentenced were Mashiyat Rashid to 15 years in prison and over $51 million; Yousef Almatrahi 3 years in prison and over $1.3 million; Hina Qazi 18 months in prison and $877,000; and Joshua Burns one day in prison and $144,000.
US v Barnard
Guilty
Dr. Morris Barnard of Great Neck, New York, plead guilty of fraud for billing for GI procedures never performed.
US v Murphy
Convicted
Dr. Mark Murphy and his wife Jennifer of Lewisburg, Tennessee, were convicted of billing for unnecessary procedures and pre-signing prescriptions for narcotics.
US v Kesten
Sentenced
Dr. Jeffery Kesten of Evergreen, Colorado, was sentenced to 24 months in prison for taking bribes from Insys for the prescribing of Subsys.
US v Seid, Cracchiolo
Indicted
Zachary Seid and Anthony Cracchiolo of Florida were arrested for illegally obtaining prescriptions for DME and billing for DME not needed nor used.
States v Purdue Pharma
Settlement
A new settlement was accepted by the judge. This raised the amount the Sacklers pay by $2 Billion to $6 Billion. It also does not include a blanket immunity from criminal suit.
US v Haggerty,Jr.
Guilty
Dennis Haggery, Jr. of Burr Ridge, Illinois, plead guilty to fraud for swindling a hospital out of $2.45 million by selling PPE but not delivering the product.
US v Mallinckrodt ARD
Settlement
The company agreed to pay $260 million to settle allegations that they underpaid rebates to state Medicaid programs and using a foundation to illegally pay co-pays subsidies. This was a qui tam case for the whistleblowers will bet over $30 million.
US v Chu
Convicted
A jury convicted Dr. Alice Chu, a rheumatologist of Fort Lee, New Jersey, for billing for expensive infusions she never purchased.
US v Goyal
Sentenced
Dr. Ameet Goyal, an ophthalmologist in Rye, New York, was sentenced to 96 months in prison for upcoding and for fraudulently obtaining small business loans. He also was ordered to forfeit $3.6 million and pay an additional $3.6 million in restitution.
US v Penn State University
Settlement
The University agreed to pay $900,000 to settle allegation that they billed for services not substantiated and improper billing in regard to the supervision of doctoral students.
US v Antenor, Contreras, Black
Arrested
Dr. Victor Contreras and Callie Black of the Lancaster, California, area were arrested for allegedly being part of a scheme to defraud Medicare. The third defendant Juanita Antenor is believed to be in the Philippines. Allegedly Antenor owned hospice units and paid bribes to Black for patients while Contreras allegedly lied regarding certifying the patients for the hospices.
US v Redwood Toxicology Laboratory
Settlement
The Santa Rosa, California lab agreed to pay almost $5 million to settle allegations that they violated the Connecticut Most Favored Nation rule by charging more than they should for certain tests.
Class v Sutter Health
Defense Verdict
A federal jury said Sutter Health did not abuse market power to drive up costs for consumers. The month long class action trial ended in a vindication for the health company allowing all providers to have a right to participate or not in networks. Top
Patients v Ascension Michigan
To Be Filed
The system finally found someone had hacked the system several months after the fact. This affected over 27,000 records. They are now conducting a review of internal controls. Poor!
Patients v Montrose Regional
Health
To Be Filed
For two months an email breech went undetected at this institution. They still do not know what information was hacked on these 53,000 records. Top
Rogers v Roseville SH
Ca Ct App
In another victory for the patient the court agreed that the arbitration agreement signed on entry into the facility by the patient's son was not valid. The patient died of heatstroke after being left outside. The family sued and the facility moved to compel arbitration. The son said that even though he signed the papers the patient could read, wrote and sign documents on his own behalf. The son was not authorized to sign on the father's behalf.
Lopez v Ledesma
California Supreme Court
Two PAs failed to diagnose a malignant melanoma on an infant. The mother sued the physicians and the PAs for med mal. The court found for Lopez and reduced her noneconomic claim from over $4 million to the MICRA amount of $250,000. On appeal it was argued that since the were inadequately supervised the conduct was outside the scope of services for which the provider was licensed. The Court of appeal agreed with the lower court. The Supreme Court also agreed since there was a legally enforceable agency relationship with a supervising physician.
Pappas v Chang
Ca Ct App
Dr. Chang operated on Pappas and an arbitration of a med mal claim ensued. The settlement contained the following: Chang would pay $100,000, mutual confidentiality, Pappas would release all claims and parties would execute a formal and more comprehensible settlement agreement. This did not occur as Pappas objected that confidentiality would prevent her from filing a complaint with the Medical Board and the payment of $29,000 by the carrier and the rest by Dr. Chang personally was designed to get round the Medical Board reporting. Pappas then sued for breach of contract to enforce the initial settlement agreement and lost the case. She appealed and the higher court affirmed. 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.