May 15, 2023 Recent Legal News
 | |
| |
| |
| |
|
Virginia v Ball
Indicted
Dr. Kirsten Van Steenberg Ball was indicted on 21 counts of illegally distributing narcotics. She was investigated by the Virgina Medical Board in 2014-15 for her prescribing of narcotics and had to do a 20 hour class. She along with her office manager Candie Calix were accused of the foul play. Calix is now serving seven years in prison.
US v Cheatham
Sentenced
Mary Cheatham RN of Ypsilanti, Michigan, was sentenced to four years in prison for tampering with vials of hydromorhone. She took the medicine to use on herself and replaced it with saline.
US v Jankowski
Sentenced
David Jankowski MD of Bingham Farms, Michigan, was sentenced to 20 years in prison along with forfeiture of $35 million and restitution of $5.2 million. This followed a jury trial where he was found guilty of illegal distribution of narcotics. He also billed for services done by another.
Arizona v Lopez
Arrested
Jose Lopez was arrested for impersonating a physician. He was in Lake Havasu City and did this from 2017 to 2021.
US v McCallum
Guilty
Kelly McCallum RN of Dyersberg, Tennessee, plead guilty of charges of having sex with two patients to whom she was suppling narcotics along with prescribing unneeded narcotics.
US v Patel
Indicted
Dr. Rajesh Patel working at the VA in Decatur, Georgia, was indicted for sexually abusing women at the facility. Top
US v Aronowitz
Settlement
Dr. Joel Aronowitz along with his son Daniel Aronowitz of California, agreed to pay $23.9 million to settle allegations athat they falsely billed for skin graft [procedures. He reused portions and billed for them instead to discarding them. They are barred from billing fed med.
US v Yasin
Guilty
Dr. Fares Yasin of of Dearborn, Michigan plead guilty to charges of fraud. He was on the do not bill fed med list but did illegally by using others numbers. He will forfeit $367,000 in cash seized.
US v Thillainathan
Sentenced
Dr. Aanathakumar Thillainathan was sentenced to 48 month in prison along with restitution of $1.7 million. He plead guilty of fraud by billing for psychotherapy sessions not supported by medical records and billed for employees 60 minute sessions when they only spent a very short time with patients or none at all. He also paid for referrals to patient recruiting companies.
US v Dodson
Guilty
Dr. James Dodson of Clarksville, Tennessee, plead guilty of fraud for billing for services he did not provide along with falsely stating tat other providers in his practice were certified when they were not.
US v McGlukin
Indicted
Interventional radiologist Dr. James McGlukin of Radnor, Pennsylvania, was indicted on charges of billing fed med for medically unneeded procedures. He is accused of unnecessary peripheral vascular leg procedures for MS. This is a qui tam case by another physician who was in his practice.
US v Al-Atat, Abdul-Sater
Settlement
Drs. Fadi El-Atat and Sarah Abdul-Sater of the Newark, New Jersey area agreed to pay $1 million to settle allegations that they performed unnecessary procedures and billed for those procedures. They were accused of doing unnecessary balance tests, pulmonary function tests, allergy tests, autonomic nerve tests, and cardiology ultrasound tests. This is a qui tam case.
US v Yale New Haven, Northeast Medical Group
Settlement
Yale and its physician association agreed to pay $560,000 to settle allegations that they billed for physician work when it was actually done by advanced practitioners and should have been reimbursed at a lower rate. This is a qui tam case.
US v Jayaswal
Guilty
Dr. Gautam Jayaswal of Overland Park, Kansas, plead guilty to charges of ordering unnecessary othopedic equipment doing telemedicine. He also signed orders for unnecessary genetic testing.
Greene v Philip Morris
Massachusetts Supreme Court
Patricia Greene sued Philip Morris in 2015 after she developed cancer following switching from Marlboro Red to Marlboro Light. she thought the Light was less dangerous. The Court said unanimously that she might have smoked less or quit sooner had she not been swayed by Philip Morris claims that Lights were safer. In fact they Light was more likely to cause DNA damage that can lead to cancer.
US v Kazkaz, Khalei, Hares, Letman, Ali
Indicted
Mohamed Kazkaz, Ziad Khalei, Dr. Mustafa Hares, Geraldine Letman and Gamela Ali of Michigan, were indicted for allegedly falsifying records and billing for procedures never performed.
US v Mitchell
Sentenced
Kenneth Mitchell DPM of Michigan was sentenced to seven years in prison for billing for podiatry work after he was suspended from fed med. He billed under another's license number.
US v Llewellyn
Settlement
Dr. Evelyn Llewellyn, a psychologist in Greenwich, Connecticut, agreed to pay $658,294 to settle allegations that she allowed her husband another psychologist to bill for her for services never performed. The husband has plead guilty and will be sentenced later. Top
Envision Healthcare v UnitedHealthcare
Arbitration
United Healthcare was ordered to pay $91 million to Envision for reducing reimbursement ratres. Interest and attorney fees will come later.
Gahl v Aurora Health Care
Wisconsin Supreme Court
The nephew of a patient with Covid sued the hospital to require them to give the uncle ivermectin. The County court originally ordered the injection but then altered the order to require Gahl or find an outside credentialed physician to provide the injection. The uncle recovered. The Supreme Court ruled that the order was wrong since no citation was given as a foundation for the ruling.
Salim v Blue Cross
5th Circuit
Robert Salim had Blue Cross insurance and was diagnosed later with throat cancer. His physician wanted him to have Proton therapy but wass denied as not medically necessary. Salim went through all the appeals and then sued. The lower court entered summary judgment for Salim and Blue Cross appealed. The Fifth Circuit agreed with the district court and now Blue Cross is to pay the bills along with legal fees. Top
Doe v Lehigh Valley health Network
Dropped
The woman who sued the hospital to pay the $5 million ransom to hackers who threatened to put her medical pictures on line was dropped after the judge asked why Lehigh should comply with an illegal act or pay an illegal ransom. Top
Patients v Moore
Filed
To date 83 women have filed suit against Dr. William Moore, a retired OB/GYN in Marion, Indiana. He is accused of photographing women's genitalia without their permission plus doing pelvic exams without gloves and doing unneeded medical tests. The problem is a little thing called the statute of limitations.
Kekula v Boston Children's Hospital
Settlement
A jury awarded the parents of 6-month old Jackson Kekula $15 million. He came to the hospital for a car seat test and an inpatient sleep apnea study in the NICU due to his achrondroplasia. He apparently was without oxygen for about 20 minutes leaving him with brain damage and on life support. The parents eventually took him off life support and he passed. During the test his oxygen sats fell and the people were worried about the equipment and ignored the patient.
Galligan v Essentia Health
Verdict
A jury found in favor of the plaintiff for thee sum of $19 million. The now 10 year old newborn went home after a few days when the mother took the newborn to the clinic for crying, not eating and feeling feverish. He was seen by a physician who diagnosed overfeeding and sent him home. The nurse on a follow-up appointment was concerned and requested an immediate office visit. On the visit he was sent for x-rays for a possible bowel obstruction and sent to the ED. They heloed him to another hospital for the potential bowel obstruction. At the tertiary hospital he was diagnosed as meningitis. He now has sever neurological damage.
Williams v Baptist Healthcare
DC WD Kentucky
In a trial Williams sued because the hospital he was sent to for a myocardial infarction was on diversion and upon arrival he was sent to another hospital. He sued for prolonged pain and for fear of his life. He won $2.4 million and Baptist moved for JNV. the court rejected Baptist's plea due to EMTALA violations and the actions were grossly negligent requiring punitive damages. Baptist should and will appeal. 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.