October 1, 2022 Recent Legal News
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Kentucky v Hunter
Indicted
Eyvette Hunter, RN, was indicted on murder charges for allegedly giving lorazepam to a 97 year old patient at Baptist Health Lexington without a physicians order. The patient died several days after.
Alaska v Grigg
Indicted
Bradley Grigg, the former chief behavioral helat officer at Bartlett Regional Hopital in Juneau was arrested for allegedly stealing.
US v Figueroa
Sentenced
Raidel Figueroa owned a company that manufactured a laxative Diocto Liquid. He was notified by the FDA about a routine sample from the plant that tested positive for a bacteria. The next year there was an outbreak of the bacteria in several hospitals and it was traced back to the laxative. Figueroa has previously lied to the feds regarding what products his company had manufactured since the original notice. Figueroa was sentenced to 37 months in prison.
Michigan v Bratcher
Indicted
Beverly Bratcher, LPN, was charged of adult abuse for allegedly finding and not reporting two incorrect medication doses at the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans.
US v Wedgeworth
Sentenced
Brien Wedgeworth of Tallahassee, Florida, was sentenced to 9 years in federal prison for convincing women he was a physician and defrauding them of money.
US v Mendez
Indicted
Fernando Mendez of Brownsville, Texas, was indicted on charges of identity theft and fraud for allegedly practicing medicine without a license for over one year. He was a physician assistant and had his license suspended in 2020 for being a continuing threat to public welfare. He continued to evaluate and treat patient at mental health clinics and billed for his services. He used other identities while practicing after he was prohibited from doing so.
Nevada v Kain
Guilty
Dr. Christopher Kain, an orthopod in Hutchinson, Nevada, was convicted of battery for doing a medical procedure without consent. He apparently also intimidated a nurse that tried to reason with him. Sentencing is later.
US v Miller
Sentenced
Dr. Matthew Miller of Collinsville, Illinois, was sentenced to 1 year in prison for illegally prescribing Xanax to people who were not his patients.
Colorado v Kim
Indicted
Dr. Geoffrey Kim a plastic surgeon in Arapahoe County, Colorado, was indicted on manslaughter charges. In 2019 a 18 year old girl was scheduled for a breast augmentation. He was placed under general anesthesia by a nurse anesthetist and then went into cardiac arrest. He gave her multiple meds to reverse the anesthesia and did not call 911 for about five hours. She eventually died. Since then a civil suit was settled with both Kim and the nurse anesthetist paying $1 million each.
US v Five Physicians
Guilty
Drs. Mark Clarkson, William Earley, Brian Gullett, Roswell Lowry, Vernon Stanley all plead guilty of illegally prescribing narcotics to patients at the Hope Clinic in Charleston, west Virginia. The later four plead guilty to felony and the other plead guilty to five misdemeanor counts.
US v Puana
Sentenced
Dr. Rudy Puana of Honolulu, Hawaii, was previously convicted of distributing narcotics. He was sentenced to 7 1/2 years , half the amount the prosecutors wanted. This was due that he was an addict and is now clean and sober as well as a question of his role in the conspiracy.
US v Evans
Guilty
Dr. Stanley Evans of Denton, Texas, plead guilty to distributing and dispensing narcotics.
US v Oniango
Sentenced
Dr. Tete Oniango of Dearborn, Michigan, was sentenced to four years in prison for distributing opioids. He also attempted to flee the country while on bond after his guilty plea. Mexican border agents apprehended him and returned him to the US.
Ohio v Husel
Not Guilty
After several years finally Dr. William Husel was found not guilty of all charges after being accused of killing 14 patients with fentanyl.
Texas v Ortiz
Arrested
Dr. Raynaldo Ortiz, Jr. of Dallas was arrested for being involved with the death of another physician. Dr. Melanie Kasper, also an anesthesiologist at Baylor Scott & Whilte Surgicenter took a saline bag home with her to self treat for dehydration. She went into cardiac arrest and died. An autopsy showed she died of an overdose of bupivacaine. Apparently over 10 patients have had incidents and were sent to a local hospitals after having surgery at the center. The Texas Medical Association has suspended Dr. Ortiz's license.
US v Marshall
Sentenced
Alison Marshall RN of Sturgis stole fentanyl while working in a Kalamazoo hospital. She is said to have cleaned up and so was sentenced to only five years of probation and fined $5000. Top
US v Modern Vascular
Filed
The feds have joined a suit by outside physicians against Phoenix based Modern Vascular clinics and its owner Yury Gampel. One of the claims is the clinic and Gampel pressured physicians to perform as many procedures as possible without regard to medical necessity.
US v Marchetti, Jr.
Sentenced
Vincent Marchetti, Jr. of Coronado, California, was sentenced to 48 months in prison. He was previously convicted by a jury of conspiring to give and get kickbacks related to pharmacogenetic testing.
Washington v Centene
Settlement
Centene agreed to pay the state of Washington $19 million to settle allegations that they overcharged the state Medicaid program for pharmacy services.
US v Nahas, Pruneda
Indicted
Dr. Osama Nahas and Isabel Pruneda of the McAllen, Texas, area were indicted for allegations that they committed fraud to bill for procedures not needed.
US v Naushad
Sentenced
Dr. Abdul Naushad and his wife Wajiha Naushad were sentenced to prison for their part in giving Othovisc from a foreign source and billing as if its from an American source. He got one year in prison and they were order to repay $235,000.
US v Rouffe
Sentenced
Jonathan Roufe, Chiropractor, was sentenced to four years in prison for paying kickbacks to marketers and billing falsely. He was also ordered to repay $14million.
US v Bethea
Guilty
Lamont Bethea of Hamden, Connecticut, plead guilty to committing fraud on the Yale New Haven Health Systems. He and his co-conspirators embezzled several hundred thousand dollars.
California v Wisner
Sentenced
Dr. Gary Wisner, an othopod in Lodi, was sentenced to seven years in prison for doing medically unjustifiable x-rays to patients and billing the Medicaid system.
US v Eye Consultants of Huntington, Inc.
Settlement
The West Virginia corporation and its owner Dr. Craig Morgan agreed to pay $907,000 to settle allegations that he over-treated patients with injections.
US v Tantuwaya
Guilty
Dr. Lokesh Tantuwaya of Long Beach, California, plead guilty of accepting kickbacks to perform surgery at the now defunct Pacific Hospital.
State Farm v Misra
Filed
Dr. Sanjay Misra, a San Antonio, Texas, surgeon, is accused by the insurer of filing multiple claims for fraudulent surgeries and evaluations.
US v Waruru
Guilty
Winnie Waruru, LPN, plead guilty to frud by inducing kickbacks and billing for procedures never performed while working at Arbor Homecare Services in the Boston area.
US v New York Presbyterian/Queens
Settlement
The hospital self reported and agreed to pay $2.6 million because a former physician performed and billed for unnecessary implantable defibrillator battery replacements.
US v Bergman
Settlement
Dr. Ronald Bergman of Des Moines, Iowa, agreed to pay $800,000 to settle allegations that he billed for others and billed for medically unnecessary procedures.
US v Swegan
Guilty
Dr. Amy Swegan of Aurora, Ohio, plead guilty to accepting kickbacks from a telemedicine company. She accepted $30 per "consult" and then wrote prescriptions for the patients.
US v Kamali
Settlement
Dr. Aziziah Kamali of Stockton, California, agreed to pay $2 million to settle allegations that he submitted false claims to Medicare for surgically implanting neurostimulators even though they did not implant the devices. They also paid kickbacks to sales marketers.
US v Moore
Sentenced
Naomi Moore of Houston received a 60 month prison term for billing for patients at a home health service for services never received.
US v Familia Healthcare Services dba Del Cielo Hospice
Settlement
The hospice agreed to pay $1 million to settle allegations that they billed for hospice services for patients that did not qualify.
US v Essilor
Settlement
The international company agreed to pay $16.4 million to settle allegations that they billed for services that resulted from illegal kickbacks to eye professionals.
US v Mitchell
Convicted
Dr. Kenneth Mitchell, a podiatrist in Oakland County, Michigan, was convicted by a jury of fraid by billing for services under another doctor's name. He had been previously revoked from fed med and talked his partner into using a new business name and he continued to bill Medicare but now using his partner's name.
US v Ventura County Medi-cal Managed Care Commission
Settlement
The California HMO agreed to pay $70.7 million to settle allegations that they billed for not allowed services.
US v Novus Health Services
Sentenced
The Texasn based hospice agency committed fraud in their billing. Thirteen defendants were sentenced. They are Sam Anderson VP Marketing 33 month; Patricia Armstrong triage nurse 84 months; Slade Brown marketing director 48 months; Dr. Mark Gibbs Medical Director 156 month; Amy Harris VP Patient Services 38 months; Bradley Harris CEO 159 months; Drl Laila Hirjee Medical Director 120 months; Dr. Charles Leach Medical Director 57 months; Tammie Little RN 33 months; Jessica Love RN 102 months; Melanie Murphey Director of Operations 66 months; Ali Rizvi Express Medical Owner 18 months; Taryn Stuart LVN 96 months.
US v Spivack
Settlement
Spivack Inc (previously Verree Pharmacy) agreed to pay $4.1 million to settle allegations that they filled narcotic prescritions that they knew were illegal. They are also banned from dispensing narcotics in the future.
US v Hurt
Guilty
Daniel Hurt of Florida plead guilty of fraud for faking prescriptions for genetic cancer screening tests and paying kickbacks.
US v Valentino, Miller
Convicted
Dr. Steven Valentino and his office manager Michele Miller of the Swarthmore, Pennsylvania area, were convicted of paying and receiving kickbacks for their referring and ordering meds for people who did not need them.
US v Victoria, Dockworkers
Filed
Sara Victoria of San Pedro, California has been charged as the alleged ringleader in a scam billing the labor union health insurance plan for prostitution services. She allegedly hired a group of women for prostitution and then billed under a false name and number for chiropractic services. The longshoremen are also charged with fraud.
US v Biogen
Settlement
The company has agreed to pay $900 million to settle allegations that they paid doctors kickbacks to prescribe multiple sclerosis drugs. This caused false claims to be filed. The whistleblower will get $266.4 million for originally bringing the claim. Top
US v Yerokun
Guilty
Dr. Oluwatobi Yerokun of Washington, DC plead guilty to making false statements to fed med patients. He was a telehealth doctor who signed orders for genetic testing on people who did not need it.
Texas v HHS
Verdict
A federal judge ruled with Texas that EMTALA has defined by HHS in a guidance does not require preemption of state law regarding abortion again as defined in the guidance.
HHS v Idaho
Verdict
A federal judge ruled that Idaho's law that criminalizes performing an abortion is illegal. The judge said this would violate EMTALA. The judge did not rule on the overall law itself just the criminalization part.
Williams v Fairfax County
4th Circuit
Williams is a transgender female who has not had genial surgery yet. Williams was incarcerated in Fairfax County and assigned to the men's section. Williams claims to have been harassed terribly while in jail and sued. The District Court ruled that the ADA excluded gender identity disorders not resulting from physical impairment. The 4th overruled and sent the case back. They said there is a difference between gender identity and gendy dysphoria as defined by the American Psychiatric Association.
Morton v Kaiser Permanente Bernard
Tyson School of Medicine
Filed
Derrick Morton is a black former assistant profession at the school. He has accused the school of racial discrimination.
Casey v CVS
Filed
Paige Casey NP worked for CVS in Virginia. When she was hired she states CVS allowed her not to prescribe or administer drugs that can cause abortion. She goes on to state that he decision was revoked and she was then fired. She states that is against the Virginia Conscience Clause which prohibits emloyers from firing employees for failure to participate in abortion.
FDA v California Stem Cell
Treatment Center
Verdict
A federal judge ruled that the Center was not subject to FDA regulation since it is engaged in the practice of medicine and not the manufacture of pharmaceuticals.
Braidwood Management v Becerra
Verdict
A Texas judge ruled that requiring insurers to cover the costs of meds for HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis infringed on the plaintiffs religious rights. This could scrap most of the preventatives services of the ACA (OCare). This is to be appealed.
Planned Parenthood Indiana v
Members of Medical Licensing Board of Indiana
Verdict
A Circuit Court judge issued a preliminary injunction against enforcement of Indiana's law restricting access to abortion services. He said it went against Indiana's constitution. This is being appealed. Top
Patients v Lamoille Health
Partners
Filed
The suit alleges that the Vermont health center failed to keep their information safe by not keeping up with the required safety protocols if HIPAA.
OCR v New England Dermatology
Settlement
The Massachusetts medical practice agreed to pay $300,640 due to their labels on vials tossed in a garbage bin in their parking lot at protected health information on them.
OCR v Dentists
Settlements
The following three dental offices settled claims against them for violations of HIPAA's right of access standard. They are Family Dental Care of Chicago $30,000. Great Expressions Dental Center of Georgia $80,000 and B. Steven L Hardy DDS in Las Vegas $25,000. Wouldn't it have been cheaper to give the patients their records?
Patients v Mon Health
Filed
The Morgantown, West Virginia, hospital system has been sued for a December 2021 data breach. The suit is for a class action stating the system did not comply with HIPAA required security. Top
Plaintiffs v J&J
Australia Settlement
The company has agreed to pay $204 million in two class action suits regarding their pelvic mesh product.
Carusillo v Metro Atlanta Recovery
Residences
Verdict
In a case of massive screw-ups a jury awarded the family of the deceased $77 million. The plaintiff was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder and was doing fairly well on Lithium and Seroquel. A doctor at Metro, despite warnings by the family, took him off lithium. His condition got worse and he was kicked out of the facility due to a contraband cell phone. He was sent to a sober living residence but they were not told about his mental health issues. He violated curfew and was discharged to an AA meeting. No one knew where he was until he was killed when he was laying naked on Interstate 85 outside Atlanta.
Patients v Universal Health
Services
Filed
Nine patients are filing suit against the Children's hospital for the actions of its former medical director Dr. Daniel Davidow. They accuse him of sexual assaults. He says he was doing femoral pulse checks under the sheets. Who does femoral pulse checks?
Duff v Graves-Gilbert Clinic,
Haase
Verdict
Alice Duff went in for a standard hernia repaid and left almost one month later partially blind. she developed sepsis from a perforated bowel post-op. this was not found for almost 10 days due to no one ordering appropriate x-rays. She and her husband were awarded a total of $21 million. The verdict is being appealed. `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.