October 1, 2017 Recent Legal News
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Connecticut v Wang
Sentenced
Former physician Lishan Wang shot and killed Dr. Vajinder Toor, a physician at Yale, New Haven, in 2010. He has finally been sentenced to 32 years in prison. Wang had plead guilty to manslaughter for the killing. The reason was Wang's firing which he blamed on Toor.
US v Morrow
Fugitives
Dr. David Morrow and his wife of Palm Springs are now fugitives. The "plastic surgeon" and his business person wife have fled prior to sentencing for fraud. They billed plastic surgery as real procedures and got millions of dollars illegally. I personally read a letter Morrow sent to his colleagues basically admitting his transgressions and begging forgiveness. A joke. The feds are complicit in this as they allowed the morrows to sell their house in Beverly Hills for almost $10 million and squirrel away many millions of other money to fund their flight.
US v Cadden
Filed
The feds are now trying to get $73.7 million out of jailbird Barry Cadden. Cadden had been convicted and sentenced for his part in the racketeering and fraud for giving patients fungal infections from his compounding pharmacy in New England. Top
California v Matzner
Sentenced
Dr. William Matzner of Simi Valley was sentenced to 270 days in Ventura County jail for selling Oxy to patients. One died of an overdose. He has lost his DEA license and his medical license is under investigation.
US v Quinn
Settlement
Scott Quinn, the former CFO for Southeast Orthopedic Specialists of Jacksonville has agreed to pay the feds $100,000 to resolve allegations of fraud. He was accused of billing fed med for services not medically necessary or reasonable. They were ultrasound guided injections.
US v Aegerion
Settlement
The drug company agreed to settle criminal and civil matters against it for the payment of $35 million. The company had been accused of false claims for misbranding a drug Juxtapid, violate HIPAA by illegally attempting to get patient information for commercial gain. The whistleblowers will get $4.7 million from the civil claims.
US v Adkins
Sentenced
Psychologist Alfred Adkins of Pikeville, Kentucky, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for a scam to get disability payments. Adkins gave false evidence stating the claimant had claims when they did not. He was also ordered to pay $93 million to the feds. Lotsa luck.
US v Sayadzal
Sentenced
The former CEO of Aggeus Healthcare of Chicago was sentenced to 366 days in a prison and to repay $1.77 million for podiatric fraud.
US v Naples
Indicted
Podiatrist James Naples of Texarkana, Texas, will go on trial for allegedly treating patients with a common pesticide chemical for cancer. He then billed fed med for the treatments.
US v Cauthon
Guilty
Podiatrist John Cauthon, of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, was convicted of fraud for billing for procedures not performed and prescribing medical unnecessary procedures.
US v Tarka
Settlement
Another Podiatrist Edward Tarka of Norwich, Connecticut, agreed to pay $35,000 for false claims for avulsion procedures when he only did routine foot care, which is not payable under Medicare.
US v Holland
Filed
The feds are really upset with Tenet. They settled a lawsuit regarding kickbacks a year ago but now are going after the executives as individuals. They named John Holland, the former VP of Tenet's Southern States Region, William Moore, former CEO of Atlanta Medical Center, Edmundo Cota, former CEO of Clinica de la Mama that was said to have received kickbacks.
US v AmerisourceBergen
Guilty
The company plead guilty to selling illegal prefilled syringes of cancer drugs. They also agreed to pay $260 million for this screw-up. The syringes were not done by prescription and had misbranded drugs.
US v AnMed
Settlement
The hospital in South Carolina agreed to pay $7 million for settle allegations that it billed falsely for many procedures. They did not have a radiology oncologist present throughout radiation services, the billed a minor care clinic as if it was an ED and billed for mid levels as if they were physicians. Top
Washington v Capital Medical
Center
Filed
The state AG has filed suit against another Washington hospital for their charity care practices or lack thereof. He contends the hospital billed charity and other patients without telling them, as required by state law, that they had a right to know about the availability of charity care. The suit wants the hospital to end its practices and pay money of restitution.
Agnesian Healthcare v Cerner Corp.
Filed
The hospital is suing the EMR maker stating their system caused $16 million in losses to the hospital. The suit says there were billing problems supposedly fixed by Cerner but others came to the fore causing the damages.
Nurses Union v Brigham
Filed
The union filed suit against the hospital after it was announced that nurses would be required to have vaccinations against the flu annually or wear masks when with patients. The union says this is unfair to those who refused for religious reasons. The union believe the nurses not the hospital should decide what goes into their bodies. Top
Johnson v Open Door Community
Health Centers
Ca App
The plaintiff says she was injured after someone at the clinic moved a scale and she tripped. The suit was filed two years after the incident. The court ruled that the two year statute of limitations applied for simple negligence and not the one year statute for medical malpractice. There was no professional negligence here so it was only the duty to maintain a safe premises.
Stewart v Vinson
Ohio Supreme Court
In the trial court the judge excluded testimony from the physician of apology and admission that the care was below the standard. Ohio has had an apology statute on the books for over 10 years. The trial and lower courts agreed the statute was to protect not only apologies but also those that admitted fault. The Supreme Court said there was no ambiguity in the law and it covers both apology and fault. Top
Newell v Swedish Health
Arbitration
Dr. David Newell won a $17.5 judgment against the hospital after he was fired. He claimed the hospital fired him after he questioned the practices of another physician. The hospital says he was fired for not notifying them of his arrest in a prostitution sting. Newell states he was fired after he raised internal concerns regarding Dr. Johnny Delashaw, who eventually resigned and had his license suspended. The award was for lost earnings and $1 million for emotional distress. The hospital contests the amount for lost earnings as this would mean he would have to do 3000 complex brain surgeries a year. In fact in 2014 he mad $1.69 million. The hospital CEO stated nothing about the facts of the case bit only decried the money lost to medical care and violence against women. When the facts are not on your side argue something else. The case is being challenged in court. 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.