October 1, 2020 Recent Legal News
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US v Bacon
Sentenced
Misty Bacon of Tennessee was sentenced to 51 months in prison for faking being a nurse and working in eight providers who did not check her licensure. She was found guilty of wire and healthcare fraud. Top
Sibley v Univ. of Chicago Medical
Center
ND Ill
Two whistleblowers sued the hospital for having a ghost payroll and bad debt schemes to defraud the feds. The judge didn't see it that way He dismissed all charges stating the ghost payroll cause did not allege certified compliance, a requirement. The bad debt scheme was lost due to failure to allege adequately how they did the scheme. It sounds like the hospital was guilty but got off on poor lawyering.
Georgia v Elite Integrated
Practices, Inc.
Filed
Georgia has filed suit against the stem cell company for allegedly deceiving patients of treatments not approved by the FDA.
US v Baxter
Guilty
Timothy Baxter, the former medical director of Indivior pleaded guilty of the introduction into interstate commerce of misbranded Suboxone Film. Do date the company Indivior and its subsidiary Reckitt Benchise Group have paid about $2 Billion to resolve liability.
US v Konica Minolta Healthcare
Americas
Settlement
The electronic records company based in New Jersey will pay $500,000 to settle allegations that they caused users to submit false claims due to misrepresenting the capabilities of its EHR software. They were alleged to have falsified documents to get certification of their product.
US v Home Health Care of Florida,
Inc.
Settlement
The company has agreed to pay $300,000 to settle allegations that they illegally paid their medical director to get him to refer patients and then billed for those services.
US v Davidson
Guilty
Dr. Richard Davidson of Boca Raton, Florida, has plead guilty of health fraud. He agreed to forfeit $2,472,087 ( the amount of his ill got gains). He set up DME companies under aliases by lying on their application to Medicare. It is illegal to refer to companies you own. He also paid bribes to get referrals to his companies.
US v Whalen
Settlement
Dr. Thomas Whalen, DO of Berwyn, Pennsylvania, agreed to pay $1,257.000 to settle allegation that he billed for FDA approved meds but gave non-FDA approved meds. He had previously been guilty of illegal distribution of narcotics.
States v Becton Dickson
Settlement
The company paid 48 states and the District a total of $60 million to settle allegations that it concealed the risks of its transvaginal mesh devices. This was from the old CR Bard company that was purchased by Becton.
US v Gilead
Settlement
The company will pay $97 million to settle allegation that they used a foundation illegally to pay co-pays for their meds.
US v Scripps
Settlement
The Scripps Research Institute will pay $10 million to settle allegation in a whistleblower suit that they illegally used grant money to pay salaries of researchers not doing grant work.
US v Lakeway Regional Medical
Center
Settlement
The defunct Texas hospital has agreed to pay over $16 million to settle allegations that they fraudulently obtained government funds and loans and billed falsely. This was originally a qui tam suit.
Plaintiffs v OSF Healthcare
Settlement
the Peoria, Illinois, facility agreed to pay $25 million to settle allegations that they illegally claiming an exemption under ERISA for a being a church plan. The class action suit said the workers were cheated out of their pensions. Top
Plaintiffs v Wolf
DC
The plaintiffs sued the Pennsylvania Governor after he gave an executive order to close businesses. The district court judge agreed with the plaintiffs.
EEOC v Wellpath
Filed
The feds sued the health provider in correctional facilities for refusing to accommodate the religious beliefs of a nurse. She was a member of Apostolic Pentecostal Christian and told her employer prior to reporting to work that she had to wear a scrub skirt not scrub pants while at work. this was denied so she sued for pay and an order barring Wellpath from further discrimination.
Emergency Room Physicians of
Pennsylvania v UnitedHealth
The physicians sued the insurer fo r the use of their tool used to determine rates. The physicians say the tool used does not use local rates and so are paying them below market rates.
Murray v Tran
Ca App Ct
The two dentists had a financial dispute during which Tan accused Murray of doing substandard dental work and told this to other people. Murray sued for defamation but the suit wss dismissed since the statements concerned a public interest and are protected under the state anti-SLAPP law. Top
Patients v Children's Minnesota
and Allin Health
To Be F
The hospital's charitable foundation was hacked and the information of donors and their children are now out in the world. This has affected huge number of people, close to 500,000.
Estate of George Floyd v Hennepin
Healthcare
To Be Filed
The attorneys for Floyd have said that Floyd's records were viewed by hospital employees illegally. They will be paid for this.
US v
Settlements
Housing Works , Inc $338,000 plus corrective action plan for failing to give a medical record
All Inclusive Medical Services, Inc. $15,000 plus a corrective action plan for refusing to give a patient a copy of her medical record/
Beth Israel Lahey Behavioral Services $70,000 plus a corrective action plan for failing to provide a personal representative a medical record.
King MD $3500 and a corrective action plan for failure to provide a medical record.
Wise Psychiatry, PC $10,000 plus a corrective action plan for failing to provide a personal representative of a minor with medical records.
Patient v BJC HealthCare
Filed
The patient is the lead patient on a class action suit filed after three BJC employee email accounts were hacked exposing personal information. the suit alleged the patients have to spend time and money protecting themselves so they want financial compensation, lifetime credit protection and monitoring along with restitution. Don't forget they also want huge huge attorney fees.
OCR v Athens Orthopedic Clinic
Settlement
The Georgia medical practice did not secure their database that was posted online. A hacker had held the company hostage after stealing the database. The practice did not do any security measures and so now needs to pay $1.5 million and do a corrective action plan.
Patients v Montefiore Medical
Center
May Be Filed
The medical center did not find out that an employee had illegally stole over 4000 patient's information over several years. Great security system. They are now woke and fired the employee.
US v CHSPSC LLC
Settlement
The company that provides business associate services to hospitals agreed to pay $2.3 million for its non-response to an FBI notice that it was hacked. This cost about 6 million people to have their information at risk.
US v Premera Blue Cross
Settlement
The insurer agreed to pay $6.85 million after they did not have in place significant security and a hack put the information of over 10 million people at risk. Top
Burchell v Faculty Physicians
& Surgeons Loma Linda
Ca Ct App
Burchell consented to a scrotal mass being removed but during surgery the mass was much larger than expected and it was removed without talking to the patient or his medical proxy. He suffered serious side effects and sued for med mal and battery. The jury found for the plaintiff and awarded $4million in past noneconomic damages, $5.2 million in future noneconomic damages. The appeal by Loma Linda was for the noneconomic damages to be reduced to $25,000 under MICRA. The appellate court affirmed the damages as MICRA does not apply to battery. The lack of consent by the physician made it come under battery. Top
Bear v Maui Memorial Medical
Center
To Be Filed
Aaron Bear was a nurse at the hospital. He was recently fired for violations of the code of conduct. He states it is in retaliation for his outspoken criticism of the hospital's handling of the Covid pandemic.
Idelchik v St. Joseph's
Hospital
Filed
Dr. Gary Idlechik was a cardiologist and director of the Cardiac Cath Lab at the Tampa, Florida, hospital. He was fired after 18 months for retaliation allegedly for speaking about the poor quality at the hospital. The hospital say he was fired for making comments in the workplace about guns. He said he was never interviewed nor asked about the comments. The hospital actually sent the police to his house but no charges were ever filed. He was asked to take a fitness for duty exam and refused. He claims the Cardiac Lab had high amount of complications from poorly trained physicians that were hidden. 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.