October1, 2021 Recent Legal News
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California v Adame, Gomez
Arrested
Libby Adame and her daughter Alician Gomez have been arrested on the charge of murder. They performed an illegal butt lift in a private residence causing the death of a woman who wanted to get into the adult entertainment industry. Top
US v Pal
Settlement
Dr. Ashish Pal, a cardiologist in Orlando, Florida, has agreed to pay $6.75 million to settle allegations that he performed and billed for unnecessary medical procedures.. He performed ablations and put stents in veins that did not need them. He was also accused of having the echo techs perform the ablations on many occasions.
US v Independent Health
Association
Filed
The New York HMO was accused of illegally submitting information about health status of people enrolled in their Medicare Advantage Plan to increase reimbursement. This was a qui tan case that the feds are intervening on.
US v Chavez, Fuentes
Arrested
Zenia Chavez and her nephew Raul Fuentes of El Paso, Texas, were arrested for health care fraud. Chavez owned Nursemind Hospice and Fuentes was an employee. The people enrolled did not need hospice care nor did they have a terminal illness according to the complaint.
US v Talbot
Indicted
Dr. Adrian Talbot of Slidell, Louisiana, was indicted for dispensing opioids outside medical practice using presigned prescriptions and health care fraud.
US v Goyal
Guilty
Dr. Ameet Goyal, an ophthalmologist in Rye, New York, plead guilty of fraud by falsely billing for procedures he did not perform and for fraudulently obtaining government loans. He upcoded procedures and falsified records to match the upcoded procedures.
US v Rosen
Guilty
Dr. Leonard Rosen, a Fairfax Station, Virginia, OB/GYN has plead guilty of prescribing unneeded compound pain and scr creams in return for money.
US v Avanos
Settlement
The medical device company has agreed to pay $22 million to settle allegations that they misbranded their surgical gowns. They said the gowns were protecting at Level 4 but they were not.
US v Alere
Settlement
The medical device company in San Diego agreed to pay $38.75 million to settle allegation that they knowingly sold defective INRatio monitors that caused injury and deaths.
US v Hagen, Hagen
Guilty
A federal jury convicted Texans Leah and Michael Hagen of fraud for paying for prescriptions for DME.
US v Shafa, Shafa
Indicted
Dr. Rahim Shafa, a psychiatrist in Massachusetts, and his wife Nahid Shafa were indicted for money laundering by using a dummy company to purchase drugs from overseas that are not approved and selling them here.
US v Mattingly
Sentenced
Joseph Mattingly of Carterville, Illinois was sentenced to four years probation and ordered to pay $500 fine and a $200 special assessment. He diverted controlled substances from a patient for personal use and billed Medicare for the drug.
US v Alpha Genomix Labs
Settlement
The South Carolina Genetic lab agreed to pay $200,000 for paying illegal kickbacks to Aiken Counseling Group to induce genetic testing referrals.
US v Align Health
Settlement
The Knoxville, Tennessee Align Health along with Anderson Chiropractic Clinic have agreed to pay $163,400 to settle allegations that they billed for electro acupuncture using peri-auricular devices in violation of the FCA.
US v Patino
Convicted
Dr. Francisco Patino would inject patients for facet joint pain and bill. In reality the patients received opioids as well as their unneeded injections.
US v Forester
Guilty
South Hills, Pennsylvania, pharmacist Timothy Forester plead guilty of fraud for illegally obtaining controlled substances an=d then selling them. He also obtained generic drugs and relabeled them as the more expensive brand named drugs.
US v Anderson
Sentenced
Marcus Anderson of St. Petersburg, florida, was sentenced to one year and one day in prison and a fine of $323,248 for billing for services never performed.
Allen v Good Samaritan Hospital
Dismissed
The attorney filed a claim under a whistleblower False Claim Act but filed it 10 years after the fact. The statute is six years. I hope he lost a lot of money and time.
US v Dowd, Ribeiro, Constantine
Elefant
Indicted
The feds have accused attorneys George Constnatine and Marc Elefat plus Drs. Andrew Down and Sady Ribeiro with fraud. They had a scheme to take New Yorkers who were down and out and pay them $1500 to undergo slip and fall claims and surgeries that were not necessary.
US v Jordan
indicted
Dr. Guy Jordan of Georgia was indicted for allegedly billing for psych sessions that were not done. Top
Workers v New York
Filed
Three female healthcare workers have filed sit to stop New York from implementing a Covid vaccine mandate due to religious grounds. The reason is that the vaccines relied on fetal cell lines harvested fifty years ago. Earlier in the month another court ordered a temporary stay to the mandate because it lacked a religious exemption. Another NY court allowed the mandate to go ahead for teachers.
US v Banchs
Guilty
Liz Ann Banchs the owner of Farmacia Gabriela, a pharmacy in Juana Diaz, Puerto Rico, has plead guilty vaccinating minors between 7 and 12 years of age with the Pfizer vaccine. She then billed for these illegal vaccinations.
Colorado v Emme
Fine
Siegfried Emme NP will pay a $$20,000 if he complies with an order to stop marketing and overstating the effectiveness of cures for Covid. If he does not comply the fine will be $40,000.
Employees v St. Elizabeth
District Court Ohio
The court ruled for the hospital stating the Covid mandate is legal. Top
HHS v Children's Hospital &
Medical Center
Settlement
The hospital will pay $80,000 plus take corrective action due to its failing to give a patient's mother the records in a timely (60 day) manner.
Patients v UC San Diego Health
Filed
A lawyer has filed a suit for a cancer patient for negligence along with breach of the confidentiality laws and breach of contract. The reason was a phishing attack that may have compromised information. He wants a class action. Of course he does. That is where the money is. Top
US v Purdue Pharma
Appeal
The feds along with several states have filed an objection to the settlement agreed to in the bankruptcy court. They do not like giving the Sacklers immunity which is the basis for the settlement. Top
Daywalker v University of Texas at
Galveston
SD Texas
Dr. Rosandra Daywalker, the only black resident in the ENT program, sued the program and the director for racial bias. She asserts that the director made comments that revealed a racial bias against black residents and that is the reason she got bad performance reviews. In discovery Daywaler wanted documents but the hospital said no due to HIPAA and FERPA. The court said HIPAA allows production of records based on a court order with a qualified protective order. Also FERPA allowed the production if there was a "genuine need for the information" and Daywalker showed that it was directly relevant to her claim of discrimination.
Gokal v Harris Count Public
Health
Filed
I hope he wins this. Dr. Hasan Gokal was fired from his job for giving Covid vaccine to people so as to not waste the vaccine. Not only was he fired but he was also criminally charged for theft of the vaccine. Due to the firing and charges he has a problem finding a new position. 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.