October 1, 2023 Recent Legal News
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Nebraska v Carlson
Arrest
Dr. Mark Carlson of Omaha was arrested for manslaughter. He was accused of racing on a street over 110 mph and hit a light pole and then hit a car killing the driver. He is or was a Professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
New York v DeVuono
Guilty
Julie DeVuono NP was the owner of the Amityville Wild Child Pediatric Healthcare. She plead guilty of lying about giving shots during Covid and collecting money for the non-given shots. She also forged prescriptions for oxycodone. She agreed to forfeit $1.25 million and surrendered her license and certificate of incorporation.
US v Romano
Convicted
Dr. Thomas Romano of Wheeling, West Virginia, was convicted of unlawful distribution of narcotics for selling them. He was charging $750 for an initial visit and $120 per month thereafter.
US v Compton, Lambert
Convicted
Dr. Crystal Compton and RN Kayla Lambert of Pikesville, Kentucky, were convicted of illegal selling of narcotics. Top
US v Hernandez
Convicted
Elizabeth Hernandez, NP, was convicted by a jury of fraud. She signed orders for thousands of othotic braces that were not necessary as well as genetic tests. She billed Medicare as if she did complex office visits but never saw the patients.
US v Rentrop, Gramercy Cardiac
Diagnostic Services
Settlement
Dr. Klaus Rentrop and his medical practice agreed that they paid millions of dollars to referring physicians to get their cardiac stesting. They did this by paying over market value for rent and had cardiologists see patient in the rental spaces. They were paid a fee per referral. Rentrop and his practices will pay $4,415,678 to fed med as well as $1,989,362 to New York state. Rentrop als o agreed to give up his ownership and control of Gramercy as well as pay a portion of the sale to the feds. He is barred from fed med for five years.
US v LaMonda
Sentenced
Dr. Justin Lamonda of Moberly, Missouri was sentenced to 22 months in prison and ordered to pay $537,332 for billing fed med under his father's name and number. He lost his license for prescribing narcotics illegally to his office manager. He lost his fed med privileges for submitting claims while he lost his license. Now he is going to prison.
US v Welwart, Welwart, Kaczka
Arraigned
Pharmacist owners William Welwart of Staten Island, New York and Ethan Welwart of Bolivar New York were arraigned along with pharmacist Gary Kaczka for health fraud. They are accused of paying kickbacks to get prescriptions. Top
Alliance Cancer Specialists v
Jefferson University Hospitals
Federal Judge
Alliance sued Jefferson for antitrust and excluding them from Jefferson Hospital. The judge said that Jefferson does not have to use outside oncologists and dismissed the case.
FTC v US Anesthesia Partners; Welsh,
Carson, Anderson & Stowe
Filed
In a fascinating case the feds are going after the private equity firm that holds a minority of the shares of USAP. They say they have purchased anesthesia groups with exclusive hospital contracts and then raise the prices for those services. They operate in Texas, Colorado, Florida Indiana, Maryland, Nevada, Tennessee and Washington.
Young v Community Health Systems
11th Circuit
The patient went to the ED after a bike accident where she was treated and released. She was billed over $7000 for the visit including a $4000 ED charge. While in the ED she signed a form about her financial obligations. She sued stating the charges were undisclosed and against state law. The district court dismissed her suit and the 11th circuit affirmed. The court said she lacked standing for injunctive relief but did have standing for compensatory relief. The court then affirmed the denial of such relief. She signed the form and that form talked about chargemaster with the fees shown. Top
Indiana v IU Health
Filed
The dumbo Attorney General of Indiana continues to put his foot in his mouth. He is now suing the hospital where a 10 year old had an abortion last year. He claims that the hospital violated laws for standing with their OB Dr. Bernard who did the abortion and failing to prevent the HIPAA violations. Bernard was found guilty of HIPAA violations by the state medical board and got a slap on the wrist. The day after he filed the suit he was hit with a claim of a violation of professional conduct by the state Supreme Court disciplinary commission. Top
Kowalski v John Hopkins All
Children's Hospital
Filed
In a quasi malpractice case that hit the airwaves on Netflix is now in court. The mother claims that after she requested the hospital give her daughter Maya ketamine for her complex regional pain syndrome the hospital reported her twice to the state for child abuse. The hospital states that Maya received 55 doses of ketamine over nine months as well as the day prior to her presenting in the ER requesting more ketamine. Maya is now housed at the hospital. After the incident the mother Bela was ordered not to have contact with Maya and Bela committed suicide. The plaintiffs claim Maya was misdiagnosed and the parents were wrongly accused. The family wants $200 million.
Dixon v St. Rose Dominican Blue
Diamond Hospital
Filed
Four days after receiving abortion pills at Planned Parenthood she went to the ED at the Los Vegas Dignity Health hospital for sharp lower abdominal pain for the past 24 hours. She had tests but was not seen by a gyne nor had a pelvic exam. She did have an abdominal CT scan which may have shown ascities. She was discharged with the usual instructions. Several days later she went to the ED of another hospital where she complained of vaginal bleeding and the pain and was found to have severe sepsis. She died the next day. Suit was filed against the Dignity hospital for allegedly missing the severity of her illness.
Archer v Adventist Healthcare
DC Maryland
Archer sued under EMTALA and lack of informed consent along with patient abandonment. When he arrived at the ED he was admitted to the Intermediate Care Unit as an inpatient and he received his care there. The hospital moved to dismiss the EMTALA charge and the district court agreed. The patient says we was not admitted but in a 23 hour unit. The hospital showed that the observation status just before discharge was for administrative reasons only and he received critical care as an inpatient. Top
James v Mercy ACO Clinical
Services, Mercy Health, Mercy Health East Communities
Filed
Dr. Mollie James now of Chariton, Iowa, is suing her former employer Mercy for undiagnosed emotional trauma etc. She apparently worked in the ICU when the hospital said all needed to be vaxed. She refused on religious grounds and that exemption was refused so instead of being fired she quit. She apparently was under investigation by the Iowa Board of Medicine and after 18 months was found to be competent. I am not sure if she worked in the ICU or whether she did virtual rounding on patients.
Alonge v Saint Vincent Hospital
Jury
John Alonge DDS slipped on a wet newly mopped floor in the hospital OR and injured himself. This required his retiring 3 years early. He sued the hospital in Erie, Pennsylvania, and the jury awarded him $3.2 million.
Coleman-Mitchell v Connecticut
Settlement
The state has agreed to pay the former commissioner the grand total of $200,000 without liability to settle a suit claiming she was fired wrongly. She can no longer apply for any job with the Department of Public Health. 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.