October15, 2021 Recent Legal News
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Californian v Le
Indicted
University of California employee Sandra Le has been accused of embezzling money from the School of Nursing. She allegedly pocked tuition money and sent false receipts to those who she cheated.
US v Ceron
Sentenced
Gladys Ceron of North Andover, Massachusetts, was sentenced to two years in prison for doing illegal face and buttock injections using silicone oil. Top
US v Kierczak, Smiley
Indicted
Bethann Kierczak RN of Southgate, Michigan was indicted for theft for allegedly stealing Vaccination Record Cards and reselling them. Rapheal Smiley of Detroit was accused of of concocting a scheme to import and sell fraudulent Covid cards.
US v Providers
Indicted
The feds indicted six physical therapists and two acupuncturists in New York City for fraud. they are accused of paying kickbacks to patients and then billing fed med for procedures that were not necessary or never performed. Those accused are physical therapists Gleen Anciro, Noemi Elmandouh, Gerard Estrealla, Ramon Garcia III, and Henler Tahil. The acupuncturists named are Hongxing Wang and Junyi Liu.
US v Lubin
Sued
The feds have filed a civil suit against Dr. Edward Lubin, a pain doctor in Tampa, Florida, alleging that he prescribed unnecessary prescriptions for Subsys. They say he accepted sham payments from the company for attending speaking events.
US v Padnes
Guilty
Dr. Stephen Padnes of Glenside, Pennsylvania, plead guilty to civil and criminal charges. The criminal charges were based on illegally prescribing controlled substances with no medical necessity. He was also charged with income tax evasion. He has agreed to pay a forfeiture of $1.8 million for this. His civil complaint stated that he accepted money for controlled substances and billed fed med for these illegal prescriptions. He will pay $2 million to settle this charge.
Anesthesia Associates of AnnArbor, Michigan v Blue Cross
Blue Shield of Michigan
ED MI
The district court ruled against the provider organization that the insurer used its dominant position in the area to depress payments. The group failed to establish antitrust standing and the complaint was dismissed.
US v Taro Pharmaceutical, Sandoz, Apotex
Settlement
The three companies were accused of doing kickbacks in order to settle allegations that they fixed the price of generic drugs. Taro paid $213.2 million. Sandoz paid $185 million and Apotex paid $49 million. These were the civil charges. They already paid money to settle the criminal complaints against them, Taro had paid a criminal penalty of $205.6 million, Sandoz $195 million and Apotex $24.1 million.
US v Hantash
Dismissed
Dr. Basil Hantash or Turlock, California, had charges of billing fraud dismissed after he complied with a deferred prosecution agreement. He was ordered in 2019 to stop billing for dermalinfusion device procedures unless he received prior approval. He also agreed to repay the insurance companies the payments he received for these procedures.
US v Heroman
Guilty
Ophthalmologist James Heroman of Charlotte, North Carolina, plead guilty of using non-FDA approved drugs on patients with macular degeneration. He then billed Medicare for the approved drug which was more expensive.
US v Sosna
Sentenced
Harold Sosna, an ex-president of Premier healthcare Management in blue Ash, Ohio, was sentenced to 42 months in prison. He was convicted of bank fraud.
US v Methodist Le Bonhuer Healthcare
Filed
The feds have joined in a whistleblower suit against the Tennessee company. They are accused of paying kickbacks to The West Clinic to induce referrals. Watch for a settlement soon.
US v Le
Sentenced
Pharmacist Thu Van Le of Placentia, California, was sentenced to almost six years in prison and ordered to pay almost $11 million in restitution to Tricare and an additional $768,000 to Amplan. He was convicted of submitting claims for compounded meds that were not necessary.
US v Shlafshten, Olive Street Pharmacy
Settlement
The Creve Coeur, Missouri, pharmacy and its owner Irina Shlafshteyn agreed to pay $1.6 million to settle allegations that they unlawfully dispensed controlled substances and billed fed med.
US v McCormac
Indicted
Looks like Creve Coeur was busy. Pharmacist owner Michael McCormac of GoLiveWellPharmacy was indicted for paying kickbacks to marketing companies for referrals for meds not necessary and for which fed med was billed.
US v Azimirad
Sentenced
Mahsa Azimirad. a former office manager of Washington, DC Universal Smiles was sentenced to 12 months in prison for her part in billing for procedures not performed nor needed. She is also ordered to pay $813,184 in restitution. Her dentist co-conspirator Bilal Ahmed is serving a ten year sentence for sexually assaulting patients and employees. Top
FTC v Alabama Board of Dental
Examiners
Settlement
The Board agreed to stop requiring on-site inspections by licensed dentists of scans of patients mouths to address misaligned teeth. These are routinely done by non-dentists.
Insurers v Court
Filed
A group of insurers sued the feds for money due them via risk corridors. They won $3.7 Billion in that suit. The insurers are objecting to the attorneys fee of $185 million. They want to pay about $9 million.
Estate of Henrietta Lacks v Thermo
Fisher Scientific
Filed
Henrietta Lacks had a cell line that continually reproduced. The family is suing the company for selling cells from the cell line. They tried to sue Johns Hopkins in the past as they were the ones that harvested the cells and did not tell her they were doing it. It seems as if the attorneys are going to make this a case of black exploitation to garner jury sympathy instead of patent infringement. Top
Patients v OSF Healthcare
To Be Filed
The system said a hacker had access to patient information for six weeks before they found the intrusion. They are offering credit monitoring to the people whose information was exposed. Six weeks, unacceptable.
Harrington v Northwestern Memorial
Hospital, Elekta
Filed
Deborah Harrington alleges that Elektra failed to protect the information and allowed the class' information to be stolen. The attorney claim that hundreds of thousands of patients were affected.
New Jersey v Diamond Institute for
Infertility and Menopause
Settlement
The Milburn, New Jersey organization agreed to pay the state $495,000 for a data breach that allowed many unauthorized accesses. They also have to implement new data security measures that they should have already had in place. Top
Kidd v Springfield Medical Center
Filed
In a first of its kind case the mother of an infant who died is suing the hospital for allowing a ransomware attact that may have been the proximate cause of the death. The infant was born with an umbilical cord wrapped around its neck and she died nine months later after suffering brain damage. The OB has said she would have delivered the baby by C-Section had she been notified. The question becomes who's position was it to notify the patient about the attack, hospital or physician? 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.