October 15, 2022 Recent Legal News
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England v Letby
Charged
Lucy Letby, RN, was charged with murdering seven babies and attempted murder of 10 others by injecting them with air and feeding them insulin. This was at Countess of Chester Hospital in northwest England. Top
California v El-Nachef
Guilty
Dr. Mohamed El-Nachef of Laguna Hills plead guilty of defrauding Medi-Cal by billing for false prescriptions for HIV and other diseases that the patients did not have in exchange for cash payments. He will be required to give up his license and pay restitution of $2.3 million. He will be sentenced later.
US v Goisse,Jr
Guilty
Larry Goisse, Jr., a former NP, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was charged with writing prescriptions and billing using anothers license.
US v O'Lear
Sentenced
Thomas O'Lear, of North Canton, Ohio, was sentenced to 15 yesrs in prison and ordered to repay just under $2 million for defrauding fed med. He was the president of Portable Radiology Services and he and his company billed for services not rendered.
Indiana v Parkview Health System
Settlement
The hospital network used wrong codes for billing Medicaid and were overpaid. They cooperated and paid $2.9 million.
US v Bjarke
Guilty
Dr. Christopher Bjarke of Renton, Washington, plead guilty of accepting kickbacks to order genetic testing on Medicare folk who did not need it. Top
FTC v San Juan IPA
Settlement
The New Mexico IPA agreed to pay $263,000 to settle allegations tha tthey violated a 2005 consent decree regarding joint pricing. They were alleged to do it again and paid the price.
States v HHS
US Supreme Court
10 states sued HHS regarding the administration rule that healthcare facilities that receive federal funds must require Covid vaccinations. The lower courts upheld the vaccine rule and the Supremes refused to hear the case.
New Mexico Center on Law and
Poverty v Mountain View Medical Center
Filed
A class action suit was filed against the Las Cruces hospital alleging they have illegally sued low income patients who should have been protected under a state law. Top
Patients v LifeBridge Health
Settlement
In 2018 Lifebridge had a data breach that lasted 18 month. In 2020 they had another that impacted only one hospital. The suit was that LifeBridge did not follow basic security protocols. The system agreed to pay $9.5 million. Top
Keating
v Iowa
Settlement
The state agreed to pay the parents of a 2 year old son $3.9 million for not diagnosing his strep infection which cost him his life. He had a fever and difficult breathing. He was taken to a Iowa clinic and seen by a NP who diagnosed croup. He got a steroid and went home. He was still sick and the parents called a UI nurse line. a physician advised Tylenol and ibuprofen. The next morning he was taken to UI Pediatric Associates when he was diagnosed with fever and constipation and sent home. Later in the day he was taken to a UI ED and he was pronounced great with no pneumonia. Two days later he was struggling to breathe and an on-call nurse advised taking him to the ED by car. On the way he became unresponsive and upon arrival he was in full arrest. He had undiagnosed Group A Strep.
Patients v Columbia Irving Medical
Center, NewYork-Prebyterian
Settlement
The two hospitals have agreed to pay 147 past patients of Dr. Robert Hadden a total of $161,081,000. Hadden is now in prison. Top
Bonni v St. Joseph Health
Ca App Ct
Do Not Mess With The Court of Appeals. Dr. Aram Bonni filed a whistleblower suit against two hospitals stating they retaliated for complaints about patient safety by suspending his privileges. The hospitals filed an anti-SLAPP motion whih was honored and Bonni appealed. The California Supreme Court ruled the Bonni's retaliation action was actually 19 distinct claims of which 8 were protected activity and remanded to the Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals said all Bonni's claims were protected under litigation privilege and therefore could not be pursued. Back to square one.
Gonia v Providence Centralia
Hospital
Settlement
The hospital agreed to settle with Lisa Gonia, a past pharmacy tech at the hospital. She was injured on the job and one month post injury asked her supervisors for light duty to accommodate her injury, an upper back contusion. she then took medical leave. She made a second request for light duty and it too was denied and she was placed on an unpaid "medical leave". Several months later she underwent a surgery and again requested light duty which was again denied. Six months later her physician send she could resume full work without restrictions and she asked Providence to rehire her as a pharmacy tech. she was not rehired. She was formally fired 18 months later. The settlement amount was not released. 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.