September 1, 2010 Recent Legal News

Nursing

Iowa v Etter
Acquittal

Karen Etter, the director of nursing at a nursing home, had been accused by the state of obstruction of an investigation of the nursing home.  She had told employees that they would be fired if they reported quality of care concerns to state inspectors instead of her, the administrator or the corporate owners.  She was found not guilty because when she told the above to the employees there were no pending state investigations.  Etter no longer works at the nursing home.

California Nurses Assn v Sutter Health
Filed

It is hard to believe but the CNA has filed a suit against Sutter and CPMC, one of it's hospitals for not hiring Filipino nurses.  One must know that the union and Sutter have been fighting over contract issues for over three years but I am sure that has nothing to do with the suit.  The Union contends that racial profiling is present and that the percentage of Filipino nurses at CPMC has dropped from 65% to 10%.  They state it is due to those nurses reporting abuses to the authorities.  CPMC states that the amount of Asian nurses has risen 3% in the period and he does not keep track of how many are Filipino.    

O'Connor v Jordan Hosp
Filed

Margaret O'Connor is suing the Plymouth Massachusetts hospital for firing her after she told federal authorities that the hospital had an EMTALA violation by transferring a six month pregnant woman with twins and in labor to another hospital without the patient being seen by any physician.  The hospital was cited for the illegal act and others found during the inspection.  On the day of the inspection O'Connor was fired.  This hospital not only is doing illegal transferring but also needs a shakeup in Administration and it's legal department.          Top

Malpractice

Patients v Hospital
To Be Filed

Oregon Live reports that there were 32 preventable deaths in the state's hospitals during the past year.  There were 136 "incidents" reported in 2009 and about half were minimal.  Another half were serious or caused death.  There were wrong sided operations, foreign bodies left in patients during surgery.  Also hospitals are required to notify all patients with serious incidents in writing.  Only about half have been notified in writing but most were notified orally. 

Patients v Sutter
To Be Filed

 Sutter is recalling over 3000 patients who were vaccinated in several of their clinics due to the vaccine being stored incorrectly.    

Baubitz v Peninsula Hosp
D Maryland

The Maryland District Court in a diversity action held that the hospital could be liable for negligent credentialing of cardiologist John McLean.  The patients claimed that the nurses who worked with McLean should have known about McLean's alleged misdeeds in doing unnecessary procedures.  The court stated that the nurses owed a duty to patients to report the unnecessary procedures.  The case may go forward.         Top

Employment

Lurie v Mid Atlantic Permanente
D DC

Dr. Lurie, a surgeon, was suspended and terminated for lying on time cards.  He then sued for age discrimination and other claims.  He lost on all since the hospital had a legitimate reason to fire him and it was found not to be a pretext for age discrimination.  There was no tortuous interference with contract since the patients were those of the Group and not the surgeon.  

AHA v US
Filed

 The AHA has filed an amicus brief against the IRS position that hospital need to withhold taxes from residents who work 40 or more hours per week.  The IRS does not consider these residents students.  The 8th Circ did uphold the IRS in a case with the Mayo Clinic.  The Court said the interpretation by the Service was reasonable and therefore could stand.

Bhansali v Daniels
Ca Ct App

Daksha Bhansali was a member of the medical group of Kaiser Permanente Southern California  radiologists.  She was an interventional radiologist.  Several surgeons at the hospital where she worked signed a memo to limit her work due to concerns over the quality of her work.  They were asked and refused to retract their memo.  Dr. Bhansali then sued the surgeons for defamation etc.  The surgeons filed a motion to compel arbitration and this was granted.  The arbitrator then agreed to a summary judgment for the surgeons since the memo was confidential and privileged and there was no evidence of malice.   The trial court affirmed the above.  She sued over the arbitration since she had never signed the agreement and the issues were outside of any arbitration agreement.  The appellate court agreed with the lower court on all counts.  Arbitration is not uncommonly held against no signatories of a contract with an arbitration clause.   

Johnson v Peake
WD Tenn

Johnson was the chief of psychiatry at a VA hospital.  Johnson was in recovery for alcohol and drug abuse had problems with the medical director who did not believe in hiring physicians in recovery.  Johnson sued the medical director refusal to accomodate his back pain, and complaints about his performance which came after he filed an EEOC complaint.  The trial court denied a summary judgment since the claims if true would be enough for the psychiatrist to prevail.     Top

Hospitals

Marin General v Sutter Health
Filed

Marin General Hospital which was leased to Sutter Health for many years and is now independent again has sued Sutter for illegally taking $120 million.  Up until the time Marin sued Sutter in 2006 about who was responsible for the seismic upgrades Sutter was taking $3 million per year to the Sacramento office.  The settlement was to give Marin General back to it's Board of Directors.  After that they began taking $30 million per year.  It does seem strange.  

US v Saint Johns Health Center
Settlement

The Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California, has agreed to pay $5.25 million for inflating claims to Medicare.   

Chaney v Plainfield Healthcare Center
7th Circuit

Brenda Chaney is a black provider of care in a nursing home in Indiana.  The law in Indiana states that nursing home residents may choose their own provider.  Some people have stated that they want no black providers.  This is discrimination and is wrong according to the court.  Residents can refuse to be treated by members of the opposite sex but not dependent on race.           Top

Physicians

US v Tseng
Filed

Dr. Lisa Tseng of Southern California had her office raided by DEA and her DEA license summarily suspended for two overdose deaths tied to her office.  She denies any responsibility.  She states that if the patient takes a month's worth of medicine in one day that is the patient's problem.  She has retained her medical license.  A review of state narcotic records show she wrote an average of 25 prescriptions a day for controlled substances.          Top

Archive

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.