September 15, 2023 Recent Legal News
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North Carolina v Pitti-Casazola
Indicted
Daniel Pitti-Casazola was arrested and charged with impersonating a physician. He was working for the state health department. He allegedly hit on Hispanic women and gave them "physicals" in their homes.
US v Chi
Settlement
Dr. Jang Chi of Auburn, New YOork, agreed to pay $135,000 to settle civil charges of him over prescribing opiods and other controlled substances. He surrendered his DEA license for 15 years.
US v Weberg
Guilty
Cora Weberg RN of Puyallup Good Samaritan Hospital agreed to a plea deal. She was the probable source of hepatitis C infections in her patients by stealing drugs. This was over five years ago and now she is charged with tampering with consumer products. She agreed with the charge and will be sentenced.
Kentucky v Hall
Indicted
Abigail Hall RN was found intoxicated by morphine at Lawrenceburg Kentucky Signature Healthcare at Heritage Hall Rehab and Wellness Center. She had replaced patient's morphine with water and food coloring.
Massachusetts v Burke
Arraigned
Dr. Scott Burke of Key Largo, Florida, was arraigned on gun and narcotic charges. The retired surgeon was found on a boat in Nantucket with a woman who had OD'd and guns and narcotics. He denies all except the expiration of his gun license which he states he forgot to renew. He also supposedly has terminal cancer.
US v Avila
Arraigned
Nora Avila of Laredo, Texas, was arraigned for the charge of making false statements. She is accused of impersonating a nurse and working at various home health companies.
US v Montalvo Villa, Martinez
Convicted
A jury convicted Miguel Montalvo Villa and Maria Martinez of Miami of fraud. They falsified clinical data while working at AMB Research Center. They used false names for people to be enrolled in studies.
US v Toh
Convicted
Dr. Benjamin Toh of Chicago was convicted by a jury of fraud. He was a telemedicine physician licensed in many sstates. He signed requests for many unnecessary genetic tests but never met the patients.
Patients v Walgreens Boots
Alliance
Settlement
A class action suit has been settled with Walgreens agreeing to pay $44 million to resolve allegations surrounding their part in the Theranos fiasco.
US v Lompoc Valley Medical Center
Settlement
The central California facility agreed to pay $5 million to settle allegations that they submitted false claims knowingly to MediCal. This was a qui tam filed by the facility's former medical director.
US v Oliver Street Dermatology
Management LLC
Settlement
The Texas company will pay $8.9 million to settle allegations that they violated the federal Anti-Kickback statutes. The company buys dermatology practices. They self reported that they found evidence that former senior managers acquired 11 practices with the understanding that the practices would refer to Oliver Street after the acquisition.
US v Mile High Psychiatry , Chism
III
Settlement
The Denver medical practice has agreed to pay $1.9 million to settle allegations that he/they double billed time to increase payments. This is a whistleblower claim.
US v Frederick Oncology and
Hematology Associates
Settlement
The Maryland medical practice paid $850,949 to settle allegations that they billed erroneously a wrong code and using a physician's number instead of the non-physician who treated the patient in the physician's absence. Top
Physicians v FDA
5th Circuit
The 5 physicians had sued the FDA for overstepping their ad campaign in trying to have people not take ivermectin for Covid. Their ads said "You are not a horse" which is true but it left out the part where the drug is also used in humans for legitimate purposes. The court said the case could go forward since the agency has the authority to inform announce and appraise but not endorse, denounce nor advise. The original suit was tossed for not overcoming the sovereign immunity clause.
Consumers v Aetna Health of
California
Dismissed
The 9th Circuit dismissed the class action suit alleging not paying enough for Covid specimen testing. The court said the law did not allow for a private right of action against insurers.
Alliance Cancer Specialists v
Jefferson Health
Filed
The Sellerville medical practice filed suit for anti-competitive practices against Jefferson Health. The allege being very close to possessing monopoly power by taking over many medical practices. They are accused of applying pressure to have their physicians only refer to Jefferson physician. This occurred after a failed attempt by Jefferson to purchase Alliance. They also eliminated privileges for all Alliance oncologists at Jefferson.
Indiana v Schneck Medical Center
Settlement
The Seymour, Indiana, hospital agreed to pay $250,000 to settle the civil lawsuit against them for their negligence in not protecting their patient's health information. Top
Vega v Froedtert Hospital, Medical
College of Wisconsin
Filed
Vega states that after an ankle surgery that was taped a part of a surgical drain broke off upon attempting to remove it. He states that he complained that something was pulling and the staff did not do the requested x-rays. The patient did have later an ankle x-ray which showed a foreign body but that was not communicated to the medical team. He continued to be in pain and a second x-ray again showed the drain and this time the medical team saw it. The drain was still not removed and he was told there was nothing on the x-ray. Finally five months after his original surgery he had the retained drain removed. Write the check.
Koppula v Royal Women's Hospital
Idiocy
Mr. Koppula sued the hospital for allowing him to witness the C-Section of his wife. He claims he was severely traumatized by the experience and they should not have let it happen. He was his own attorney and got the result one would hope. I also hope he lost money.
Rose v PSA AirLines
4th Circuit
The mother of a son who died while awaiting a heart transplant has sued under ERISA and the 4th Circuit has let the case go forward against the employer, its fully funded self administered health plan and other administrators. The son was a flight attendant and had a heart condition requiring a transplant and was covered under the health plan. The district court denied all claims but the 4th said they could sue for unjust enrichment.
Audelo v J&J, P&G,
Walgreens
Filed
A Florida snake oil law firm has filed a class action suit that came out the day or the next day after a FDA panel said that phenylephrine was ineffective. They want compensation for all who purchased the products. Another sleaze firm in California and other states are suing for the same thing. Get on the gravy train and settle.
Taylor v Gates
Filed
The Taylor family of Georgia had sued an OB and Southern Regional Medical Center for malpractice due to the decapitation of their child during delivery. Now they are suing Dr. Jackson Gates who allegedly posted videos of his autopsy of the newborn on social media.
McCoy v Harris
Jury Decision
McCoy had cataract surgery by Dr. Lauren Harris of University Eye Surgeons in Knoxville, Tennessee. The next day he had severe pain in his operated eye, chills , fever, and vomiting. He developed a severe eye infection and lost vision in that eye. Eventually he had his eye removed and a prostheses placed. McCoy won $7 million.
Statton v Oklahoma Children's
Hospital
Filed
The patient went to the ED of the hospital in early 2023 for an abortion. She ws told no due to the viability of the fetus was still present. She traveled out of care to receive the abortion for what turned out to be a partial molar pregnancy. They are suing under EMTALA but she was stabilized and treatment is not in the law.
Morton-Maxson v University of
Washington
Filed
The patient had a bladder surgically removed and the tumor was lost prior to being analyzed. Was it cancer? Top
Jang v Los Angeles County
Jury Verdict
Dr. Timothy Jang is a professor at Harbor UCLA Medical Center. He is the director of the ultrasound fellowship program and reported that the emergency room chair Dr. Roger Lewis ordered him not to hire foreign doctors as fellows. He also complained that Dr. Lewis mad other racial comments and that the ultrasound machines did not meet CMS specs. In retaliation Lewis allegedly increased Jang's workload and refused to fund a fellow for one year. He also refused to advance Jang to a senior position. Jang was awarded over $600.000.
Miller, Andronowitz v Mercy
Hospital
Filed
The suit was filed the same day the hospital in Iowa City filed for receivership and two day prior to the hospital filing for bankruptcy. They accused the hospital of not paying them what was due in their severance package and ghosting them. Never reach court. 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.