Stories about physicians and other healthcare professionals involved in lawsuits—as either a plaintiff or a defendant—or accused of breaking the law. Various legal updates or unusual stories in the news may land here.
The lawsuits, filed in multiple states, contend there's a causal link between semaglutide and a rare condition called NAION that leads to diminished eyesight. Plaintiffs want the popular weight-loss drugs to add a warning label.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced the judgment, which was issued against two facilities in Pennsylvania. The nursing homes fraudulently billed Medicare and Medicaid for working hours despite staff not being on the floor.
In court documents, an unnamed Minnesota woman said that in 2022, she was admitted to an Allina Health hospital and scheduled for the removal of her infected spleen, only for an error to result in her left kidney being removed instead.
Community Health System and Physician Network Advantage, an affiliated technology consultancy firm, were accused of bribing physicians for patient referrals in the form of paid vacations, expensive gifts and business meetings held at strip clubs.
The company told Cardiovascular Business it respectfully disagrees with the jury's decision and is evaluating all possible legal options going forward. The Association of Medical Device Reprocessors, meanwhile, celebrated the news.
The hospitals all belong to HCA Healthcare, which claims it is required by law to care for emergency patients regardless of their medical coverage status.
MSNBC is settling a defamation lawsuit filed by Mahendra Ami, MD, who was accused in 2020 of performing mass hysterectomies at an ICE detention center. Ami denied the accusations and sued the network for $30 million, alleging they failed to verify the claims of a whistleblower nurse.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the DOJ is looking into whether the insurer is responsible for billing the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for patient diagnoses not applicable to the actual care a patient will need, in an effort to boost monthly payments received by the agency.
Xiaoqin Du, 63, of Suzhou, China, allegedly formed a rival firm in the same Chicago suburb as Philips, luring away engineers to relay intimate company details.
Sonny Saggar, MD, a physician working for St. Louis General Hospital, billed Medicare and Medicaid for patient visits his unqualified assistants conducted. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy.
A U.S. military contractor has agreed to an $11.2 million settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice to resolve allegations it lied about properly securing sensitive patient data tied to the Tricare program.
According to a report from Bloomberg Law, UnitedHealth has hired a prestigious defamation law firm to police what it deems as misinformation posted online.