Legal News

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.

UnitedHealth defends $3.3B Amedisys acquisition
UnitedHealth subsidiary Optum is turning to the court of public opinion to defend the merger.
Cardiologist receives 35 months in prison for health insurance fraud
Fazal Panezai, MD, faced up to 10 years in prison for coordinating a years-long fraud scheme from 2017 to 2022. His New Jersey medical license has already been permanently revoked.
33-year-old radiologist father of 4 dies while hiking
James MacDonald, MD, with Oregon Health & Science University, went missing Nov. 6 in the Mount Hood National Forest.
DOJ sues to block UnitedHealth’s $3.3B acquisition of home health giant
The DOJ met with UnitedHealth execs in an attempt to resolve antitrust concerns out of court, but those talks stalled, a report claims.
Patient suffers traumatic brain injury after radiologist misreads CT scan, lawsuit claims
The lawsuit names Betty Matthew, MD, Advanced Radiology Consultants and Hartford HealthCare, both in Connecticut, as defendants.

Yogesh Patel, a 56-year-old cardiologist arrestd as part of an undercover sting operation targeting sex predators

Cardiologist arrested in undercover operation targeting sex predators

The 56-year-old was one of 10 men arrested in Colorado as part of a two-day sting operation.

November 9, 2023

Radiologist dies after plane he was piloting crashes

Clifton Coffman, MD, practiced diagnostic radiology for more than 50 years, including serving as chief of the specialty at Willis-Knighton Medical Center.

November 1, 2023

Mobile imaging provider to pay $85M for false claims stemming from alleged referral scheme

The alleged kickback scheme spanned nine years, with Cardiac Imaging Inc. paying physicians "excessive fees" to oversee PET scans, the DOJ said.

October 11, 2023

Cardiologists at heart of alleged kickback scheme—imaging provider, CEO to pay $85M to settle

The allegations revolve around payments referring cardiologists received to supervise PET scans from March 2014 to May 2023.

October 11, 2023

Healthcare AI and HIPAA compliance: 5 key legal questions + answers

Training AI for use in healthcare requires feeding algorithms patient data, and lots of it. This opens data custodians—typically hospitals—to various points of potential legal exposure.

October 10, 2023

Lab owner confesses to $359M fraud involving COVID tests

A married couple operating a lab in California admit to billing Medicare for unnecessary rapid COVID tests.

October 9, 2023

Family of man who died of a heart attack settles lawsuit for $1.9M after error led to delayed care

EMTs waited outside the man's house for 13 minutes before finally entering. The delay, it turns out, was due to an error in the dispatcher's computer system.

October 6, 2023

Cardiologist’s date rape trial scheduled for March

The 35-year-old cardiologist faces a total of 51 felony charges. He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment.

October 6, 2023

Legal News

UnitedHealth defends $3.3B Amedisys acquisition

Cardiologist receives 35 months in prison for health insurance fraud

33-year-old radiologist father of 4 dies while hiking

DOJ sues to block UnitedHealth’s $3.3B acquisition of home health giant

Patient suffers traumatic brain injury after radiologist misreads CT scan, lawsuit claims