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.
Of all lawsuits filed against patients in 2024 in one U.S. state, physician practices and other non-hospital healthcare entities accounted for 80% of cases. That’s a complete inversion from just six years prior.
The U.S. Department of Justice said it worries its lawsuit could ultimately bankrupt the telehealth group, leaving little money for alleged victims. The company is said to have refused to cancel member accounts, forcing patients to file credit card disputes to get refunds. This is in addition to other arguably more serious accusations levied by the DOJ.
"This case reflects a troubling pattern in which payers, dissatisfied with IDR results, increasingly try to attack those outcomes outside the framework Congress created," Rad Partners says.
The company said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it is cooperating with the Department of Justice’s inquiry into possible incidents of Medicare Advantage upcoding.
In a settled lawsuit, a surgeon and anesthesiologist admitted to playing the game and missing an alarm that warned them a 56-year-old patient had stopped breathing.
A California health system and a local morgue are facing accusations of gross negligence after the bodies of missing persons were discovered—some with identification still on them. The state Department of Public Health is investigating the incidents.
The insurer is challenging three phone calls made by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services that led to a docked rating for some of Humana’s plans. A previous challenge, which broadly contested the agency’s star rating criteria, was dismissed.
Ritesh Kalra, MD, allegedly wrote 31,000 opioid prescriptions between 2019 and 2025, many of which were illegitimate. He is accused of inappropriately touching patients in exchange for oxycodone scripts as part of a five-count criminal indictment.