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.

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Lawsuit dropped against squatter patient who refused to leave hospital room for 5 months

It’s unclear why Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare dropped its lawsuit, but it did so with prejudice, meaning the hospital cannot refile. There are many unanswered questions surrounding the unusual case, including how common incidents like this are and whether or not the hospital can technically bill for the time the room was occupied.

Department of Justice DOJ

Hospitals used illegal tactics to prevent patients from seeking low-cost radiology services: DOJ

Authorities claim NewYork-Presbyterian wielded plan restrictions to stop one insurer from steering beneficiaries to other imaging options. 

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EFF sues CMS over deployment of Medicare prior authorization AI

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit digital civil rights advocacy group, said it filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking more information about the “WISeR” pilot program, which effectively adds a prior-authorization process to traditional Medicare in six states. To date, it’s received no response. 

Statue of Liberty New York City healthcare

DOJ accuses New York health system of engaging in anticompetitive business practices

In a complaint filed in federal court, the U.S. Department of Justice claims NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital uses its power of “scale, breadth and configuration” to control payer contracts, making it difficult for insurers to develop low-cost plans. The health system denies any wrongdoing.

Medical malpractice gavel diagnostic error mistake stethoscope

Patient injected with acid instead of saline earns undisclosed settlement

The disturbing case highlights a series of process errors and cost-cutting measures that ultimately led to the “never event” accident. 

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Activist investors sue UnitedHealth to force annual reporting on patient care access

Led by a Quebec-based faith organization, a coalition of investors is asking a court to force UnitedHealth to provide details on the social impacts of its history of mergers and acquisitions. The lawsuit comes after the plaintiffs, all company shareholders, failed to get the proposal passed through internal channels. The Securities and Exchange Commission has also opted not to intervene. 

Stanford Medicine

Trump DOJ launches probe into three medical schools over possible race-based admissions

Ohio State University College of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine and UC San Diego School of Medicine all received letters this week where federal authorities are requesting details related to admissions, including standardized test scores, donor correspondence and more. The schools say they are already compliant with state and federal regulations. 

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Novartis sued for allegedly leaking data on breast cancer patient to Google, Contentsquare

In a lawsuit seeking class action status, a woman identified as “P.M.” said she began using the website for Kisqali, a Novartis breast cancer treatment, in late 2024 shortly after being issued a prescription. Unbeknownst to her, sensitive data she shared when seeking a discount may have been shared with advertisers.