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.
Sophia Shaklian, 38, of Los Angeles, and accomplices bilked Medicare of millions by submitting false claims for diagnostic imaging and hospice care that was unnecessary or never administered.
A federal grand jury indicted Anar Rustamov, 38, of Azerbaijan on 14 counts of healthcare fraud. The complex conspiracy allegedly involved billing Medicare Advantage for medical equipment that providers never ordered. Rustamov is currently a fugitive from justice.
The incident left John Douglas Cox, a mechanic in Washington’s Clark County, partially paralyzed after physicians failed to promptly diagnose and treat a spinal infection.
Authorities said Shane Daley, 40, began making threatening calls mere hours after Brian Thompson was shot and killed outside a hotel in Manhattan. Daley awaits sentencing and faces up to five years in prison.
The FDA finalized four Class I recalls related to safety concerns first reported by Abbott in November. Meanwhile, a Florida man who uses these sensors to manage his diabetes has already filed a lawsuit over the issue.
The insurer is planning to reduce reimbursement timelines for hospitals in Oklahoma, Idaho, Minnesota and Missouri from 30 days to 15. The details are unclear, but the company said the framework could extend nationwide.
The California-based health system faced multiple accusations of upcoding diagnoses to receive additional risk-adjusted payments from the Medicare Advantage program. Its payer plan and providers were implicated in what the DOJ described as systemic fraud. Kaiser Permanente denies any wrongdoing.
A mother in Georgia alleges the problematic prenatal ultrasound findings forced her care team to make medical decisions resulting in her child being born with lifelong disabilities.
The traveling clinician pleaded guilty to three counts of second-degree assault. All other charges were dropped, and he was released from jail. According to his attorney, the cardiologist agreed to this plea agreement to "get on with his life."
In a lawsuit, the EHR giant accuses Health Gorilla, et al., of posing as patient care entities to gain access to nearly 300,000 medical records, in violation of HIPAA. Health Gorilla vehemently denies the allegations.
The Wall Street Journal obtained a copy of a report from the Senate Judiciary Committee, which reviewed more than 50,000 documents sent by UnitedHealth related to its Medicare Advantage patients. The outlet published the findings of the inquiry.