Naomi Shammash

A federal jury found William R. Bauer, 84, of Port Clinton, Ohio, guilty of prescribing powerful controlled substances, including opioids, to patients without medical necessity and outside the usual course of medical practice.

Dr. Bauer, a neurologist with over 50 years of experience, was convicted of 76 counts of distribution of controlled substances and 25 counts of healthcare fraud. According to television station WTOL, a federal indictment from 2019 listed 270 charges against the physician.

Federal officials claim that through his practice in Bellevue, Ohio, Dr. Bauer repeatedly prescribed controlled substances, including oxycodone, fentanyl, morphine, and tramadol, outside the usual course of professional practice and without legitimate medical purpose. The charges focused on 14 of his patients, to whom he prescribed high doses of opioids and other controlled substances without medical necessity. He also prescribed dangerous drug combinations. He ignored patients’ signs of addiction and abuse, such as early requests for refills, claims that medications had been lost, and claims that family members were stealing pills.

Dr. Bauer was also convicted of healthcare fraud for regularly administering epidural injections and trigger-point injections without medical necessity. Because these injections failed to meet the procedural requirements, they were rendered ineffective and were fraudulently billed to insurers. Dr. Bauer’s illegal prescriptions resulted in insurers paying for these medically unnecessary controlled substances.

Evidence at trial indicated that between January 2007 and August 16, 2019, Dr. Bauer prescribed controlled substances outside the usual course of medical practice and for illegitimate medical purposes. Insurers paid for these medically unnecessary controlled substances as well.

He will be sentenced at a later date.
 

Lab pays $1.2 million to resolve allegations of false claims for drug testing

Bluewater Toxicology, LLC, a clinical laboratory in Mount Washington, Ky., has agreed to pay $1.2 million to resolve civil allegations that it violated the False Claims Act.

The U.S. Department of Justice alleged three issues relating to claims for urine drug testing services that Bluewater submitted to Medicare, Kentucky Medicaid, Indiana Medicaid, TRICARE, and CHAMPVA. First, Bluewater submitted claims in which it misrepresented the number of drug classes it tested. Bluewater claimed it conducted definitive urine drug tests of 22 or more drug classes. In truth, Bluewater tested for fewer than 22 drug classes and secured reimbursement for drug tests that it did not conduct.

Second, Bluewater submitted certain claims without sufficient documentation to support the physician’s intent to order the test that was billed. In this way Bluewater obtained further unwarranted reimbursements.

Finally, Bluewater billed Medicare for specimen validity testing, a quality control process used to analyze a urine specimen to ensure that it has not been diluted or adulterated. Since January 2014, Medicare’s guidance has stated that specimen validity testing should not be separately billed to Medicare, but Bluewater did so anyway.
 

Home care company owner pays $1 million in Medicare fraud restitution

Richard Wennerberg, 72, of Grantham, N.H., pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two counts of class B felony Medicaid fraud, according to the New Hampshire Department of Justice.

Mr. Wennerberg is the owner of Alternative Care @ Home, LLC, a company licensed to provide in-home personal care services to Medicaid beneficiaries. He also pleaded guilty to a third charge of Medicaid fraud, through which Alternative Care @ Home, LLC, will be excluded from future participation in federal healthcare programs.

According to New Hampshire officials, Mr. Wennerberg submitted claims for reimbursement for in-home, personal care services that were never provided. Wennerberg billed Medicaid up to the maximum hours allowed under certain clients’ service authorizations, knowing that his employees did not provide care for all of those hours. He would use the difference to reimburse some caregivers for mileage.

Mr. Wennerberg will serve 1 year in state prison and will pay $1 million in restitution.
 

North Carolina wins two “Operation Root Canal” settlements

North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein announced two separate civil settlements with ProHealth Dental Inc and Henry W. Davis, Jr, DDS, as part of Operation Root Canal, an ongoing effort to find and stop healthcare fraud among dental practitioners. The settlements, totaling $75,000, resolve allegations of the submission of false claims to the North Carolina Medicaid program.

In Operation Root Canal, the state Medicaid investigations department reviews billing practices for a wide variety of dental services, including dental cleanings, use of nitrous oxide, repetitive restorations on the same tooth, palliative care, and upcoding of patient examinations. In total, the operation has netted more than $7 million for the state.

The recent settlement relates to a prior criminal plea the attorney general’s Medicaid Investigations Division obtained involving Mr. Christian Ekberg, of Maryland, who was sentenced to 18 months in prison for healthcare fraud and was ordered to pay $173,870.12 to the North Carolina Medicaid Fund in restitution. Ekberg was an officer and minority shareholder of ProHealth Dental, a company that entered into a practice management agreement with Henry W. Davis, Jr, DDS., a North Carolina dentist and Medicaid practitioner who provided dental services to patients living in skilled nursing facilities throughout North Carolina. ProHealth Dental would provide professional management services to Dr. Davis, including submitting Medicaid claims. The company submitted claims for dental services that Dr. Davis did not perform on Medicaid recipients.

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

A federal jury found William R. Bauer, 84, of Port Clinton, Ohio, guilty of prescribing powerful controlled substances, including opioids, to patients without medical necessity and outside the usual course of medical practice.

Dr. Bauer, a neurologist with over 50 years of experience, was convicted of 76 counts of distribution of controlled substances and 25 counts of healthcare fraud. According to television station WTOL, a federal indictment from 2019 listed 270 charges against the physician.

Federal officials claim that through his practice in Bellevue, Ohio, Dr. Bauer repeatedly prescribed controlled substances, including oxycodone, fentanyl, morphine, and tramadol, outside the usual course of professional practice and without legitimate medical purpose. The charges focused on 14 of his patients, to whom he prescribed high doses of opioids and other controlled substances without medical necessity. He also prescribed dangerous drug combinations. He ignored patients’ signs of addiction and abuse, such as early requests for refills, claims that medications had been lost, and claims that family members were stealing pills.

Dr. Bauer was also convicted of healthcare fraud for regularly administering epidural injections and trigger-point injections without medical necessity. Because these injections failed to meet the procedural requirements, they were rendered ineffective and were fraudulently billed to insurers. Dr. Bauer’s illegal prescriptions resulted in insurers paying for these medically unnecessary controlled substances.

Evidence at trial indicated that between January 2007 and August 16, 2019, Dr. Bauer prescribed controlled substances outside the usual course of medical practice and for illegitimate medical purposes. Insurers paid for these medically unnecessary controlled substances as well.

He will be sentenced at a later date.
 

Lab pays $1.2 million to resolve allegations of false claims for drug testing

Bluewater Toxicology, LLC, a clinical laboratory in Mount Washington, Ky., has agreed to pay $1.2 million to resolve civil allegations that it violated the False Claims Act.

The U.S. Department of Justice alleged three issues relating to claims for urine drug testing services that Bluewater submitted to Medicare, Kentucky Medicaid, Indiana Medicaid, TRICARE, and CHAMPVA. First, Bluewater submitted claims in which it misrepresented the number of drug classes it tested. Bluewater claimed it conducted definitive urine drug tests of 22 or more drug classes. In truth, Bluewater tested for fewer than 22 drug classes and secured reimbursement for drug tests that it did not conduct.

Second, Bluewater submitted certain claims without sufficient documentation to support the physician’s intent to order the test that was billed. In this way Bluewater obtained further unwarranted reimbursements.

Finally, Bluewater billed Medicare for specimen validity testing, a quality control process used to analyze a urine specimen to ensure that it has not been diluted or adulterated. Since January 2014, Medicare’s guidance has stated that specimen validity testing should not be separately billed to Medicare, but Bluewater did so anyway.
 

Home care company owner pays $1 million in Medicare fraud restitution

Richard Wennerberg, 72, of Grantham, N.H., pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two counts of class B felony Medicaid fraud, according to the New Hampshire Department of Justice.

Mr. Wennerberg is the owner of Alternative Care @ Home, LLC, a company licensed to provide in-home personal care services to Medicaid beneficiaries. He also pleaded guilty to a third charge of Medicaid fraud, through which Alternative Care @ Home, LLC, will be excluded from future participation in federal healthcare programs.

According to New Hampshire officials, Mr. Wennerberg submitted claims for reimbursement for in-home, personal care services that were never provided. Wennerberg billed Medicaid up to the maximum hours allowed under certain clients’ service authorizations, knowing that his employees did not provide care for all of those hours. He would use the difference to reimburse some caregivers for mileage.

Mr. Wennerberg will serve 1 year in state prison and will pay $1 million in restitution.
 

North Carolina wins two “Operation Root Canal” settlements

North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein announced two separate civil settlements with ProHealth Dental Inc and Henry W. Davis, Jr, DDS, as part of Operation Root Canal, an ongoing effort to find and stop healthcare fraud among dental practitioners. The settlements, totaling $75,000, resolve allegations of the submission of false claims to the North Carolina Medicaid program.

In Operation Root Canal, the state Medicaid investigations department reviews billing practices for a wide variety of dental services, including dental cleanings, use of nitrous oxide, repetitive restorations on the same tooth, palliative care, and upcoding of patient examinations. In total, the operation has netted more than $7 million for the state.

The recent settlement relates to a prior criminal plea the attorney general’s Medicaid Investigations Division obtained involving Mr. Christian Ekberg, of Maryland, who was sentenced to 18 months in prison for healthcare fraud and was ordered to pay $173,870.12 to the North Carolina Medicaid Fund in restitution. Ekberg was an officer and minority shareholder of ProHealth Dental, a company that entered into a practice management agreement with Henry W. Davis, Jr, DDS., a North Carolina dentist and Medicaid practitioner who provided dental services to patients living in skilled nursing facilities throughout North Carolina. ProHealth Dental would provide professional management services to Dr. Davis, including submitting Medicaid claims. The company submitted claims for dental services that Dr. Davis did not perform on Medicaid recipients.

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

A federal jury found William R. Bauer, 84, of Port Clinton, Ohio, guilty of prescribing powerful controlled substances, including opioids, to patients without medical necessity and outside the usual course of medical practice.

Dr. Bauer, a neurologist with over 50 years of experience, was convicted of 76 counts of distribution of controlled substances and 25 counts of healthcare fraud. According to television station WTOL, a federal indictment from 2019 listed 270 charges against the physician.

Federal officials claim that through his practice in Bellevue, Ohio, Dr. Bauer repeatedly prescribed controlled substances, including oxycodone, fentanyl, morphine, and tramadol, outside the usual course of professional practice and without legitimate medical purpose. The charges focused on 14 of his patients, to whom he prescribed high doses of opioids and other controlled substances without medical necessity. He also prescribed dangerous drug combinations. He ignored patients’ signs of addiction and abuse, such as early requests for refills, claims that medications had been lost, and claims that family members were stealing pills.

Dr. Bauer was also convicted of healthcare fraud for regularly administering epidural injections and trigger-point injections without medical necessity. Because these injections failed to meet the procedural requirements, they were rendered ineffective and were fraudulently billed to insurers. Dr. Bauer’s illegal prescriptions resulted in insurers paying for these medically unnecessary controlled substances.

Evidence at trial indicated that between January 2007 and August 16, 2019, Dr. Bauer prescribed controlled substances outside the usual course of medical practice and for illegitimate medical purposes. Insurers paid for these medically unnecessary controlled substances as well.

He will be sentenced at a later date.
 

Lab pays $1.2 million to resolve allegations of false claims for drug testing

Bluewater Toxicology, LLC, a clinical laboratory in Mount Washington, Ky., has agreed to pay $1.2 million to resolve civil allegations that it violated the False Claims Act.

The U.S. Department of Justice alleged three issues relating to claims for urine drug testing services that Bluewater submitted to Medicare, Kentucky Medicaid, Indiana Medicaid, TRICARE, and CHAMPVA. First, Bluewater submitted claims in which it misrepresented the number of drug classes it tested. Bluewater claimed it conducted definitive urine drug tests of 22 or more drug classes. In truth, Bluewater tested for fewer than 22 drug classes and secured reimbursement for drug tests that it did not conduct.

Second, Bluewater submitted certain claims without sufficient documentation to support the physician’s intent to order the test that was billed. In this way Bluewater obtained further unwarranted reimbursements.

Finally, Bluewater billed Medicare for specimen validity testing, a quality control process used to analyze a urine specimen to ensure that it has not been diluted or adulterated. Since January 2014, Medicare’s guidance has stated that specimen validity testing should not be separately billed to Medicare, but Bluewater did so anyway.
 

Home care company owner pays $1 million in Medicare fraud restitution

Richard Wennerberg, 72, of Grantham, N.H., pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two counts of class B felony Medicaid fraud, according to the New Hampshire Department of Justice.

Mr. Wennerberg is the owner of Alternative Care @ Home, LLC, a company licensed to provide in-home personal care services to Medicaid beneficiaries. He also pleaded guilty to a third charge of Medicaid fraud, through which Alternative Care @ Home, LLC, will be excluded from future participation in federal healthcare programs.

According to New Hampshire officials, Mr. Wennerberg submitted claims for reimbursement for in-home, personal care services that were never provided. Wennerberg billed Medicaid up to the maximum hours allowed under certain clients’ service authorizations, knowing that his employees did not provide care for all of those hours. He would use the difference to reimburse some caregivers for mileage.

Mr. Wennerberg will serve 1 year in state prison and will pay $1 million in restitution.
 

North Carolina wins two “Operation Root Canal” settlements

North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein announced two separate civil settlements with ProHealth Dental Inc and Henry W. Davis, Jr, DDS, as part of Operation Root Canal, an ongoing effort to find and stop healthcare fraud among dental practitioners. The settlements, totaling $75,000, resolve allegations of the submission of false claims to the North Carolina Medicaid program.

In Operation Root Canal, the state Medicaid investigations department reviews billing practices for a wide variety of dental services, including dental cleanings, use of nitrous oxide, repetitive restorations on the same tooth, palliative care, and upcoding of patient examinations. In total, the operation has netted more than $7 million for the state.

The recent settlement relates to a prior criminal plea the attorney general’s Medicaid Investigations Division obtained involving Mr. Christian Ekberg, of Maryland, who was sentenced to 18 months in prison for healthcare fraud and was ordered to pay $173,870.12 to the North Carolina Medicaid Fund in restitution. Ekberg was an officer and minority shareholder of ProHealth Dental, a company that entered into a practice management agreement with Henry W. Davis, Jr, DDS., a North Carolina dentist and Medicaid practitioner who provided dental services to patients living in skilled nursing facilities throughout North Carolina. ProHealth Dental would provide professional management services to Dr. Davis, including submitting Medicaid claims. The company submitted claims for dental services that Dr. Davis did not perform on Medicaid recipients.

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

Pharma rep admits to health care fraud, money laundering, and more

Paul Camarda, a pharmaceutical sales representative, admitted to conspiring to defraud New Jersey County health benefits programs and conspiring to engage in money laundering and obstruct justice. Mr. Camarda pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice and engage in money laundering.

Mr. Camarda, 39, of Holmdel, N. J., created a side business called Dynasty Capital LLC to independently market medical products and services for other companies, including compounded prescription medications for specialty pharmacies, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Mr. Camarda learned that certain local government employees had insurance coverage for these compounded medications and discovered that certain compounded medications were reimbursed up to thousands of dollars for a 1-month supply. Mr. Camarda recruited individuals with insurance coverage to fraudulently obtain medically unnecessary compounded medications.

He marketed compounded medications for several pharmacies. As part of his arrangements with the compounding pharmacies and his conspirators, Mr. Camarda was paid a percentage of the insurance payments received for prescriptions arranged by him and those working for him.

Mr. Camarda received more than $2.2 million in payments for the prescriptions he and those working with him arranged. Mr. Camarda and his recruits caused more than $3.4 million in fraudulent claims to be submitted to the pharmacy benefits administrator for compounded medications.

He is due to be sentenced in November and faces up to 15 years in prison plus $500,000 in fines.
 

Home health care and hospice agency owner defrauds Medicare for $31 million

Akop Atoyan, 48, of Glendale, Calif., pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and one count of conspiracy to pay and receive healthcare kickbacks.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Mr. Atoyan and his wife, Liana Karapetyan, owned and controlled home healthcare and hospice agencies in the greater Sacramento area: ANG Health Care Inc, Excel Home Healthcare Inc, and Excel Hospice Inc. Mr. Atoyan and Ms. Karapetyan certified to Medicare that their agencies would not pay kickbacks in exchange for Medicare beneficiary referrals.

Officials claim Mr. Atoyan and Ms. Karapetyan paid and directed others to pay kickbacks to multiple individuals for beneficiary referrals, including employees of healthcare facilities, as well as employees’ spouses. In total, Mr. Atoyan, Ms. Karapetyan, and others caused the agencies to submit over 8,000 claims to Medicare for the cost of home healthcare and hospice services. Medicare was billed about $31 million.

As part of his guilty plea, Mr. Atoyan agreed to pay about $2.5 million in restitution to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He also agreed to forfeit that amount to the United States.
 

Medical clinic owner sentenced to jail for Medicaid fraud

Larry Lance Crawford, 49, of Las Vegas, was sentenced in a Medicaid fraud case involving the failure to maintain adequate records to substantiate claims submitted to Nevada Medicaid.

The Nevada Attorney General’s Office announced that Mr. Crawford was given 364 days in jail and was ordered to pay $50,000.00 in restitution.

The Medicaid Fraud Control Unit received information that Mr. Crawford, the owner of Dynamic Future, was using his business to submit false claims for services that were never provided to Medicaid recipients. The investigation revealed that Mr. Crawford failed to maintain records to support the services that were allegedly provided.

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

Pharma rep admits to health care fraud, money laundering, and more

Paul Camarda, a pharmaceutical sales representative, admitted to conspiring to defraud New Jersey County health benefits programs and conspiring to engage in money laundering and obstruct justice. Mr. Camarda pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice and engage in money laundering.

Mr. Camarda, 39, of Holmdel, N. J., created a side business called Dynasty Capital LLC to independently market medical products and services for other companies, including compounded prescription medications for specialty pharmacies, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Mr. Camarda learned that certain local government employees had insurance coverage for these compounded medications and discovered that certain compounded medications were reimbursed up to thousands of dollars for a 1-month supply. Mr. Camarda recruited individuals with insurance coverage to fraudulently obtain medically unnecessary compounded medications.

He marketed compounded medications for several pharmacies. As part of his arrangements with the compounding pharmacies and his conspirators, Mr. Camarda was paid a percentage of the insurance payments received for prescriptions arranged by him and those working for him.

Mr. Camarda received more than $2.2 million in payments for the prescriptions he and those working with him arranged. Mr. Camarda and his recruits caused more than $3.4 million in fraudulent claims to be submitted to the pharmacy benefits administrator for compounded medications.

He is due to be sentenced in November and faces up to 15 years in prison plus $500,000 in fines.
 

Home health care and hospice agency owner defrauds Medicare for $31 million

Akop Atoyan, 48, of Glendale, Calif., pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and one count of conspiracy to pay and receive healthcare kickbacks.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Mr. Atoyan and his wife, Liana Karapetyan, owned and controlled home healthcare and hospice agencies in the greater Sacramento area: ANG Health Care Inc, Excel Home Healthcare Inc, and Excel Hospice Inc. Mr. Atoyan and Ms. Karapetyan certified to Medicare that their agencies would not pay kickbacks in exchange for Medicare beneficiary referrals.

Officials claim Mr. Atoyan and Ms. Karapetyan paid and directed others to pay kickbacks to multiple individuals for beneficiary referrals, including employees of healthcare facilities, as well as employees’ spouses. In total, Mr. Atoyan, Ms. Karapetyan, and others caused the agencies to submit over 8,000 claims to Medicare for the cost of home healthcare and hospice services. Medicare was billed about $31 million.

As part of his guilty plea, Mr. Atoyan agreed to pay about $2.5 million in restitution to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He also agreed to forfeit that amount to the United States.
 

Medical clinic owner sentenced to jail for Medicaid fraud

Larry Lance Crawford, 49, of Las Vegas, was sentenced in a Medicaid fraud case involving the failure to maintain adequate records to substantiate claims submitted to Nevada Medicaid.

The Nevada Attorney General’s Office announced that Mr. Crawford was given 364 days in jail and was ordered to pay $50,000.00 in restitution.

The Medicaid Fraud Control Unit received information that Mr. Crawford, the owner of Dynamic Future, was using his business to submit false claims for services that were never provided to Medicaid recipients. The investigation revealed that Mr. Crawford failed to maintain records to support the services that were allegedly provided.

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

Pharma rep admits to health care fraud, money laundering, and more

Paul Camarda, a pharmaceutical sales representative, admitted to conspiring to defraud New Jersey County health benefits programs and conspiring to engage in money laundering and obstruct justice. Mr. Camarda pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice and engage in money laundering.

Mr. Camarda, 39, of Holmdel, N. J., created a side business called Dynasty Capital LLC to independently market medical products and services for other companies, including compounded prescription medications for specialty pharmacies, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Mr. Camarda learned that certain local government employees had insurance coverage for these compounded medications and discovered that certain compounded medications were reimbursed up to thousands of dollars for a 1-month supply. Mr. Camarda recruited individuals with insurance coverage to fraudulently obtain medically unnecessary compounded medications.

He marketed compounded medications for several pharmacies. As part of his arrangements with the compounding pharmacies and his conspirators, Mr. Camarda was paid a percentage of the insurance payments received for prescriptions arranged by him and those working for him.

Mr. Camarda received more than $2.2 million in payments for the prescriptions he and those working with him arranged. Mr. Camarda and his recruits caused more than $3.4 million in fraudulent claims to be submitted to the pharmacy benefits administrator for compounded medications.

He is due to be sentenced in November and faces up to 15 years in prison plus $500,000 in fines.
 

Home health care and hospice agency owner defrauds Medicare for $31 million

Akop Atoyan, 48, of Glendale, Calif., pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and one count of conspiracy to pay and receive healthcare kickbacks.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Mr. Atoyan and his wife, Liana Karapetyan, owned and controlled home healthcare and hospice agencies in the greater Sacramento area: ANG Health Care Inc, Excel Home Healthcare Inc, and Excel Hospice Inc. Mr. Atoyan and Ms. Karapetyan certified to Medicare that their agencies would not pay kickbacks in exchange for Medicare beneficiary referrals.

Officials claim Mr. Atoyan and Ms. Karapetyan paid and directed others to pay kickbacks to multiple individuals for beneficiary referrals, including employees of healthcare facilities, as well as employees’ spouses. In total, Mr. Atoyan, Ms. Karapetyan, and others caused the agencies to submit over 8,000 claims to Medicare for the cost of home healthcare and hospice services. Medicare was billed about $31 million.

As part of his guilty plea, Mr. Atoyan agreed to pay about $2.5 million in restitution to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He also agreed to forfeit that amount to the United States.
 

Medical clinic owner sentenced to jail for Medicaid fraud

Larry Lance Crawford, 49, of Las Vegas, was sentenced in a Medicaid fraud case involving the failure to maintain adequate records to substantiate claims submitted to Nevada Medicaid.

The Nevada Attorney General’s Office announced that Mr. Crawford was given 364 days in jail and was ordered to pay $50,000.00 in restitution.

The Medicaid Fraud Control Unit received information that Mr. Crawford, the owner of Dynamic Future, was using his business to submit false claims for services that were never provided to Medicaid recipients. The investigation revealed that Mr. Crawford failed to maintain records to support the services that were allegedly provided.

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

Avanos medical to pay $22 million to resolve criminal charge for fraudulent misbranding of PPE

A U.S.-based multinational medical device corporation will pay more than $22 million to resolve a criminal charge regarding fraudulent misbranding of their surgical gowns.

Avanos Medical Inc, which as its U.S. headquarters in Alpharetta, Georgia, is charged with one count of introducing misbranded surgical gowns into interstate commerce with the intent to defraud and mislead.

According to the Department of Justice, the company knowingly falsely labeled its MicroCool surgical gowns as providing AAMI Level 4 protection (the highest level) against fluid and virus penetration. Under the standards set by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI), the highest protection level for surgical gowns is reserved for gowns intended to be used in surgeries and other high-risk medical procedures on patients suspected of having infectious diseases.

Avanos admitted to selling hundreds of thousands of MicroCool gowns that were falsely labeled as AAMI Level 4 between late 2014 and early 2015, as well as directly lying to customers about the gowns’ protective capacities. In total, Avanos sold almost $9 million of misbranded MicroCool gowns.

“The last thing health care workers should have to worry about is whether their personal protective equipment lives up to manufacturers’ claims,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Prerak Shah for the Northern District of Texas. “Misbranded PPE can pose serious risks to medical professionals and patients alike.”
 

Company pays $38.75 million to settle allegations of knowingly selling defective devices 

Medical device manufacturers Alere and Alere San Diego (collectively, Alere) have agreed to pay almost $39 million to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by billing, and causing others to bill, the Medicare program for defective rapid point-of-care testing devices. 

From 2008 to 2016, the Department of Justice alleges, Alere knowingly sold defective INRatio blood coagulation monitors used by Medicare beneficiaries who were taking anticoagulants. The software algorithms in the monitors contained a material defect, which Alere had found in their research, to cause inaccurate readings. Blood coagulation monitoring is essential for the safety of these patients, enabling them to maintain a safe dosage of their medications. Taking too much of an anticoagulant can cause major bleeding, while taking too little can cause blood clots that lead to strokes. 

While Alere was aware that these devices were linked to over a dozen deaths and hundreds of injuries, the company continued to conceal the defect and billed Medicare for the devices.

In 2016, the product was taken off the market at the request of the FDA.
 

Mass. doctor, wife charged in international money laundering, fraud scheme

Massachusetts psychiatrist Rahim Shafa, MD, and his wife and office manager, Nahid Tormosi Shafa, are charged in connection to an international money laundering scheme involving importing illegal and misbranded drugs. 

Through Shafa’s company, Novel Psychopharmacology, the two allegedly filed false and fraudulent Medicare reimbursement claims from 2016-2019, then deposited the money in their bank accounts, according to federal officials. From 2008-2018, the couple also engaged in an international money laundering scheme to purchase naltrexone pellet implants, disulfiram pellet implants, and injections from Hong Kong that were not approved by the FDA. According to officials, they falsified shipping documents, disguising the naltrexone pellet implants as “plastic beads in plastic tubes” to receive the drugs. They then offered to sell these drugs to patients of Novel Psychopharmacology. 

Rahim Shafa was indicted on conspiracies of international money laundering, health care fraud, and defrauding the United States, as well as illegally importing merchandise and purposely delivering misbranded drugs. His wife was indicted on one count each of health care fraud conspiracy and international money laundering conspiracy.
 

Jury convicts medical equipment company owners of $27 million fraud

A federal jury in Texas convicted the owners of two durable medical equipment (DME) companies linked to a scheme to defraud Medicare.

Leah Hagen, 49, and Michael Hagen, 54, were convicted of one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and to pay and receive health care kickbacks and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. The defendants owned and operated Metro DME Supply and Ortho Pain Solutions. 

Ms. Hagen and Mr. Hagen paid a fixed rate per DME item in exchange for prescriptions and paperwork completed by telemedicine doctors that were used to submit false claims to Medicare, which totaled about $59 million. They were paid $27 million, and wired millions to their personal bank accounts. The defendants paid illegal bribes and kickbacks and wired money to their co-conspirator’s call center in the Philippines that provided signed doctor’s orders for orthotic braces. 

At trial, evidence showed emails between Leah and Michael Hagen and their co-conspirators outlining a per-product pricing structure for orthotic braces, but not disclosing their agreement as one for marketing and other services.

At sentencing, the Hagens each face a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

Avanos medical to pay $22 million to resolve criminal charge for fraudulent misbranding of PPE

A U.S.-based multinational medical device corporation will pay more than $22 million to resolve a criminal charge regarding fraudulent misbranding of their surgical gowns.

Avanos Medical Inc, which as its U.S. headquarters in Alpharetta, Georgia, is charged with one count of introducing misbranded surgical gowns into interstate commerce with the intent to defraud and mislead.

According to the Department of Justice, the company knowingly falsely labeled its MicroCool surgical gowns as providing AAMI Level 4 protection (the highest level) against fluid and virus penetration. Under the standards set by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI), the highest protection level for surgical gowns is reserved for gowns intended to be used in surgeries and other high-risk medical procedures on patients suspected of having infectious diseases.

Avanos admitted to selling hundreds of thousands of MicroCool gowns that were falsely labeled as AAMI Level 4 between late 2014 and early 2015, as well as directly lying to customers about the gowns’ protective capacities. In total, Avanos sold almost $9 million of misbranded MicroCool gowns.

“The last thing health care workers should have to worry about is whether their personal protective equipment lives up to manufacturers’ claims,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Prerak Shah for the Northern District of Texas. “Misbranded PPE can pose serious risks to medical professionals and patients alike.”
 

Company pays $38.75 million to settle allegations of knowingly selling defective devices 

Medical device manufacturers Alere and Alere San Diego (collectively, Alere) have agreed to pay almost $39 million to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by billing, and causing others to bill, the Medicare program for defective rapid point-of-care testing devices. 

From 2008 to 2016, the Department of Justice alleges, Alere knowingly sold defective INRatio blood coagulation monitors used by Medicare beneficiaries who were taking anticoagulants. The software algorithms in the monitors contained a material defect, which Alere had found in their research, to cause inaccurate readings. Blood coagulation monitoring is essential for the safety of these patients, enabling them to maintain a safe dosage of their medications. Taking too much of an anticoagulant can cause major bleeding, while taking too little can cause blood clots that lead to strokes. 

While Alere was aware that these devices were linked to over a dozen deaths and hundreds of injuries, the company continued to conceal the defect and billed Medicare for the devices.

In 2016, the product was taken off the market at the request of the FDA.
 

Mass. doctor, wife charged in international money laundering, fraud scheme

Massachusetts psychiatrist Rahim Shafa, MD, and his wife and office manager, Nahid Tormosi Shafa, are charged in connection to an international money laundering scheme involving importing illegal and misbranded drugs. 

Through Shafa’s company, Novel Psychopharmacology, the two allegedly filed false and fraudulent Medicare reimbursement claims from 2016-2019, then deposited the money in their bank accounts, according to federal officials. From 2008-2018, the couple also engaged in an international money laundering scheme to purchase naltrexone pellet implants, disulfiram pellet implants, and injections from Hong Kong that were not approved by the FDA. According to officials, they falsified shipping documents, disguising the naltrexone pellet implants as “plastic beads in plastic tubes” to receive the drugs. They then offered to sell these drugs to patients of Novel Psychopharmacology. 

Rahim Shafa was indicted on conspiracies of international money laundering, health care fraud, and defrauding the United States, as well as illegally importing merchandise and purposely delivering misbranded drugs. His wife was indicted on one count each of health care fraud conspiracy and international money laundering conspiracy.
 

Jury convicts medical equipment company owners of $27 million fraud

A federal jury in Texas convicted the owners of two durable medical equipment (DME) companies linked to a scheme to defraud Medicare.

Leah Hagen, 49, and Michael Hagen, 54, were convicted of one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and to pay and receive health care kickbacks and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. The defendants owned and operated Metro DME Supply and Ortho Pain Solutions. 

Ms. Hagen and Mr. Hagen paid a fixed rate per DME item in exchange for prescriptions and paperwork completed by telemedicine doctors that were used to submit false claims to Medicare, which totaled about $59 million. They were paid $27 million, and wired millions to their personal bank accounts. The defendants paid illegal bribes and kickbacks and wired money to their co-conspirator’s call center in the Philippines that provided signed doctor’s orders for orthotic braces. 

At trial, evidence showed emails between Leah and Michael Hagen and their co-conspirators outlining a per-product pricing structure for orthotic braces, but not disclosing their agreement as one for marketing and other services.

At sentencing, the Hagens each face a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

Avanos medical to pay $22 million to resolve criminal charge for fraudulent misbranding of PPE

A U.S.-based multinational medical device corporation will pay more than $22 million to resolve a criminal charge regarding fraudulent misbranding of their surgical gowns.

Avanos Medical Inc, which as its U.S. headquarters in Alpharetta, Georgia, is charged with one count of introducing misbranded surgical gowns into interstate commerce with the intent to defraud and mislead.

According to the Department of Justice, the company knowingly falsely labeled its MicroCool surgical gowns as providing AAMI Level 4 protection (the highest level) against fluid and virus penetration. Under the standards set by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI), the highest protection level for surgical gowns is reserved for gowns intended to be used in surgeries and other high-risk medical procedures on patients suspected of having infectious diseases.

Avanos admitted to selling hundreds of thousands of MicroCool gowns that were falsely labeled as AAMI Level 4 between late 2014 and early 2015, as well as directly lying to customers about the gowns’ protective capacities. In total, Avanos sold almost $9 million of misbranded MicroCool gowns.

“The last thing health care workers should have to worry about is whether their personal protective equipment lives up to manufacturers’ claims,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Prerak Shah for the Northern District of Texas. “Misbranded PPE can pose serious risks to medical professionals and patients alike.”
 

Company pays $38.75 million to settle allegations of knowingly selling defective devices 

Medical device manufacturers Alere and Alere San Diego (collectively, Alere) have agreed to pay almost $39 million to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by billing, and causing others to bill, the Medicare program for defective rapid point-of-care testing devices. 

From 2008 to 2016, the Department of Justice alleges, Alere knowingly sold defective INRatio blood coagulation monitors used by Medicare beneficiaries who were taking anticoagulants. The software algorithms in the monitors contained a material defect, which Alere had found in their research, to cause inaccurate readings. Blood coagulation monitoring is essential for the safety of these patients, enabling them to maintain a safe dosage of their medications. Taking too much of an anticoagulant can cause major bleeding, while taking too little can cause blood clots that lead to strokes. 

While Alere was aware that these devices were linked to over a dozen deaths and hundreds of injuries, the company continued to conceal the defect and billed Medicare for the devices.

In 2016, the product was taken off the market at the request of the FDA.
 

Mass. doctor, wife charged in international money laundering, fraud scheme

Massachusetts psychiatrist Rahim Shafa, MD, and his wife and office manager, Nahid Tormosi Shafa, are charged in connection to an international money laundering scheme involving importing illegal and misbranded drugs. 

Through Shafa’s company, Novel Psychopharmacology, the two allegedly filed false and fraudulent Medicare reimbursement claims from 2016-2019, then deposited the money in their bank accounts, according to federal officials. From 2008-2018, the couple also engaged in an international money laundering scheme to purchase naltrexone pellet implants, disulfiram pellet implants, and injections from Hong Kong that were not approved by the FDA. According to officials, they falsified shipping documents, disguising the naltrexone pellet implants as “plastic beads in plastic tubes” to receive the drugs. They then offered to sell these drugs to patients of Novel Psychopharmacology. 

Rahim Shafa was indicted on conspiracies of international money laundering, health care fraud, and defrauding the United States, as well as illegally importing merchandise and purposely delivering misbranded drugs. His wife was indicted on one count each of health care fraud conspiracy and international money laundering conspiracy.
 

Jury convicts medical equipment company owners of $27 million fraud

A federal jury in Texas convicted the owners of two durable medical equipment (DME) companies linked to a scheme to defraud Medicare.

Leah Hagen, 49, and Michael Hagen, 54, were convicted of one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and to pay and receive health care kickbacks and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. The defendants owned and operated Metro DME Supply and Ortho Pain Solutions. 

Ms. Hagen and Mr. Hagen paid a fixed rate per DME item in exchange for prescriptions and paperwork completed by telemedicine doctors that were used to submit false claims to Medicare, which totaled about $59 million. They were paid $27 million, and wired millions to their personal bank accounts. The defendants paid illegal bribes and kickbacks and wired money to their co-conspirator’s call center in the Philippines that provided signed doctor’s orders for orthotic braces. 

At trial, evidence showed emails between Leah and Michael Hagen and their co-conspirators outlining a per-product pricing structure for orthotic braces, but not disclosing their agreement as one for marketing and other services.

At sentencing, the Hagens each face a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

Doctor sentenced for unlawful prescriptions leading to five patient deaths

Darrel R. Rinehart, MD, was sentenced to 3 years in prison in June 2021 for unlawfully distributing controlled substances, primarily opioids, out of his clinic in Columbia, Tenn. Five of his patients who received prescriptions died of fatal overdoses within a year, according to the Indianapolis Star. Dr. Rinehart agreed to leave Tennessee to avoid punishment in that state before setting up his Indiana clinic.

Dr. Rinehart, 66, admitted to distributing Schedule II controlled substances to four different patients without legitimate medical purpose on 18 occasions between December 2014 and December 2015. He also admitted to knowingly distributing hydrocodone, also a Schedule II controlled substance, in January 2016 to a patient who did not have any health issues justifying the prescription. His medical license has been revoked. 
 

Judge approves $15 million settlement in patient’s sexual assault

An incapacitated woman at Hacienda Healthcare, a long-term care center in Phoenix, Ariz., gave birth in late 2018 after being raped by one of the nursing staff, according to Insurance Journal. In June 2021, a judge approved a $15 million settlement in a lawsuit by the woman’s parents against Phillip E. Gear Jr., MD, the woman’s caregiver for 26 years at the center. The woman had been in a vegetative state at Hacienda Healthcare since childhood, and the judge ruled that she had been the victim of numerous sexual assaults prior to the birth. 

The pregnancy was discovered when an employee was changing the garments of the then 29-year-old victim and saw that she was delivering a child. Employees told police they had no idea the woman was pregnant. Police have said that DNA from Nathan Sutherland, a licensed practical nurse who worked at Hacienda and has since given up his nursing license, matched a genetic sample taken from the woman’s son.

The woman’s parents, who care for her son, also sued the state of Arizona and another doctor, Thanh Nguyen, MD, who cared for their daughter. Arizona, which contracts with companies like Hacienda to provide services to people with developmental disabilities, settled last year for $7.5 million. Both Hacienda and Dr. Nguyen, who cared for the woman in the months before the birth, settled for undisclosed amounts.

The insurer for Dr. Gear, who died in late 2020, said it has no obligation to pay the amount, arguing that the doctor’s policy didn’t cover claims arising from a sexual act. The insurer also argued that Dr. Gear wasn’t the woman’s primary care physician when she gave birth and couldn’t be held responsible for sexual assault. 

The judge declared the $15 million settlement reasonable, concluding that Dr. Gear’s treatment of the woman had fallen below the standard of care, which included failing to examine her regularly and to diagnose her pregnancy. Requests by the woman’s mother to have exclusively female employees tend to her were not followed, as shown by medical records.
 

Doctor fired for contributing to suffering and death of prisoners

Washington’s prison system will pay $3.25 million and has fired the medical director of one of its facilities, stemming from the death of an inmate. 

John Kleutsch, a 57-year-old prisoner, died in late 2018 of septic shock, acute pancreatitis, and a perforated intestine caused by an improperly treated abdominal wound, according to the Seattle Times. A lawsuit filed by his wife, Julia Kleutsch, said that the staff offered him only Tylenol for his pain and that Julia Barnett, MD, the former prison medical director, refused to take him to a hospital.

Dr. Barnett, whose medical license has been indefinitely suspended, was fired in 2019 after an internal investigation found that her medical care and supervision contributed to the suffering and deaths of several men in the prison, including Mr. Kleutsch. 

Mr. Kleutsch, imprisoned for child molestation, was recovering from outpatient cancer surgery and sent back to the prison infirmary to recover. The lawsuit says that Mr. Kleutsch asked staff for help when his abdominal wound became excruciatingly painful, puffy, and oozing, and that at least one nurse asked Dr. Barnett to transfer him to a hospital, but she refused. Dr. Kleutsch’s causes of death were conditions never diagnosed at the prison.

Plaintiff attorney Marta O’Brien called the case “one of the worst medical malpractice cases I have encountered” and said it showed “a systemic failure” by the Department of Corrections.
 

SNF pays $11 million to resolve Medicare fraud allegations

SavaSeniorCare (Sava) and related entities agreed to pay $11.2 million in May 2021 to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by making their skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) bill Medicare for rehabilitation therapy services that were not reasonable, necessary, or skilled. The payment was also to resolve allegations that Sava billed the Medicare and Medicaid programs for substandard skilled nursing services, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Sava is based in Georgia but owns and operates SNFs across the country.

The government filed a complaint against Sava in 2015, alleging that between October 2008 and September 2012, Sava intentionally submitted false claims for rehabilitation therapy services as a result of a systematic effort to increase its Medicare and Medicaid billings. The claim alleged that Sava exerted significant pressure on its SNFs to meet unrealistic financial goals, resulting in the provision of medically unreasonable, unnecessary, or unskilled services to Medicare patients. Sava also allegedly sought to increase its Medicare payments by delaying the discharge of patients from its facilities, even though the patients were medically ready to be discharged. 

Additionally, the government alleged that some of Sava’s nursing services failed to meet federal standards of care, including failing to have sufficient staffing at certain facilities, failing to follow appropriate pressure ulcer and falls protocols, and failing to appropriately administer medications. 

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

Doctor sentenced for unlawful prescriptions leading to five patient deaths

Darrel R. Rinehart, MD, was sentenced to 3 years in prison in June 2021 for unlawfully distributing controlled substances, primarily opioids, out of his clinic in Columbia, Tenn. Five of his patients who received prescriptions died of fatal overdoses within a year, according to the Indianapolis Star. Dr. Rinehart agreed to leave Tennessee to avoid punishment in that state before setting up his Indiana clinic.

Dr. Rinehart, 66, admitted to distributing Schedule II controlled substances to four different patients without legitimate medical purpose on 18 occasions between December 2014 and December 2015. He also admitted to knowingly distributing hydrocodone, also a Schedule II controlled substance, in January 2016 to a patient who did not have any health issues justifying the prescription. His medical license has been revoked. 
 

Judge approves $15 million settlement in patient’s sexual assault

An incapacitated woman at Hacienda Healthcare, a long-term care center in Phoenix, Ariz., gave birth in late 2018 after being raped by one of the nursing staff, according to Insurance Journal. In June 2021, a judge approved a $15 million settlement in a lawsuit by the woman’s parents against Phillip E. Gear Jr., MD, the woman’s caregiver for 26 years at the center. The woman had been in a vegetative state at Hacienda Healthcare since childhood, and the judge ruled that she had been the victim of numerous sexual assaults prior to the birth. 

The pregnancy was discovered when an employee was changing the garments of the then 29-year-old victim and saw that she was delivering a child. Employees told police they had no idea the woman was pregnant. Police have said that DNA from Nathan Sutherland, a licensed practical nurse who worked at Hacienda and has since given up his nursing license, matched a genetic sample taken from the woman’s son.

The woman’s parents, who care for her son, also sued the state of Arizona and another doctor, Thanh Nguyen, MD, who cared for their daughter. Arizona, which contracts with companies like Hacienda to provide services to people with developmental disabilities, settled last year for $7.5 million. Both Hacienda and Dr. Nguyen, who cared for the woman in the months before the birth, settled for undisclosed amounts.

The insurer for Dr. Gear, who died in late 2020, said it has no obligation to pay the amount, arguing that the doctor’s policy didn’t cover claims arising from a sexual act. The insurer also argued that Dr. Gear wasn’t the woman’s primary care physician when she gave birth and couldn’t be held responsible for sexual assault. 

The judge declared the $15 million settlement reasonable, concluding that Dr. Gear’s treatment of the woman had fallen below the standard of care, which included failing to examine her regularly and to diagnose her pregnancy. Requests by the woman’s mother to have exclusively female employees tend to her were not followed, as shown by medical records.
 

Doctor fired for contributing to suffering and death of prisoners

Washington’s prison system will pay $3.25 million and has fired the medical director of one of its facilities, stemming from the death of an inmate. 

John Kleutsch, a 57-year-old prisoner, died in late 2018 of septic shock, acute pancreatitis, and a perforated intestine caused by an improperly treated abdominal wound, according to the Seattle Times. A lawsuit filed by his wife, Julia Kleutsch, said that the staff offered him only Tylenol for his pain and that Julia Barnett, MD, the former prison medical director, refused to take him to a hospital.

Dr. Barnett, whose medical license has been indefinitely suspended, was fired in 2019 after an internal investigation found that her medical care and supervision contributed to the suffering and deaths of several men in the prison, including Mr. Kleutsch. 

Mr. Kleutsch, imprisoned for child molestation, was recovering from outpatient cancer surgery and sent back to the prison infirmary to recover. The lawsuit says that Mr. Kleutsch asked staff for help when his abdominal wound became excruciatingly painful, puffy, and oozing, and that at least one nurse asked Dr. Barnett to transfer him to a hospital, but she refused. Dr. Kleutsch’s causes of death were conditions never diagnosed at the prison.

Plaintiff attorney Marta O’Brien called the case “one of the worst medical malpractice cases I have encountered” and said it showed “a systemic failure” by the Department of Corrections.
 

SNF pays $11 million to resolve Medicare fraud allegations

SavaSeniorCare (Sava) and related entities agreed to pay $11.2 million in May 2021 to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by making their skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) bill Medicare for rehabilitation therapy services that were not reasonable, necessary, or skilled. The payment was also to resolve allegations that Sava billed the Medicare and Medicaid programs for substandard skilled nursing services, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Sava is based in Georgia but owns and operates SNFs across the country.

The government filed a complaint against Sava in 2015, alleging that between October 2008 and September 2012, Sava intentionally submitted false claims for rehabilitation therapy services as a result of a systematic effort to increase its Medicare and Medicaid billings. The claim alleged that Sava exerted significant pressure on its SNFs to meet unrealistic financial goals, resulting in the provision of medically unreasonable, unnecessary, or unskilled services to Medicare patients. Sava also allegedly sought to increase its Medicare payments by delaying the discharge of patients from its facilities, even though the patients were medically ready to be discharged. 

Additionally, the government alleged that some of Sava’s nursing services failed to meet federal standards of care, including failing to have sufficient staffing at certain facilities, failing to follow appropriate pressure ulcer and falls protocols, and failing to appropriately administer medications. 

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

Doctor sentenced for unlawful prescriptions leading to five patient deaths

Darrel R. Rinehart, MD, was sentenced to 3 years in prison in June 2021 for unlawfully distributing controlled substances, primarily opioids, out of his clinic in Columbia, Tenn. Five of his patients who received prescriptions died of fatal overdoses within a year, according to the Indianapolis Star. Dr. Rinehart agreed to leave Tennessee to avoid punishment in that state before setting up his Indiana clinic.

Dr. Rinehart, 66, admitted to distributing Schedule II controlled substances to four different patients without legitimate medical purpose on 18 occasions between December 2014 and December 2015. He also admitted to knowingly distributing hydrocodone, also a Schedule II controlled substance, in January 2016 to a patient who did not have any health issues justifying the prescription. His medical license has been revoked. 
 

Judge approves $15 million settlement in patient’s sexual assault

An incapacitated woman at Hacienda Healthcare, a long-term care center in Phoenix, Ariz., gave birth in late 2018 after being raped by one of the nursing staff, according to Insurance Journal. In June 2021, a judge approved a $15 million settlement in a lawsuit by the woman’s parents against Phillip E. Gear Jr., MD, the woman’s caregiver for 26 years at the center. The woman had been in a vegetative state at Hacienda Healthcare since childhood, and the judge ruled that she had been the victim of numerous sexual assaults prior to the birth. 

The pregnancy was discovered when an employee was changing the garments of the then 29-year-old victim and saw that she was delivering a child. Employees told police they had no idea the woman was pregnant. Police have said that DNA from Nathan Sutherland, a licensed practical nurse who worked at Hacienda and has since given up his nursing license, matched a genetic sample taken from the woman’s son.

The woman’s parents, who care for her son, also sued the state of Arizona and another doctor, Thanh Nguyen, MD, who cared for their daughter. Arizona, which contracts with companies like Hacienda to provide services to people with developmental disabilities, settled last year for $7.5 million. Both Hacienda and Dr. Nguyen, who cared for the woman in the months before the birth, settled for undisclosed amounts.

The insurer for Dr. Gear, who died in late 2020, said it has no obligation to pay the amount, arguing that the doctor’s policy didn’t cover claims arising from a sexual act. The insurer also argued that Dr. Gear wasn’t the woman’s primary care physician when she gave birth and couldn’t be held responsible for sexual assault. 

The judge declared the $15 million settlement reasonable, concluding that Dr. Gear’s treatment of the woman had fallen below the standard of care, which included failing to examine her regularly and to diagnose her pregnancy. Requests by the woman’s mother to have exclusively female employees tend to her were not followed, as shown by medical records.
 

Doctor fired for contributing to suffering and death of prisoners

Washington’s prison system will pay $3.25 million and has fired the medical director of one of its facilities, stemming from the death of an inmate. 

John Kleutsch, a 57-year-old prisoner, died in late 2018 of septic shock, acute pancreatitis, and a perforated intestine caused by an improperly treated abdominal wound, according to the Seattle Times. A lawsuit filed by his wife, Julia Kleutsch, said that the staff offered him only Tylenol for his pain and that Julia Barnett, MD, the former prison medical director, refused to take him to a hospital.

Dr. Barnett, whose medical license has been indefinitely suspended, was fired in 2019 after an internal investigation found that her medical care and supervision contributed to the suffering and deaths of several men in the prison, including Mr. Kleutsch. 

Mr. Kleutsch, imprisoned for child molestation, was recovering from outpatient cancer surgery and sent back to the prison infirmary to recover. The lawsuit says that Mr. Kleutsch asked staff for help when his abdominal wound became excruciatingly painful, puffy, and oozing, and that at least one nurse asked Dr. Barnett to transfer him to a hospital, but she refused. Dr. Kleutsch’s causes of death were conditions never diagnosed at the prison.

Plaintiff attorney Marta O’Brien called the case “one of the worst medical malpractice cases I have encountered” and said it showed “a systemic failure” by the Department of Corrections.
 

SNF pays $11 million to resolve Medicare fraud allegations

SavaSeniorCare (Sava) and related entities agreed to pay $11.2 million in May 2021 to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by making their skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) bill Medicare for rehabilitation therapy services that were not reasonable, necessary, or skilled. The payment was also to resolve allegations that Sava billed the Medicare and Medicaid programs for substandard skilled nursing services, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Sava is based in Georgia but owns and operates SNFs across the country.

The government filed a complaint against Sava in 2015, alleging that between October 2008 and September 2012, Sava intentionally submitted false claims for rehabilitation therapy services as a result of a systematic effort to increase its Medicare and Medicaid billings. The claim alleged that Sava exerted significant pressure on its SNFs to meet unrealistic financial goals, resulting in the provision of medically unreasonable, unnecessary, or unskilled services to Medicare patients. Sava also allegedly sought to increase its Medicare payments by delaying the discharge of patients from its facilities, even though the patients were medically ready to be discharged. 

Additionally, the government alleged that some of Sava’s nursing services failed to meet federal standards of care, including failing to have sufficient staffing at certain facilities, failing to follow appropriate pressure ulcer and falls protocols, and failing to appropriately administer medications. 

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

Doctor’s illegal opioid distribution results in patient death

Thomas K. Ballard III, MD, of Jackson, Tenn., pleaded guilty to causing the death of one of his patients in 2015 by illegally prescribing hydrocodone. He faces a minimum of 20 years in prison for one count of illegal drug distribution resulting in death. He will be sentenced in September.

Dr. Ballard, 63, owned and operated the Ballard Clinic, from which he prescribed dangerous and addictive drugs without legitimate medical purpose. Dr. Ballard also engaged in inappropriate sexual contact with several female patients while ignoring signs that they were abusing the medications he prescribed, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Dr. Ballard’s treatment records show that he believed a patient had psychiatric problems and was abusing her medication, evidenced by positive drug screens and prescriptions obtained elsewhere for suboxone, a drug used to treat opioid dependency. However, Dr. Ballard continued to prescribe hydrocodone to the patient, including on May 28, 2015, when the patient fatally overdosed on the drug.

“Ballard has proven himself to be nothing more than a predator in a white lab coat, and he should expect to be punished accordingly,” said Special Agent in Charge J. Todd Scott of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Louisville Division. “Doctors take an oath to first do no harm, and instead, Ballard chose to put his own licentious interests above his patients’ well-being.”
 

Clinical researchers falsify drug trial data

Eduardo Navarro, of Miami, and Nayade Varona, of Port St. Lucie, Fla., pleaded guilty to conspiring to falsify clinical trial data. Mr. Navarro, 52, was sentenced to 46 months in prison and Ms. Varona, 50, received 30 months in prison.

The court also ordered the defendants to pay $2,134,503 in restitution.

Mr. Navarro and Ms. Varona both worked for Tellus Clinical Research, where Mr. Navarro was a subinvestigator and nurse practitioner, and Ms. Varona was an assistant study coordinator. They admitted to agreeing with one another and others to falsify data in medical records for two clinical trials that were evaluating a treatment for irritable bowel syndrome. Mr. Navarro and Ms. Varona falsified data to make it appear as though patients were participating in the trials, which never occurred.
 

Doctor faces decade in prison for $6 million health care fraud

Keyvan Amirikhorheh, MD, a family physician in Seal Beach, Calif., pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit health care fraud. He faces a maximum of 10 years in prison.

While working at Los Angeles Community Clinic, Dr. Amirikhorheh submitted fraudulent claims for family planning services, diagnostic testing, and prescriptions for nonexistent patients, defrauding the Family Planning, Access, Care and Treatment (Family PACT) program administered by Medi-Cal, the California Medicaid program.

Between March 2016 and April 2019, Los Angeles Community Clinic and associated laboratories and pharmacies submitted approximately $8,406,204 in claims to Medi-Cal and were paid approximately $6,660,028. Dr. Amirikhorheh, 61, is the final defendant of five to plead guilty in the case, according to the DOJ.
 

Dentist office sued for HIV discrimination

Night and Day Dental, of North Carolina, settled with the DOJ to resolve a claim that it discriminated against a woman with HIV in violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act.

Title III of the ADA prohibits health care professionals from discriminating against people with disabilities, including those with HIV. The DOJ found that Night and Day Dental refused to accept a woman as a new patient because of her HIV-positive status. The patient was seeking routine dental care, including a cleaning and check-up. Night and Day Dental additionally requires certain blood work results from patients with HIV before deciding whether to provide dental care, when requiring such results is not medically necessary.

They will pay $30,000 to the victim of the discrimination, train their staff on the ADA, develop an antidiscrimination policy, and report to the DOJ every time they refuse to treat a person with HIV or stop providing treatment after learning of a patient’s HIV-positive status. “Turning away patients with HIV or requiring them to provide information that is not medically recommended creates unfair barriers to health care for people with HIV,” said Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general in the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division.

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

This article was updated 8/12/21.

Doctor’s illegal opioid distribution results in patient death

Thomas K. Ballard III, MD, of Jackson, Tenn., pleaded guilty to causing the death of one of his patients in 2015 by illegally prescribing hydrocodone. He faces a minimum of 20 years in prison for one count of illegal drug distribution resulting in death. He will be sentenced in September.

Dr. Ballard, 63, owned and operated the Ballard Clinic, from which he prescribed dangerous and addictive drugs without legitimate medical purpose. Dr. Ballard also engaged in inappropriate sexual contact with several female patients while ignoring signs that they were abusing the medications he prescribed, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Dr. Ballard’s treatment records show that he believed a patient had psychiatric problems and was abusing her medication, evidenced by positive drug screens and prescriptions obtained elsewhere for suboxone, a drug used to treat opioid dependency. However, Dr. Ballard continued to prescribe hydrocodone to the patient, including on May 28, 2015, when the patient fatally overdosed on the drug.

“Ballard has proven himself to be nothing more than a predator in a white lab coat, and he should expect to be punished accordingly,” said Special Agent in Charge J. Todd Scott of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Louisville Division. “Doctors take an oath to first do no harm, and instead, Ballard chose to put his own licentious interests above his patients’ well-being.”
 

Clinical researchers falsify drug trial data

Eduardo Navarro, of Miami, and Nayade Varona, of Port St. Lucie, Fla., pleaded guilty to conspiring to falsify clinical trial data. Mr. Navarro, 52, was sentenced to 46 months in prison and Ms. Varona, 50, received 30 months in prison.

The court also ordered the defendants to pay $2,134,503 in restitution.

Mr. Navarro and Ms. Varona both worked for Tellus Clinical Research, where Mr. Navarro was a subinvestigator and nurse practitioner, and Ms. Varona was an assistant study coordinator. They admitted to agreeing with one another and others to falsify data in medical records for two clinical trials that were evaluating a treatment for irritable bowel syndrome. Mr. Navarro and Ms. Varona falsified data to make it appear as though patients were participating in the trials, which never occurred.
 

Doctor faces decade in prison for $6 million health care fraud

Keyvan Amirikhorheh, MD, a family physician in Seal Beach, Calif., pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit health care fraud. He faces a maximum of 10 years in prison.

While working at Los Angeles Community Clinic, Dr. Amirikhorheh submitted fraudulent claims for family planning services, diagnostic testing, and prescriptions for nonexistent patients, defrauding the Family Planning, Access, Care and Treatment (Family PACT) program administered by Medi-Cal, the California Medicaid program.

Between March 2016 and April 2019, Los Angeles Community Clinic and associated laboratories and pharmacies submitted approximately $8,406,204 in claims to Medi-Cal and were paid approximately $6,660,028. Dr. Amirikhorheh, 61, is the final defendant of five to plead guilty in the case, according to the DOJ.
 

Dentist office sued for HIV discrimination

Night and Day Dental, of North Carolina, settled with the DOJ to resolve a claim that it discriminated against a woman with HIV in violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act.

Title III of the ADA prohibits health care professionals from discriminating against people with disabilities, including those with HIV. The DOJ found that Night and Day Dental refused to accept a woman as a new patient because of her HIV-positive status. The patient was seeking routine dental care, including a cleaning and check-up. Night and Day Dental additionally requires certain blood work results from patients with HIV before deciding whether to provide dental care, when requiring such results is not medically necessary.

They will pay $30,000 to the victim of the discrimination, train their staff on the ADA, develop an antidiscrimination policy, and report to the DOJ every time they refuse to treat a person with HIV or stop providing treatment after learning of a patient’s HIV-positive status. “Turning away patients with HIV or requiring them to provide information that is not medically recommended creates unfair barriers to health care for people with HIV,” said Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general in the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division.

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

This article was updated 8/12/21.

Doctor’s illegal opioid distribution results in patient death

Thomas K. Ballard III, MD, of Jackson, Tenn., pleaded guilty to causing the death of one of his patients in 2015 by illegally prescribing hydrocodone. He faces a minimum of 20 years in prison for one count of illegal drug distribution resulting in death. He will be sentenced in September.

Dr. Ballard, 63, owned and operated the Ballard Clinic, from which he prescribed dangerous and addictive drugs without legitimate medical purpose. Dr. Ballard also engaged in inappropriate sexual contact with several female patients while ignoring signs that they were abusing the medications he prescribed, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Dr. Ballard’s treatment records show that he believed a patient had psychiatric problems and was abusing her medication, evidenced by positive drug screens and prescriptions obtained elsewhere for suboxone, a drug used to treat opioid dependency. However, Dr. Ballard continued to prescribe hydrocodone to the patient, including on May 28, 2015, when the patient fatally overdosed on the drug.

“Ballard has proven himself to be nothing more than a predator in a white lab coat, and he should expect to be punished accordingly,” said Special Agent in Charge J. Todd Scott of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Louisville Division. “Doctors take an oath to first do no harm, and instead, Ballard chose to put his own licentious interests above his patients’ well-being.”
 

Clinical researchers falsify drug trial data

Eduardo Navarro, of Miami, and Nayade Varona, of Port St. Lucie, Fla., pleaded guilty to conspiring to falsify clinical trial data. Mr. Navarro, 52, was sentenced to 46 months in prison and Ms. Varona, 50, received 30 months in prison.

The court also ordered the defendants to pay $2,134,503 in restitution.

Mr. Navarro and Ms. Varona both worked for Tellus Clinical Research, where Mr. Navarro was a subinvestigator and nurse practitioner, and Ms. Varona was an assistant study coordinator. They admitted to agreeing with one another and others to falsify data in medical records for two clinical trials that were evaluating a treatment for irritable bowel syndrome. Mr. Navarro and Ms. Varona falsified data to make it appear as though patients were participating in the trials, which never occurred.
 

Doctor faces decade in prison for $6 million health care fraud

Keyvan Amirikhorheh, MD, a family physician in Seal Beach, Calif., pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit health care fraud. He faces a maximum of 10 years in prison.

While working at Los Angeles Community Clinic, Dr. Amirikhorheh submitted fraudulent claims for family planning services, diagnostic testing, and prescriptions for nonexistent patients, defrauding the Family Planning, Access, Care and Treatment (Family PACT) program administered by Medi-Cal, the California Medicaid program.

Between March 2016 and April 2019, Los Angeles Community Clinic and associated laboratories and pharmacies submitted approximately $8,406,204 in claims to Medi-Cal and were paid approximately $6,660,028. Dr. Amirikhorheh, 61, is the final defendant of five to plead guilty in the case, according to the DOJ.
 

Dentist office sued for HIV discrimination

Night and Day Dental, of North Carolina, settled with the DOJ to resolve a claim that it discriminated against a woman with HIV in violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act.

Title III of the ADA prohibits health care professionals from discriminating against people with disabilities, including those with HIV. The DOJ found that Night and Day Dental refused to accept a woman as a new patient because of her HIV-positive status. The patient was seeking routine dental care, including a cleaning and check-up. Night and Day Dental additionally requires certain blood work results from patients with HIV before deciding whether to provide dental care, when requiring such results is not medically necessary.

They will pay $30,000 to the victim of the discrimination, train their staff on the ADA, develop an antidiscrimination policy, and report to the DOJ every time they refuse to treat a person with HIV or stop providing treatment after learning of a patient’s HIV-positive status. “Turning away patients with HIV or requiring them to provide information that is not medically recommended creates unfair barriers to health care for people with HIV,” said Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general in the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division.

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

This article was updated 8/12/21.

Doctor guilty of fraud and identity theft gets 7 years in jail

Grigoriy T. Rodonaia, MD, a family physician in Port Neches, Tex., was convicted of 12 counts of healthcare fraud, three counts of aggravated identity theft, and one count of making a false statement toward the end of 2020.

Dr. Rodonaia began his criminal activity in 2015, when he issued more than 600 prescriptions for scar creams using information from more than 140 beneficiaries of TRICARE, a military healthcare program, without their knowledge or consent. The pharmacy billed TRICARE a total of $6.7 million before Dr. Rodonaia’s scheme was detected. Dr. Rodonaia also forged patients’ records to say that he had examined the patients, and he submitted fraudulent records to the Defense Health Agency in response to an audit.

Dr. Rodonaia was sentenced to 7 years in federal prison on June 24, 2021, and was ordered to pay $195,607.76 in restitution.
 

Psychiatric hospital and nursing staff sued for death of patient

Jeremiah Bagley, 37, died after being restrained by psychiatric nursing staff and injected with an antipsychotic and a sedative at the Rio Grande State Center, in Harlingen, Tex.

An autopsy revealed that Mr. Bagley had several fractured vertebrae, cracked ribs, a lacerated spleen, and multiple contusions on his upper body. The autopsy report lists the cause of death as “excited delirium due to psychosis with restraint-associated blunt force trauma.”

Mr. Bagley’s father filed a lawsuit naming the hospital and 10 employees as defendants, saying that his son’s civil rights were violated. The Texas Supreme Court ruled on April 16, 2021, that the staffers who were charged must submit expert reports, despite the fact that medical malpractice was not alleged. Usually, such a lawsuit would be dismissed because a report was not served by the statutory deadline, but in a 9-0 decision, the high court allowed the case to proceed.

Plaintiff attorney Katie P. Klein told the Claims Journal, “He probably struck someone and everybody got mad and they jumped him. He had four or five people on him, which was not permitted.”
 

Ob.gyn. gets 59 years in prison

Javaid Perwaiz, MD, a 71-year-old ob/gyn from Chesapeake, Va., was convicted of performing medically unnecessary and irreversible surgeries, including hysterectomies and sterilizations, on multiple patients for more than 10 years.

Karl Schumann, acting special agent in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI’s) Norfolk, Va. field office, said in a statement, “With unnecessary, invasive medical procedures, Dr Perwaiz not only caused enduring complications, pain, and anxiety to his patients, but he assaulted the most personal part of their lives and even robbed some of their future.”

Dr. Perwaiz was also convicted of 52 counts of healthcare fraud and of making false statements in late 2020. His fraud allegedly cost insurance programs nearly $21 million. The investigation began in September 2018 after a hospital employee contacted the FBI after suspecting that Dr. Perwaiz was performing unnecessary surgeries. More than 25 former patients testified at the trial, and the court received more than 60 victim impact statements.

Dr. Perwaiz had a long criminal history, according to the New York Times. In 1982, Dr. Perwaiz lost medical privileges at Maryview Hospital, in Portsmouth, Va., because of performing unnecessary surgeries and displaying poor clinical judgment. His medical license was reinstated in 1998.
 

Doctor who prescribed opioids out of car charged with murder

George M. Blatti, MD, a family physician in New York, was charged with five counts of murder for the opioid-related deaths of his patients and 11 counts of reckless endangerment in the first degree, according to the New York Times. Dr. Blatti’s medical license has been revoked, and he has pleaded not guilty.

Dr. Blatti had been seeing patients and giving prescriptions out of his car in parking lots, where he would prescribe pain medications without examining the patients. Many of these patients were struggling with addiction to opioids or other drugs. The alleged victims — three men and two women, who were between the ages of 30 and 60 — were prescribed 45,000 pills over 4 years, despite the fact that each showed clear signs of addiction, according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors allege that Dr. Blatti knew that several of his patients had died of overdoses, and he ignored pleas from their family members to stop enabling their addictions. They also say he ignored warnings from insurers about excessive opioid prescribing and was questioned by the New York State Office of Professional Medical Conduct about it in 2017.

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

Doctor guilty of fraud and identity theft gets 7 years in jail

Grigoriy T. Rodonaia, MD, a family physician in Port Neches, Tex., was convicted of 12 counts of healthcare fraud, three counts of aggravated identity theft, and one count of making a false statement toward the end of 2020.

Dr. Rodonaia began his criminal activity in 2015, when he issued more than 600 prescriptions for scar creams using information from more than 140 beneficiaries of TRICARE, a military healthcare program, without their knowledge or consent. The pharmacy billed TRICARE a total of $6.7 million before Dr. Rodonaia’s scheme was detected. Dr. Rodonaia also forged patients’ records to say that he had examined the patients, and he submitted fraudulent records to the Defense Health Agency in response to an audit.

Dr. Rodonaia was sentenced to 7 years in federal prison on June 24, 2021, and was ordered to pay $195,607.76 in restitution.
 

Psychiatric hospital and nursing staff sued for death of patient

Jeremiah Bagley, 37, died after being restrained by psychiatric nursing staff and injected with an antipsychotic and a sedative at the Rio Grande State Center, in Harlingen, Tex.

An autopsy revealed that Mr. Bagley had several fractured vertebrae, cracked ribs, a lacerated spleen, and multiple contusions on his upper body. The autopsy report lists the cause of death as “excited delirium due to psychosis with restraint-associated blunt force trauma.”

Mr. Bagley’s father filed a lawsuit naming the hospital and 10 employees as defendants, saying that his son’s civil rights were violated. The Texas Supreme Court ruled on April 16, 2021, that the staffers who were charged must submit expert reports, despite the fact that medical malpractice was not alleged. Usually, such a lawsuit would be dismissed because a report was not served by the statutory deadline, but in a 9-0 decision, the high court allowed the case to proceed.

Plaintiff attorney Katie P. Klein told the Claims Journal, “He probably struck someone and everybody got mad and they jumped him. He had four or five people on him, which was not permitted.”
 

Ob.gyn. gets 59 years in prison

Javaid Perwaiz, MD, a 71-year-old ob/gyn from Chesapeake, Va., was convicted of performing medically unnecessary and irreversible surgeries, including hysterectomies and sterilizations, on multiple patients for more than 10 years.

Karl Schumann, acting special agent in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI’s) Norfolk, Va. field office, said in a statement, “With unnecessary, invasive medical procedures, Dr Perwaiz not only caused enduring complications, pain, and anxiety to his patients, but he assaulted the most personal part of their lives and even robbed some of their future.”

Dr. Perwaiz was also convicted of 52 counts of healthcare fraud and of making false statements in late 2020. His fraud allegedly cost insurance programs nearly $21 million. The investigation began in September 2018 after a hospital employee contacted the FBI after suspecting that Dr. Perwaiz was performing unnecessary surgeries. More than 25 former patients testified at the trial, and the court received more than 60 victim impact statements.

Dr. Perwaiz had a long criminal history, according to the New York Times. In 1982, Dr. Perwaiz lost medical privileges at Maryview Hospital, in Portsmouth, Va., because of performing unnecessary surgeries and displaying poor clinical judgment. His medical license was reinstated in 1998.
 

Doctor who prescribed opioids out of car charged with murder

George M. Blatti, MD, a family physician in New York, was charged with five counts of murder for the opioid-related deaths of his patients and 11 counts of reckless endangerment in the first degree, according to the New York Times. Dr. Blatti’s medical license has been revoked, and he has pleaded not guilty.

Dr. Blatti had been seeing patients and giving prescriptions out of his car in parking lots, where he would prescribe pain medications without examining the patients. Many of these patients were struggling with addiction to opioids or other drugs. The alleged victims — three men and two women, who were between the ages of 30 and 60 — were prescribed 45,000 pills over 4 years, despite the fact that each showed clear signs of addiction, according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors allege that Dr. Blatti knew that several of his patients had died of overdoses, and he ignored pleas from their family members to stop enabling their addictions. They also say he ignored warnings from insurers about excessive opioid prescribing and was questioned by the New York State Office of Professional Medical Conduct about it in 2017.

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

Doctor guilty of fraud and identity theft gets 7 years in jail

Grigoriy T. Rodonaia, MD, a family physician in Port Neches, Tex., was convicted of 12 counts of healthcare fraud, three counts of aggravated identity theft, and one count of making a false statement toward the end of 2020.

Dr. Rodonaia began his criminal activity in 2015, when he issued more than 600 prescriptions for scar creams using information from more than 140 beneficiaries of TRICARE, a military healthcare program, without their knowledge or consent. The pharmacy billed TRICARE a total of $6.7 million before Dr. Rodonaia’s scheme was detected. Dr. Rodonaia also forged patients’ records to say that he had examined the patients, and he submitted fraudulent records to the Defense Health Agency in response to an audit.

Dr. Rodonaia was sentenced to 7 years in federal prison on June 24, 2021, and was ordered to pay $195,607.76 in restitution.
 

Psychiatric hospital and nursing staff sued for death of patient

Jeremiah Bagley, 37, died after being restrained by psychiatric nursing staff and injected with an antipsychotic and a sedative at the Rio Grande State Center, in Harlingen, Tex.

An autopsy revealed that Mr. Bagley had several fractured vertebrae, cracked ribs, a lacerated spleen, and multiple contusions on his upper body. The autopsy report lists the cause of death as “excited delirium due to psychosis with restraint-associated blunt force trauma.”

Mr. Bagley’s father filed a lawsuit naming the hospital and 10 employees as defendants, saying that his son’s civil rights were violated. The Texas Supreme Court ruled on April 16, 2021, that the staffers who were charged must submit expert reports, despite the fact that medical malpractice was not alleged. Usually, such a lawsuit would be dismissed because a report was not served by the statutory deadline, but in a 9-0 decision, the high court allowed the case to proceed.

Plaintiff attorney Katie P. Klein told the Claims Journal, “He probably struck someone and everybody got mad and they jumped him. He had four or five people on him, which was not permitted.”
 

Ob.gyn. gets 59 years in prison

Javaid Perwaiz, MD, a 71-year-old ob/gyn from Chesapeake, Va., was convicted of performing medically unnecessary and irreversible surgeries, including hysterectomies and sterilizations, on multiple patients for more than 10 years.

Karl Schumann, acting special agent in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI’s) Norfolk, Va. field office, said in a statement, “With unnecessary, invasive medical procedures, Dr Perwaiz not only caused enduring complications, pain, and anxiety to his patients, but he assaulted the most personal part of their lives and even robbed some of their future.”

Dr. Perwaiz was also convicted of 52 counts of healthcare fraud and of making false statements in late 2020. His fraud allegedly cost insurance programs nearly $21 million. The investigation began in September 2018 after a hospital employee contacted the FBI after suspecting that Dr. Perwaiz was performing unnecessary surgeries. More than 25 former patients testified at the trial, and the court received more than 60 victim impact statements.

Dr. Perwaiz had a long criminal history, according to the New York Times. In 1982, Dr. Perwaiz lost medical privileges at Maryview Hospital, in Portsmouth, Va., because of performing unnecessary surgeries and displaying poor clinical judgment. His medical license was reinstated in 1998.
 

Doctor who prescribed opioids out of car charged with murder

George M. Blatti, MD, a family physician in New York, was charged with five counts of murder for the opioid-related deaths of his patients and 11 counts of reckless endangerment in the first degree, according to the New York Times. Dr. Blatti’s medical license has been revoked, and he has pleaded not guilty.

Dr. Blatti had been seeing patients and giving prescriptions out of his car in parking lots, where he would prescribe pain medications without examining the patients. Many of these patients were struggling with addiction to opioids or other drugs. The alleged victims — three men and two women, who were between the ages of 30 and 60 — were prescribed 45,000 pills over 4 years, despite the fact that each showed clear signs of addiction, according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors allege that Dr. Blatti knew that several of his patients had died of overdoses, and he ignored pleas from their family members to stop enabling their addictions. They also say he ignored warnings from insurers about excessive opioid prescribing and was questioned by the New York State Office of Professional Medical Conduct about it in 2017.

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.