Stories about physicians and other healthcare professionals involved in lawsuits—as either a plaintiff or a defendant—or accused of breaking the law. Various legal updates or unusual stories in the news may land here.
Multiple professional groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Physicians, challenge recent policy changes to vaccine recommendations for COVID-19, which end routine inoculations for minors and pregnant women.
Sweeping tax cuts and reduced spending on Medicaid and SNAP were signed into law by President Donald Trump. However, a key provision that would have paused new AI regulations was removed by the Senate.
Jennifer Forbes, 50, allegedly sent a cryptic, threatening letter to a UnitedHealthcare office along with an unknown substance. She has been charged with two counts of terrorism.
The 940-page document passed the House of Representatives in a 218 to 214 vote, and now heads to President Donald Trump’s desk. It contains a 20% cut to federal Medicaid funding, something Trump said he opposes.
The family of Gay Sherman Weintz, 55, said she died as a result of 24-hour physical restraint, combined with staff at Middlesex Hospital ignoring signs of a medical crisis. Her son, Chauncey Smith, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit.
Law firm Wright & Schulte said they filed a legal complaint on behalf of patients, pointing to the health system’s alleged lack of transparency and negligence in protecting data as the basis for the lawsuit.
Faranak Firozan, 47, is a cybersecurity expert at Nvidia who regularly spoke on the topic of “cyber laundering.” Prosecutors in California allege she submitted fraudulent medical claims to an employer-sponsored insurance plan, bilking Cigna out of $100,000.
Sixty-one-year-old Lilit Gagikovna Baltaian, MD, is on the run after being convicted of fraudulently billing Medicare alongside co-conspirators at home health agencies. A federal court in California sentenced her to 54 months in prison.
The insurer alleges The Guardian misrepresented the facts in a May 21 exposé that accused the insurer of pressuring nursing homes to delay and deny hospital transfers.
Evoke Health Care Management was accused of disseminating over 68,500 illegal ads that linked to a marketing call center, rather than actual addiction treatment services.
The Pharmaceutical Care Management Association—a trade lobby representing pharmacy benefit managers—argues a state law that would force companies to divest from drugstores could leave patients without access to critical medications.
While Kardium raised $250 million in an oversubscribed funding round, Field Medical raised $35 million. Both companies are focused on designing and developing new pulsed field ablation technologies to help treat challenging arrhythmias.
Johnson & Johnson MedTech has received reports of its Automated Impella Controller failing to connect properly with Impella heart pumps. If this happens, the FDA warned, it may put patients at risk.
