Health

  • April 15, 2024

    Doc's NDAs Illegally Silenced Negative Reviews, Judge Says

    A Washington state plastic surgery practice illegally required patients to sign pretreatment nondisclosure agreements that threatened to punish them for posting negative online reviews, a Washington federal judge has determined.

  • April 15, 2024

    Claims Court Backs VA's Pick For Healthcare Conversion Deal

    The U.S. Court of Federal Claims has backed the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' decision to tap a healthcare technology company to convert paper-based healthcare claims into electronic formats despite protests from two competitors for the work that allege the VA assigned them undeserved weaknesses.

  • April 15, 2024

    TTAB Sides With Pharma Co.'s Opposition To 'SageForth' TM

    The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board has ruled in favor of biopharmaceutical company Sage Therapeutics Inc.' opposition to a psychological service provider's attempt to register "SageForth" as a trademark, saying the name is likely to cause confusion with Sage Therapeutics' treatments for postpartum depression.

  • April 15, 2024

    LA County Tells FCC It Supports Plan To Georoute 988 Calls

    Support is growing for a Federal Communications Commission proposal to require georouting calls to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, with Los Angeles County backing the idea Friday in a filing with the agency, and other groups saying even more urgency is needed.

  • April 15, 2024

    Feds Seek Prison For Group That Invaded Abortion Clinic

    Prosecutors are seeking prison sentences for six anti-abortion activists convicted of storming a Washington, D.C., abortion clinic, including a six-year term for the alleged "criminal mastermind" behind this and other blockades.

  • April 15, 2024

    Pharmacy, Courier Co. Settle Driver's Classification Suit

    A delivery driver and a CVS-owned pharmacy and a logistics and courier firm told an Illinois federal court that they have reached a settlement resolving claims that the company misclassified workers as independent contractors and paid them neither minimum nor overtime premium wages. 

  • April 15, 2024

    Justices Won't Nix FDA Labeling Preemption For State Claims

    The Supreme Court on Monday let stand lower court findings that the unique authority of the federal Food and Drug Administration preempted and, therefore, justified dismissing a proposed class action that alleged a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary broke Massachusetts law by misbranding Lactaid drug products as dietary supplements.

  • April 15, 2024

    High Court Turns Away Fired Male Doctor's Sex Bias Suit

    The U.S. Supreme Court refused Monday to review a cardiologist's unsuccessful gender bias suit alleging he was fired after being falsely accused of mistreating female colleagues, despite his argument that the Second Circuit used the wrong legal standard when it backed the case's dismissal.

  • April 15, 2024

    Justices Won't Review ERISA Suit Over Heart Transplant

    The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to review the Fourth Circuit's decision only partially reviving a suit brought by the mother of a deceased airline worker whose employer refused to cover his heart transplant surgery until after his death.

  • April 12, 2024

    'Much More Is Coming': Experts See Wave Of AI-Related Suits

    Legal experts speaking Friday at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law's symposium on artificial intelligence and evidence in civil litigation warned that broadening usage and increased regulation will lead to a wave of litigation over the technology, leaving courts to analyze the "black box" of corporate AI algorithms to determine liability.

  • April 12, 2024

    NJ Court Revives Spinal Injury Suit After E-Filing Glitch

    A New Jersey appeals court on Friday reinstated a medical malpractice suit accusing a physician of causing a woman's severe spinal injuries, saying an unexplained glitch in the trial court's electronic filing system wrongly led to a dismissal of the suit.

  • April 12, 2024

    Wash. Hospital Workers Say Class Suits Are Mirror Images

    A group of healthcare workers urged a Washington state judge to find that their employer has violated the same wage laws that an affiliated hospital system was recently found liable for in a parallel case, contending at a Friday hearing that the two class actions ultimately target the same parent company.

  • April 12, 2024

    NY Health Network To Pay $1M For Deceptive COVID Test Bills

    Long Island, New York-based hospital network Northwell Health will pay $1 million over allegations that it fraudulently billed patients for a hospital visit after they came for what they thought was a free COVID-19 test, the state's attorney general said Friday.

  • April 12, 2024

    Judge Rejects Tehum's $54M Bid To Resolve Injury Suits

    A Texas bankruptcy judge has rejected prison healthcare company Tehum Care Services Inc.'s $54 million settlement to resolve hundreds of personal injury suits while declining the claimant committee's request to dismiss the Chapter 11 case.

  • April 12, 2024

    Mich. Hospital Must Face MedMal Suit Against Contract Doc

    A hospital will have to face claims related to the alleged medical malpractice of its ICU director, a contractor, because the hospital did not make it clear to a patient who died that the doctor was not one of its employees, a Michigan appellate panel has said.

  • April 12, 2024

    DEA Unlawfully Pushing Psychedelics Ban, Researcher Says

    A psychedelic research company has asked a Washington federal judge to block the Drug Enforcement Administration from proceeding with its plan to ban two psychedelic substances, saying the agency's process for bringing the matter before an administrative judge has been unlawful.

  • April 12, 2024

    Atrium Stakes Claim To Trust Of Prominent NC Textile Family

    Atrium Health is looking to sack trustees currently standing in the way of the hospital system inheriting a substantial sum of money from one of North Carolina's most prominent families, saying the trustees have refused to pay its distributions and are hiding information.

  • April 12, 2024

    Split Mich. Panel Restores Overdose Suit Against Pain Doctor

    Pandemic-prompted court orders that gave litigants in Michigan extra time to file lawsuits have continued to divide the state's appellate bench, as another three-judge panel couldn't agree Thursday on whether the orders gave a woman's estate extra time to sue her doctor.

  • April 12, 2024

    Mich. High Court Snapshot: Atty Sanctions Kick Off April

    The Michigan Supreme Court returns Tuesday for its April session, hearing oral arguments about judges' ability to sanction lawyers for past attorneys' work in a case, what defendants say could be double recovery in wrongful death cases, and an attempt to use a Larry Nassar-inspired law to sue Catholic priests for decades-old abuse allegations.

  • April 12, 2024

    Trade Groups Urge Senators To Advance Patent Reform Bills

    Groups representing inventors, startups and medical technology companies are putting pressure on U.S. senators to pass bills that would prospectively limit the ability of courts to throw out patent lawsuits, a month after tech industry groups argued the legislation would trigger an onslaught of patent litigation.

  • April 12, 2024

    Woman Pleads Guilty To $1.3M COVID Tax Credit Fraud

    A California woman pled guilty to fraudulently obtaining $2 million in COVID-19 government loans and falsely claiming $1.3 million in tax credits, crimes that could result in a 20-year prison sentence, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

  • April 12, 2024

    Asbury Park Escapes Pot Co.'s Zoning Board Conspiracy Suit

    A New Jersey federal court has dismissed a medical cannabis company's suit alleging Asbury Park and its zoning board conspired with a rival to block it from operating a treatment center, saying the complaint fails to support its allegations of the scheme.

  • April 11, 2024

    Sandoz Says Feds Misclassified Generics As 'Innovator Drugs'

    Pharmaceutical company Sandoz Inc. sued the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in Washington, D.C., federal court on Wednesday, alleging the agency ignored the company's objection to classifying two of its generics as "innovator drugs," which could impact Sandoz's rebate obligations under Medicaid.

  • April 11, 2024

    FTC Curtails Treatment Provider's Sharing Of Health Data

    The Federal Trade Commission took its latest step Thursday to crack down on the mishandling of sensitive health information, announcing a settlement that requires a New York-based alcohol addiction treatment service to obtain affirmative consent before sharing this data with third parties and bars the company from disclosing this information for advertising purposes.

  • April 11, 2024

    UnitedHealth Patients' Addiction Coverage Suit Revived, Again

    The Ninth Circuit on Thursday revived for the second time a proposed class action accusing UnitedHealth of wrongly rejecting coverage for outpatient substance use disorder treatments in violation of federal benefits law, finding the plaintiff plausibly alleged the insurer employed an excessively strict review process for those claims.

Expert Analysis

  • Texas Ruling Clarifies That Bankruptcy Shields LLC Rights

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    A Texas bankruptcy court’s recent ruling in In re: Envision makes it clear that the Bankruptcy Code preempts a section of Delaware state law that terminates a member’s interest in an LLC upon a bankruptcy filing, clarifying conflicting case law, say Larry Halperin and Joon Hong at Chapman and Cutler.

  • Series

    Coaching High School Wrestling Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Coaching my son’s high school wrestling team has been great fun, but it’s also demonstrated how a legal career can benefit from certain experiences, such as embracing the unknown, studying the rules and engaging with new people, says Richard Davis at Maynard Nexsen.

  • SG's Office Is Case Study To Help Close Legal Gender Gap

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    As women continue to be underrepresented in the upper echelons of the legal profession, law firms could learn from the example set by the Office of the Solicitor General, where culture and workplace policies have helped foster greater gender equality, say attorneys at Ocean Tomo.

  • The Latest Antitrust Areas For In-House Counsel To Watch

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    The U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission's increasingly aggressive approach to antitrust enforcement means in-house counsel should closely monitor five key compliance issues, say attorneys at Squire Patton.

  • Despite Risks, AI Is A Worthy Tool For Healthcare Industry

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    Artificial intelligence appears to provide a productive path forward for the healthcare industry, improving economic and human health outcomes, though companies must continue to address certain technology and compliance pain points, says Sarah Abrams at Bowhead Specialty Underwriters.

  • Navigating New Regulations In Healthcare And Other M&A

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    While notice requirements recently enacted in several states are focused on the healthcare industry for now, this trend could extend to other industries as these requirements are designed to allow regulators to be a step ahead and learn more about a transaction long before it occurs, say Kathleen Premo and Ashley Creech at Epstein Becker.

  • New CMS Rule Will Change Nursing Facility Disclosures

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    A new rule from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services significantly expands disclosure requirements for nursing facilities backed by private equity companies or real estate investment trusts, likely foreshadowing increased oversight that could include more targeted audits, say Janice Davis and Christopher Ronne at Morgan Lewis.

  • Skirting Anti-Kickback Causation Standard Amid Circuit Split

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    Amid the federal circuit court split over the causation standard applicable to False Claims Act cases involving Anti-Kickback Statute violations, which the First Circuit will soon consider in U.S. v. Regeneron, litigators aiming to circumvent the heightened standard should contemplate certain strategies, say Matthew Modafferi and Terence Park at Frier Levitt.

  • What To Know About WDTX Standing Order For Patent Cases

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    Patent litigators should review and ensure compliance with the standing order recently issued by U.S. District Judge Alan Albright of the Western District of Texas — a popular patent litigation venue — which encompasses new deadlines, seeks to streamline discovery disputes, and further reflects the court's existing practices, says Archibald Cruz at Patterson + Sheridan.

  • What New Calif. Strike Force Means For White Collar Crimes

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    The recently announced Central District of California strike force targeting complex corporate and securities fraud — following the Northern District of California's model — combines experienced prosecutorial leadership and partnerships with federal agencies like the IRS and FBI, and could result in an uptick in the number of cases and speed of proceedings, say attorneys at MoFo.

  • Healthcare Collabs Can Alleviate Labor, Antitrust Challenges

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    Two major challenges facing hospitals and health systems include labor shortages and increased antitrust scrutiny at both federal and state levels, but collaborative efforts may help with addressing these difficulties, says Sumaya Noush at McDermott.

  • Reimagining Law Firm Culture To Break The Cycle Of Burnout

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    While attorney burnout remains a perennial issue in the legal profession, shifting post-pandemic expectations mean that law firms must adapt their office cultures to retain talent, say Kevin Henderson and Eric Pacifici at SMB Law Group.

  • Expediting Psychedelics Approvals In The EU, UK, Australia

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    Accelerated pathways for regulatory approvals for psychedelic drugs in the European Union, U.K. and Australia is indispensable to facilitate a seamless advancement of treatments from the research environment to the consumer, say Kimberly Chew at Husch Blackwell, and Ana Dukic and Sabrina Ramkellawan at AxialBridge.

  • Series

    ESG Around The World: Brazil

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    Environmental, social and governance issues have increasingly translated into new legislation in Brazil since 2020, and in the wake of these recently enacted regulations, we are likely to see a growing number of legal disputes in the largest South American country related to ESG issues such as greenwashing if companies are not prepared to adequately adapt and comply, say attorneys at Mattos Filho.

  • Opinion

    Gilead Ruling Signals That Innovating Can Lead To Liability

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    A California appeals court's ruling last month in Gilead Life Sciences v. Superior Court of San Francisco that a drug manufacturer can be held liable for delaying the introduction of an improved version of its medication raises concerns about the chilling effects that expansive product liability claims may have on innovation, says Gary Myers at the University of Missouri School of Law.

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