Health

  • March 22, 2024

    FCC Ready To Propose Local Georouting For 988 Calls

    The Federal Communications Commission is preparing to take action to make sure that calls coming into the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline are being routed to the nearest call center and not another one states away.

  • March 22, 2024

    6th Circ. Says Fired Doctor Got Enough Due Process

    The Sixth Circuit backed two Ohio healthcare companies and Wright State University's early wins against a former resident doctor's claims that she was improperly fired for unprofessional conduct, stating that all the parties involved engaged in "more than enough due process" before terminating her.

  • March 22, 2024

    High Court Mifepristone Battle Goes Beyond Abortion

    The first major abortion battle to reach the U.S. Supreme Court since the Dobbs decision is about a lot more than abortion.

  • March 22, 2024

    Ex-Ga. Insurance Head Cops To Healthcare Kickback Scheme

    Former Georgia Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine pled guilty Friday to working with an Atlanta-area doctor to run a multimillion-dollar medical testing kickback scheme just weeks before he was set to face trial in federal court.

  • March 22, 2024

    Congress Spares Employee Benefits From $400M DOL Cut

    A commitment from Congress to keep funding level for the U.S. Department of Labor's sub-agency that oversees employee benefits despite a $400 million agency-wide cut was one of the highlights for benefits attorneys in a new fiscal year 2024 spending deal. Here are three takeaways from attorneys on the funding agreement.

  • March 22, 2024

    Calif. Releases Interim Guidelines On GenAI Use

    The state of California on Thursday released interim guidelines for public-sector procurement, uses and training of generative artificial intelligence by state leaders in preparation for all state agencies to consider pilot projects using the technology by July, per Gov. Gavin Newsom's executive order issued last year.

  • March 22, 2024

    Ex-Drug Rep Won't Serve More Time After 1st Circ. Victory

    The second sentencing of a former Aegerion Pharmaceuticals Inc. salesman did not add a day in prison to the roughly seven months he served before the First Circuit wiped away his initial conviction on charges he schemed to fraudulently sell the company's cholesterol treatment.

  • March 22, 2024

    Del. Courts Examining 'Colonoscopy'-Like Bylaw Rules

    Invasive advance-notice bylaws that some observers say make shareholder board nominations as intrusive as a "colonoscopy" are reviving old questions in Delaware courts about how far boards can go to protect themselves against shareholder activism.

  • March 22, 2024

    LifeCell Cleared Of Liability In NJ Strattice Hernia Mesh Trial

    New Jersey state jurors on Friday cleared LifeCell of liability in a Kentucky woman's suit alleging the design of its Strattice surgical mesh is defective and caused a hernia to reoccur and ultimately resulted in "life-altering" surgery, giving the medical device company the first win in a venue with at least 93 pending cases with tort claims over the mesh.

  • March 21, 2024

    SEC's 'Shadow Trading' Trial To Test Insider Info Boundaries

    If the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission can convince jurors hearing its first-ever "shadow trading" case next week to find a former executive in the wrong for buying up a competitor's securities while having insider information about his own company, the floodgates could open to civil and criminal prosecution of other corporate insiders under the novel legal theory, attorneys told Law360.

  • March 21, 2024

    5th Circ. Backs FDA's Vivid Warnings Of Cigarette Dangers

    Government mandated text warnings and graphic images on cigarette packs to advertise the health risks of smoking do not violate the free speech rights of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and other cigarette manufacturers, the Fifth Circuit ruled Thursday, saying the warnings are "factual and uncontroversial" and pass constitutional muster.

  • March 21, 2024

    Schumer Urges Texas District To Adopt Judge-Shopping Rule

    Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Thursday urged the chief judge of the Northern District of Texas to quickly implement the Judicial Conference of the United States' updated policy that looks to prevent litigants from judge shopping, arguing that the district's current practices are "dangerous."

  • March 21, 2024

    Ill. Judge Leaves Outcome Health Execs' Convictions Intact

    An Illinois federal judge said Thursday that he wouldn't disturb three former Outcome Health executives' convictions for carrying out a massive billion-dollar fraud scheme to grow their health advertising business, saying the jury heard enough evidence to support its verdict.

  • March 21, 2024

    MDL Claims Over Merck's Gardasil Vax Get Trimmed

    Pharmaceutical giant Merck need not face many of the claims by patients who allege their autoimmune conditions were caused by its HPV vaccine, a North Carolina federal judge overseeing multidistrict litigation ruled, saying the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act bars most claims made in the first two bellwethers.

  • March 21, 2024

    Wash. Judge Says Debt Collector Owes $827K For Violations

    A Washington state judge has ordered a medical debt collector to pay more than $827,000 in penalties for failing to include certain debtor's rights information in collection notices sent to tens of thousands of Washingtonians for outstanding balances tied to Providence Health & Services hospitals.

  • March 21, 2024

    Cigna Slams Suit's Claims Of Algorithm-Led Coverage Denials

    Insurance giant Cigna Group wants a Connecticut federal court to toss a proposed class action alleging that an algorithm unlawfully rejected hundreds of thousands of claims en masse and without a proper review, arguing the suit is based on a "misleading" news article and shows a misunderstanding of the health insurer's claim denial process.

  • March 21, 2024

    UpHealth Claims $110M Win In Glocal Control Fight

    Global digital health company UpHealth Inc. says an arbitral panel has awarded it more than $110 million following a dispute that arose out of its subsidiary's acquisition of Glocal Healthcare Systems in 2020 — even as Glocal decried the award as "one-sided and perverse."

  • March 21, 2024

    Tribe's Opioid Suit Can Head To State Court, Okla. Judge Says

    An Oklahoma federal magistrate judge has granted the Cherokee Nation's bid to move to state court its suit accusing pharmaceuticals distributor Morris & Dickson of flooding the tribe's communities with opioids, saying the company only fulfilled one of four prongs necessary for establishing federal jurisdiction.

  • March 21, 2024

    Va. Court Affirms Doctor's Win, Refuses 'Empty Chair' Appeal

    An emergency physician will keep his trial win in a malpractice case involving a patient's fatal aneurysm, a Virginia state appeals court has ruled, rejecting arguments that the trial judge flubbed by refusing to explicitly forbid the jury from considering the possibility that anyone else contributed to her death.

  • March 21, 2024

    CymaBay Investor Sues For Books On $4.3B Gilead Merger

    A shareholder of liver disease-focused biopharmaceutical company CymaBay Therapeutics Inc. sued the company in Delaware Chancery Court to extract more information over a proposed $4.3 billion merger with Gilead Sciences Inc., saying CymaBay has refused to hand over previously requested documents regarding the valuation analyses without a legitimate excuse.

  • March 21, 2024

    Healthcare Co. Beats Suit Over TDF Funds' Performance

    A California federal judge granted a win to a healthcare company and its investment adviser in a class action challenging what former workers claim are shoddy target-date-funds included in the company's 401(k) plan, saying the funds at issue performed better than comparable investments.

  • March 21, 2024

    VA May Have Acted In Bad Faith On $30M Debt Collection Deal

    The U.S. Civilian Board of Contract Appeals refused to toss a $29.6 million appeal accusing the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs of hampering a contractor's efforts to collect funds from outside insurers, saying the VA may have acted in bad faith.

  • March 21, 2024

    Gun Rights Org., Pa. DA Seek To Block Pot Patients' Gun Ban

    A Pennsylvania prosecutor and a gun rights organization have asked a federal judge to block enforcement of policies that prohibit licensed medical marijuana patients from owning firearms, saying the ban violates the patients' Second Amendment rights.

  • March 21, 2024

    Business Coalition Rebuffs Biden Plan To Seize Drug Patents

    The Biden administration's proposal to exercise so-called march-in rights to seize drug patents would harm innovation in the U.S., according to an assemblage of business-focused groups.

  • March 21, 2024

    Home Health Cos. Stiffed Workers On OT Pay, Suit Claims

    The operators of several Ohio-based home care staffing agencies have been failing to pay their employees for all the overtime hours they worked, according to a recent proposed class and collective action.

Expert Analysis

  • Industry Must Elevate Native American Women Attys' Stories

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    The American Bar Association's recent research study into Native American women attorneys' experiences in the legal industry reveals the glacial pace of progress, and should inform efforts to amplify Native voices in the field, says Mary Smith, president of the ABA.

  • White House Activity Is A Band-Aid For Regulating AI In Health

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    In the medium term, recent White House actions will have a greater impact on AI in the health care industry than Congress' sluggish efforts to regulate it, but ultimately legislation of AI's development and use in the health space will fall to Congress, say Wendell Bartnick and Vanessa Perumal at Reed Smith.

  • Understanding Discovery Obligations In Era Of Generative AI

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Attorneys and businesses must adapt to the unique discovery challenges presented by generative artificial intelligence, such as chatbot content and prompts, while upholding the principles of fairness, transparency and compliance with legal obligations in federal civil litigation, say attorneys at King & Spalding.

  • How Mental Health Ruling Paves Road For Equal Coverage

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    The Tenth Circuit’s recent ruling in E.W. v. Health Net, which clarified the pleading requirements necessary to establish a Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act violation, is a win for plaintiffs as it opens the door to those who have been denied coverage for behavioral health treatment to prove a mental health parity violation, says Mark DeBofsky at DeBofsky Law.

  • Employer Lessons After 2023's Successful Labor Strikes

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    Following recent historic strikes in the automotive, entertainment and health care industries, employers of all types can learn key insights about how unions may approach negotiations and strikes going forward, and nonunionized workplaces should anticipate a drive for increased union membership, say Lenny Feigel and Mark Neuberger at Foley & Lardner.

  • Why Criminal No-Poach Cases Can Be Deceptively Complex

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    Mark Rosman at Wilson Sonsini discusses the reasons many criminal no-poach cases that appear simple are actually more complicated than they seem, following several jury trial acquittals and two dismissed cases.

  • Kochava Ruling May Hint At Next Privacy Class Action Wave

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    The Southern District of California's recent ruling in Greenley v. Kochava and increasing complaints alleging that a consumer website is an illegal “pen register” due to the use of third-party marketing software tools foreshadow a new theory of liability for plaintiffs in privacy litigation, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • Series

    ESG Around The World: Mexico

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    ESG has yet to become part of the DNA of the Mexican business model, but huge strides are being made in that direction, as more stakeholders demand that companies adopt, at the least, a modicum of sustainability commitments and demonstrate how they will meet them, says Carlos Escoto at Galicia Abogados.

  • Opinion

    FDA And Companies Must Move Quickly On Drug Recalls

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    When a drug doesn't work as promised — whether it causes harm, like eyedrops recalled last month by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or is merely useless, like a widely used decongestant ingredient recently acknowledged by the agency to be ineffective — the public must be notified in a timely manner, says Vineet Dubey at Custodio & Dubey.

  • The Case For Post-Bar Clerk Training Programs At Law Firms

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    In today's competitive legal hiring market, an intentionally designed training program for law school graduates awaiting bar admission can be an effective way of creating a pipeline of qualified candidates, says Brent Daub at Gilson Daub.

  • 10 Takeaways From New HHS Federal Compliance Guidelines

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    The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' recently issued general compliance program guidance is the first of its kind that would apply across all health care stakeholders, and signals the agency’s first step to improve and update existing compliance guidance, says Melissa Wong at Holland & Knight.

  • Ohio Voters Legalize Cannabis — What Comes Next?

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    This month, voters approved a citizen-initiated statute that legalizes marijuana for recreational use in Ohio, but the legalization timeline could undergo significant changes at the behest of the state's lawmakers, say Daniel Shortt and David Waxman at McGlinchey Stafford.

  • Opinion

    A Telecom Attorney's Defense Of The Chevron Doctrine

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    The Chevron doctrine, which requires judicial deference to federal regulators, is under attack in two U.S. Supreme Court cases — and while most telecom attorneys likely agree that the Federal Communications Commission is guilty of overrelying on it, the problem is not the doctrine itself, says Carl Northrop at Telecommunications Law Professionals.

  • 2 HHS Warnings Highlight Anti-Kickback Risks For Physicians

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    Two recent advisory opinions issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General involve different scenarios and rationales, but together they illustrate the OIG's focus on and disapproval of contractual joint ventures and other revenue-maximizing physician arrangements, say Robert Threlkeld and Elliott Coward at Morris Manning.

  • Attorneys Have An Ethical Duty To Protect The Judiciary

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    The tenor of public disagreement and debate has become increasingly hostile against judges, and though the legislative branch is trying to ameliorate this safety gap, lawyers have a moral imperative and professional requirement to stand with judges in defusing attacks against them and their rulings, says Deborah Winokur at Cozen O'Connor.

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