Health

  • March 13, 2024

    Ariz. Families Sue For Wrongful Death Amid Healthcare Scams

    The families of two Native American men are suing the state of Arizona and several of its entities, alleging that they're liable for their loved ones' deaths due to a lack of oversight on the "so-called sober living crisis" that led to one of the largest healthcare scandals in the state's history.

  • March 13, 2024

    9th Circ. Unsure If Abortion Pill Suit Harms Red States

    Two Ninth Circuit judges on Wednesday challenged Idaho and other Republican-led states' bid to intervene in Washington's lawsuit seeking to expand access to the abortion pill mifepristone, asking if the states could back up their claims of economic harm.

  • March 13, 2024

    HHS To Investigate Whether Cyberattack Exposed Patient Data

    The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services opened an investigation Wednesday into the cyberattack on Change Healthcare to determine whether the hack exposed patients' confidential data or violated other privacy protections.

  • March 13, 2024

    Hospital Asks NC Justices To Take Up Virus-Law Immunity Case

    Healthcare providers are pressing the North Carolina Supreme Court to review a lower court's finding that the state's COVID immunity law isn't fatal to a medical malpractice suit, warning that the decision would have drastic consequences on a liability shield from pandemic-related suits.

  • March 13, 2024

    Judge Says COVID Test Suit Depends On Conn. Justices

     A Connecticut federal judge trimmed several claims from a $783,000 suit over a COVID-19 testing bill that a health plan administrator allegedly failed to pay, but declined to rule on certain state law issues until the state's highest court can shed light on the statutes in an upcoming ruling.

  • March 13, 2024

    Hospital Manager Cements $3.5M Gabon Arbitration Award

    The Gabonese Republic must pay a $3.5 million arbitration award obtained by an Austrian healthcare management company, a D.C. federal judge ruled after the central African nation failed to appear in court.

  • March 13, 2024

    CoreCivic Beats Asylum-Seeker's Miscarriage Liability Suit

    A California federal judge handed CoreCivic Inc. a win Tuesday in a negligence lawsuit filed by an El Salvadorian asylum-seeker who alleged she miscarried while detained at the prison giant's immigration detention center near the U.S.-Mexico border, finding there to be no triable factual dispute over whether she miscarried in custody.

  • March 13, 2024

    Planned Parenthood Foe Calls Immunity Claim 'Half-Baked'

    Attorneys for a pseudonymous relator who sued Planned Parenthood over allegations that it improperly billed Medicaid programs urged the Fifth Circuit on Wednesday to reject the group's position that it was shielded by attorney immunity, calling the entity's argument "half-baked."

  • March 13, 2024

    Hospital Operator Defends Releases In Ch. 11 Plan

    California-based hospital operator Alecto Healthcare Services LLC asked a Delaware bankruptcy judge Wednesday to approve its small business Chapter 11 reorganization, saying it is not leaving money on the table by releasing potential clawback claims.

  • March 13, 2024

    Wash. Hospital Workers Sue Kaiser Over Missed Breaks

    A nursing assistant at Seattle's Kaiser Permanente hospital said understaffing compels her and other healthcare employees to work through their meal breaks, but that the hospital system has not been paying them for that time, according to a proposed class action filed in Washington state court.

  • March 13, 2024

    Aetna Can't Avoid Bias Suit Over Fertility Treatment Policy

    Aetna must face a proposed class action alleging it readily covers fertility treatments for infertile heterosexual women but forces non-heterosexual women to spend thousands out of pocket before paying for their treatments, with a Connecticut federal judge saying it doesn't matter if the insurer didn't control the health plan's terms.

  • March 13, 2024

    Jury Must Weigh Willfulness In Secrets Case, Calif. Court Says

    A California state appellate court has found a jury will have to decide whether a former director at Applied Medical Distribution Corp. willfully misappropriated trade secrets from his former employer.

  • March 13, 2024

    Health Plan Provider's Settlement Notice Costs Not Covered

    An insurer has no duty to indemnify a health insurance provider for notice costs incurred in a class action over denied medical benefits, a Montana federal court ruled, finding that the costs do not constitute "claim expenses" under the provider's errors and omissions policy.

  • March 13, 2024

    Kids' Hospital Cuts Deal To End EEOC Harassment Probe

    Seattle Children's Hospital agreed to pay $125,000 to resolve the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's charge that it subjected a nurse to a sexually charged work atmosphere and then failed to step in when she complained.

  • March 12, 2024

    Harris Co. Atty Made To 'Fix' Colleague's Racism, Suit Alleges

    A former Houston-area county staff attorney claims she was buried in work, targeted with racist harassment and finally fired following her request to work remotely to manage disabling pain after coronavirus precautions were lifted at the courthouse, according to a lawsuit filed in Texas court.

  • March 12, 2024

    NYC Hospital Signs $17.3M 'Kickback' Deal With Feds, State

    NewYork-Presbyterian/Brooklyn Methodist Hospital has agreed to pay $17.3 million to resolve allegations that it paid unlawful kickbacks to physicians at its chemotherapy infusion clinic, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday.

  • March 12, 2024

    Judiciary Touts New Policy To Rein In Judge Shopping

    The Judicial Conference of the United States on Tuesday said it has updated a policy on random case assignments to ensure litigants can't shop for the judge of their choice by going to a one-judge district court.

  • March 12, 2024

    NY Jury Rules Some Claims About Prevagen Are Misleading

    A New York federal jury said some statements made by Quincy Bioscience about its memory booster Prevagen were misleading to consumers but found that most statements about the supplement were made on solid grounds.

  • March 12, 2024

    2nd Circ. Revives Parts Of McKesson Whistleblower Suit

    The Second Circuit on Tuesday revived parts of a lawsuit brought by a McKesson Corp. whistleblower who accuses the pharmaceutical company of a kickback scheme, finding that the lower court should reconsider the claims that were brought under state anti-kickback laws.

  • March 12, 2024

    Breast Implant Co.'s $90M DIP OK'd With Creditor Protections

    Bankrupt breast implant maker Sientra Inc. received final court approval in Delaware bankruptcy court for its $90 million debtor-in-possession financing after adding in lien challenge protections for unsecured creditors.

  • March 12, 2024

    Walgreens, Kenvue Unit Sued Over Benzene In Acne Products

    Walgreens, Kenvue unit Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc. and Genomma Lab face a trio of proposed consumer fraud class actions in California federal court by customers who alleged their acne treatment products contain unsafe levels of benzene, but that each of the companies failed to disclose its presence in their labeling.

  • March 12, 2024

    Sorrento Ch. 11 Will Stay In Texas

    A Texas bankruptcy judge Tuesday denied requests to transfer the Chapter 11 case of drug developer Sorrento Therapeutics Inc. out of the Lone Star State for having insufficient ties to the venue.

  • March 12, 2024

    Reps Push Regulators For Answers On Marijuana Research

    A bipartisan pair of congress members on opposite sides of the cannabis legalization issue joined forces on Tuesday to blast federal agencies for not effectively implementing a bill whose stated purpose was to expedite research into marijuana's potential harms and benefits.

  • March 12, 2024

    4th Circ. Upholds White Exec Firing Verdict But Cuts Damages

    The Fourth Circuit on Tuesday affirmed a victory for a white hospital executive who won a jury trial in his lawsuit alleging he was fired as part of a diversity push, but found his $300,000 punitive damages award was unwarranted because he fell short in backing his claim that his employer knowingly violated federal law.

  • March 12, 2024

    4th Circ. Revives Navy Surgery Wrongful Death Claims

    The Fourth Circuit on Tuesday reversed an order dismissing claims from the estate of a woman who died after an allegedly botched surgery at a Navy hospital, saying the trial court was wrong to conclude that Navy regulations for implementing Federal Tort Claims Act procedures created jurisdictional requirements beyond what the FTCA's text includes.

Expert Analysis

  • Inside The PTAB's Seagen Cancer Drug Patent Decision

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    The Patent Trial and Appeal Board's recent finding that Seagen's claims for antibody-drug conjugate technology were unpatentable — for lack of enablement, lack of written description and anticipation — mark the latest chapter in the complex patent dispute as the case heads for director review, says Ryan Hagglund at Loeb & Loeb.

  • A Cautionary Tale On Hospital-Physician Alignment Structures

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    A $345 million settlement between the U.S. Department of Justice and Community Health Network highlights how quickly hospital and physician alignment relationships can violate legal restrictions on such dealings, and the onerous financial penalties that can ensue, say Robert Threlkeld and Elliott Coward at Morris Manning.

  • 6 Pointers For Attys To Build Trust, Credibility On Social Media

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    In an era of information overload, attorneys can use social media strategically — from making infographics to leveraging targeted advertising — to cut through the noise and establish a reputation among current and potential clients, says Marly Broudie at SocialEyes Communications.

  • Opinion

    Biden Admin's March-In Plan Would Hurt Medical Innovation

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    The Biden administration's proposal to reinterpret the Bayh-Dole Act and allow the government to claw back patents when it determines that a commercialized product's price is too high would discourage private investment in important research and development, says Ken Thorpe at the Rollins School of Public Health.

  • 5 Lessons For SaaS Companies After Blackbaud Data Breach

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    Looking at the enforcement actions that software-as-a-service provider Blackbaud resolved with state attorneys general, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Trade Commission in the past year can help SaaS companies manage these increasingly common forms of data breaches, say attorneys at Orrick.

  • Why Biz Groups Disagree On Ending Chevron Deference

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    Two amicus briefs filed in advance of last month's U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo highlight contrasting views on whether the doctrine of Chevron deference promotes or undermines the stable regulatory environment that businesses require, say Wyatt Kendall and Sydney Brogden at Morris Manning.

  • Opinion

    Oregon Law Would Compromise Management Service Orgs

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    If passed, a proposed Oregon law would materially limit physician corporate practice of medicine structures, causing significant disruption to the provision of medicine and hindering professional corporations' ability to focus on the clinical components of their practice, say Christina Bergeron and William Shefelman at Ropes & Gray.

  • A Post-Mortem Analysis Of Stroock's Demise

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    After the dissolution of 147-year-old firm Stroock late last year shook up the legal world, a post-mortem analysis of the data reveals a long list of warning signs preceding the firm’s collapse — and provides some insight into how other firms might avoid the same disastrous fate, says Craig Savitzky at Leopard Solutions.

  • Preparing For DOJ's Data Analytics Push In FCPA Cases

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    After the U.S. Department of Justice’s recent announcement that it will leverage data analytics in Foreign Corrupt Practice Act investigations and prosecutions, companies will need to develop a compliance strategy that likewise implements data analytics to get ahead of enforcement risks, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Reducing The Risk Of PFAS False Advertising Class Actions

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    A wave of class actions continues to pummel products that allegedly contain per- or polyfluoroalkyl substances, with plaintiffs challenging advertising that they say misleads consumers by implying an absence of PFAS — but there are steps companies can take to minimize risk, say attorneys at Keller and Heckman.

  • USCIS Fee Increases May Have Unintended Consequences

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    U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ new fee schedule, intended to provide the agency with needed funds while minimizing the impact of higher fees on individual immigrants and their families, shifts too much of the burden onto employers, say Juan Steevens and William Coffman at Mintz.

  • HR Antitrust Compliance Crucial Amid DOJ Scrutiny

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    The Justice Department's Antitrust Division recently announced a required human resources component for antitrust compliance programs, which means companies should evaluate their policies to prevent, detect and remediate potential violations as they add training for HR professionals, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Lessons From Rare Post-Verdict Healthcare Fraud Acquittal

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    A Maryland federal court recently overturned a jury verdict that found a doctor guilty of healthcare fraud related to billing levels for COVID-19 tests, providing defense attorneys with potential strategies for obtaining acquittals in similar prosecutions, says attorney Andrew Feldman.

  • ChristianaCare Settlement Reveals FCA Pitfalls For Hospitals

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    ChristianaCare's False Claims Act settlement in December is the first one based on a hospital allegedly providing private physicians with free services in the form of hospital-employed clinicians and provides important compliance lessons as the government ramps up scrutiny of compensation arrangements, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

  • 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.

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