• Home

Bernd Meier

Home courts doctors hospitals malpractice Medicaid Medicare St. Joseph London, doctors and others win the first of a dozen trials over allegations of unnecessary procedures at hospital

St. Joseph London, doctors and others win the first of a dozen trials over allegations of unnecessary procedures at hospital

Written by Unknown on 1:26 PM ,
A jury has decided for the St. Joseph London hospital, several of its doctors and other defendants in a lawsuit that accused them of conspiring "to perform unnecessary, risky and often painful heart procedures to unjustly enrich themselves," Andrew Wolfson writes for The Courier-Journal.

After a three-week trial of the suit filed by Ed Marshall, the Laurel Circuit Court jury took only 40 minutes Nov. 21 to decide there had been no wrongdoing, Nita Johnson reports for The Sentinel-Echo. However, The C-J reports that the case was only the first of 12 "that will be tried to show the value of the cases to both sides, according to Louisville lawyer Hans Poppe, one of the plaintiff's lawyers. . . . He said Marshall had suffered five heart attacks before he was allegedly given an unnecessary stent and that the jury may have been reluctant to fault the defendants given his complex prior medical history."

"Marshall’s lawsuit spurred five other cardiology patients to step up with claims that the doctors were doing unnecessary procedures on patients with heart problems," Johnson reports. "The list of lawsuits continued to expand, with numerous patients and the family members of deceased patients joining in with the claims that the cardiologists were performing procedures that were not medically necessary. Before all was said and done, over 200 people had filed lawsuits against the London hospital, its owning agency – Catholic Health Initiatives; the cardiovascular company that referred patients to the local hospital, the medical billing organization, and individual cardiologists involved in certain procedures. One of those cardiologists – Sandesh Patil – is serving federal prison time for falsely billing Medicare for procedures" that the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure said didn't meet minimum guidelines.

In January, the hospital agreed to pay the federal government $16.5 million to resolve "civil allegations that it submitted fraudulent claims to the Medicare and Kentucky's Medicaid programs for unnecessary heart procedures," Wolfson notes. The deal also put the hospital under a corporate integrity agreement, and its president and chief nursing officer were replaced in September by officials who have experience in operating under such agreements, R. Scott Belzer reported for The Sentinel-Echo.
Tweet
Newer Post Older Post

Popular Posts

  • Lexington is considering whether to add electronic cigarettes to its anti-smoking ordinance
    The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council will discuss whether to expand its smoking ban to include electronic cigarettes, possibly as earl...
  • As part of UK campus food deal, Aramark puts up $5 million for Food Connection, vows to purchase Kentucky products
    By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News The University of Kentucky has entered a $5 million public-private partnership designed to promote ...
  • Heavy use of e-cigarettes may deliver big doses of formaldehyde, which can be a cause of lung cancer, study suggests
    Vapor produced by electronic cigarettes can contain a surprisingly high concentration of formaldehyde—a known carcinogen that can cause lun...
  • Ten common myths about diabetes busted
    Kentucky ranks 17th in diabetes, and many Kentuckians are newly diagnosed every year with the disease, usually Type 2 diabetes. The diagnosi...
  • Ky. ranks 8th in the number of high-prescribing Medicare physicians for powerful narcotic painkillers and stimulants
    Kentucky ranks eighth in Medicare physicians who are considered "high prescribers" of Schedule 2 medications, drugs that have the ...
  • Newport school board's smoking ban, which includes e-cigarettes, would be 38th among 173 Kentucky school districts
    The Newport Independent Board of Education  passed the first reading of a proposed smoking ban Wednesday, Jan. 28 after adding electronic ci...
  • Millions of children on Medicaid are missing free check-ups; Kentucky is a little below the national average
    Millions of low-income children across the country aren't getting free preventive exams and screenings guaranteed by Medicaid, and some ...
  • Obamacare seems to be no plus for Kentucky Democrats, perhaps mainly because of the word's first three syllables
    Though the federal health-reform law has helped cover more than half a million Kentuckians and cut the state's uninsured population by h...
  • McConnell seeks 'timely and fair review' of plan for Medicare coverage of CT scans for those at high risk for lung cancer
    U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell asked Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services  Administrator Marilyn Tavenner to "give a timely and fair r...
  • Research suggests eating only during a nine- to 12-hour time period can help maintain healthy weight
    For a long time, scientists supposed that eating after midnight was unhealthy, but now a study has provided support for the notion. When sci...
Bernd Meier © . All Rights Reserved. Powered by Blogger