HCN Year-in-Review: Legal Matters EssentialsDecember 20, 2021 | Trending in Healthcare Family Medicine/General Practice Can a Patient Sue for Deceptive Business Practices Based on Prescribing? An extremely interesting case in New York is examined in this article, which chronicles a female patient suffering from multiple sclerosis and her suit against her neurologist for prescribing a new medication that her attorney feels goes beyond medical malpractice and into fraud under NY’s General Business Law 349: “deceptive acts or practices in the conduct of any business, trade or commerce or in the furnishing of any service in this state are hereby declared unlawful.” Read full article Hospitalist Hospital Slapped With Lawsuit Over Horrifying Attack on Resident A second-year psychiatry resident filed a lawsuit in June 2021 against the Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia for gross and corporate negligence, stemming from an attack in February 2021 in which the resident was repeatedly stabbed in the face reportedly by a patient wielding a lunch-tray metal knife and sharp pen. Read full article Obstetrics & Gynecology OB/GYN Slapped With 59-Year Sentence for Unnecessary Surgeries In a scheme to defraud health insurance programs for nearly 10 years, Javaid Perwaiz, MD, caused nearly $21 million in losses to private and government payers for unnecessary surgeries and procedures, such as irreversible hysterectomies, improper sterilizations, and others. He was convicted on 52 counts of healthcare fraud and other charges tied to these unwarranted procedures, and previously faced a conviction for felony tax fraud in the 1990s, as well as earlier accusations of performing unnecessary hysterectomies that led to his firing from a hospital. Read full article Family Medicine/General Practice Is Mistrial Warranted Where Defendant Renders Aid to Sick Juror? That’s the question in this highly unusual case, in which the plaintiff made an emergency motion for a mistrial, arguing that the jury witnessing the defendant coming to the aid of one of their fellow jurors may have prejudiced the jury. Read this fascinating story from MPR and ask yourself whether the situation had influenced the verdict in any way or resulted in a denial of a fair trial. Read full article Anesthesiology $26M Judgment Against EmCare in Wrongful Termination Lawsuit The plaintiff, an emergency medicine physician, filed the lawsuit for wrongful termination against EmCare’s Kansas and Missouri subsidiaries, alleging that he was terminated because he complained about dangerous and illegal understaffing at the Overland Park emergency department. On March 2, 2021, the Missouri Supreme Court declined to intervene in the case, finalizing the judgment in the plaintiff’s favor. Read full article