Category: Legal & Regulatory Issues

Viewpoint: Start suing CEOs, boards for malpractice suits

CEOs and boards need to be held liable for staffing-related safety issues in their hospitals, especially when they created the issues in the name of profit, Robert Derlet, MD, and Mark Borden, MD, argued in an article published in Emergency Medicine Ne…

Nurse impostor treated patients for 15 years, police say

A Tennessee woman has been charged after treating thousands of patients without a nursing license, CBS affiliate WTVF reported Feb. 28.

Court issues stay in New York healthcare worker vaccine case

New York’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for healthcare workers remains in effect after a state appeals court issued a stay Feb. 27, according to The Journal News. 

Boarding psychiatric patients in ED violates hospitals' rights, judge rules

A federal judge ruled that New Hampshire’s practice of temporarily boarding mental health patients in hospital emergency departments is an illegal seizure of the hospitals’ property, radio station WBUR reported Feb. 27.

Ohio physician pleads guilty to healthcare, opioid fraud

An Ohio physician pleaded guilty to 52 counts of healthcare and opioid fraud in federal court.

UPMC, top surgeon to pay $8.5M to settle whistleblower suit

UPMC, its chair of cardiothoracic surgery and University of Pittsburgh Physicians agreed to pay $8.5M to the Justice Department to resolve a whistleblower suit brought by a former UPMC physician.

Michigan nurse found guilty in 3-year-old patient's death

A jury on Feb. 23 found former Michigan home health nurse Judith Sobol guilty of second-degree murder in the death of a 3-year-old patient she treated while under the influence of methamphetamine, The Herald-Palladium.

Florida nurse accused of slapping autistic patient

A nurse at Memorial Hospital Pembroke in Pembroke Pines, Fla., was arrested after allegedly repeatedly slapping a patient and bathing him in cold water, Fox affiliate WSVN reported Feb. 23.

Care technician attacked, burned by travel nurse settles for $5.7M

A patient care technician who was severely burned in an attack by a travel nurse last year at a New Jersey hospital has settled her Bergen County lawsuit for $5.7 million, Law360 reported Feb. 22. 

Colorado bill would ban some hospital facility fees

A proposal in the Colorado legislature would ban hospital “facility fees” if the care is provided to the patient via telehealth or in a clinic owned by the hospital but not on campus, The Denver Post reported Feb. 23.