Health Law

Dentist Gets 1 Year for Using Paper Clips in Root Canals and Other Medical Fraud

A Massachusetts dentist who allegedly used paper clips in place of standard steel posts, in order to save money, while performing root canals was sentenced today to one year in state prison after pleading guilty in a medical fraud case brought by the state attorney general, the Associated Press reports.…

Jan 30, 2012 7:57 PM CST

High Court Denies Argument Time to Group Calling for Kagan’s Recusal in Health-Care Case

The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected a motion for oral argument time by a political advocacy group that argued Justice Elena Kagan should be disqualified from the constitutional challenge to the Obama administration’s health care law. Freedom Watch had claimed Kagan should recuse herself or be disqualified because of her…

Jan 23, 2012 6:10 PM CST

Scalia Avoids Question on Health Care Issues, Hits Undue Burden Standard in Abortion Cases

Justice Antonin Scalia avoided a reporter’s question on health care issues on Thursday after a speech in which he criticized Roe v. Wade and the undue burden standard. A reporter from the Washington Business Journal’s Bizbeat blog caught up with Scalia to ask about the upcoming Supreme Court case testing…

Jan 20, 2012 2:45 PM CST

Appeals Court Overturns Judge Who Ordered Sterilization for Schizophrenic Pregnant Woman

The Massachusetts Appeals Court has overturned an order by a now-retired probate judge who authorized an abortion for a schizophrenic woman and decided sua sponte that she should be sterilized. The appeals court reversed the sterilization order and called for a new evidentiary hearing on the issue of whether the…

Jan 18, 2012 1:15 PM CST

In Speedy Ruling, 5th Circuit Refuses to Block Abortion Sonogram Law

Ruling only six days after hearing oral arguments, a federal appeals court has allowed Texas to enforce a law requiring women to get sonograms before abortions. The opinion (PDF) by Judge Edith Jones of the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated a preliminary injunction issued by U.S.…

Jan 11, 2012 2:36 PM CST

Justice Breyer Calls Recusal Controversy a ‘Non-Issue’

Another Supreme Court justice is defending his court’s recusal practices. Justice Stephen G. Breyer said on Saturday that when ethics questions arise, he looks at the code of ethics and even calls an ethics professor for advice, the Associated Press reports. “All my colleagues try to do the same thing,…

Jan 9, 2012 12:26 PM CST

Federal Breast-Feeding Law Creates Challenges for Businesses

A federal law that requires businesses to provide private space and adequate break time for nursing mothers to pump breast milk is proving difficult for some small businesses tight on space and money. Although the legislation, an amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act, has been in place for nearly…

Jan 6, 2012 8:35 PM CST

About 40,000 New State Laws Take Effect Across the Nation In 2012

Nearly 40,000 new state laws took effect as merrymakers were ringing in the New Year earlier this week. Changes in abortion laws in New Hampshire, stricter rules governing young athletes in Colorado and even mandates governing golf carts in Georgia, are among the new regulations, MSNBC reports. Eight states will…

Jan 5, 2012 5:34 PM CST

Cleveland Sues Ohio to Keep Its Trans Fat Ban

Cleveland Mayor Frank Johnson filed a complaint Tuesday against Ohio in response to a recent state law that bans municipalities from regulating the ingredients restaurants use to prepare foods. The battle over trans fat began last April when, as part of its Healthy Cleveland initiative, the Cleveland City Council passed…

Jan 4, 2012 10:55 PM CST

Defense Counsel Asks Judge to Order US Attorney to Remove Press Release from Website

Defense counsel for an Alabama pharmacy owner facing criminal charges for allegedly violating Medicaid rules have taken the unusual tack of asking a federal judge in Mobile to order the U.S. Attorney’s office to take down an online press release. In the Internet age, such publicity threatens Chris Vernon’s right…

Dec 22, 2011 9:33 PM CST

Death Is a Growth Industry for Hospices; Lawsuits Detail Incentives for Referrals

Hospice care has become a $14 billion industry that is profiting in part because of financial arrangements and gifts that encourage referrals. Bloomberg Business examined court records and interviewed more than 45 hospice employees, patients and family members to detail the financial incentives that are helping make hospice care a…

Dec 19, 2011 4:22 PM CST

LA City Attorney Sues to Block Ballot Measure Requiring Condom Use in Porn

Los Angeles city officials have filed suit to block a proposed ballot initiative requiring porn actors to wear condoms during film shoots. City officials contend that the proposed measure is unnecessary and will waste taxpayer money, the Associated Press reports. The suit, filed Thursday, says state laws mandating workplace safety…

Dec 12, 2011 6:57 PM CST

NJ Woman Charged with Manslaughter After Death of Man From Silicone Injection

A New Jersey woman has been charged with manslaughter for allegedly injecting silicone into the penis of a man who subsequently died. Kasia Rivera, 34, was arrested Friday in the May 6 death of 22-year-old Justin Street, the Associated Press reports. Street died a day after visiting Rivera at her…

Dec 12, 2011 5:03 PM CST

HHS Secty Nixes FDA’s OK of Nonprescription Sale of Plan B Emergency Contraceptive to Teens Under 17

The Food and Drug Administration was ready to approve a Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. proposal to sell the company’s Plan B One-Step emergency contraceptive to girls under age 17 over the counter, without a prescription. But, in an unusual move, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today blocked the…

Dec 8, 2011 12:32 AM CST

Op-Ed: Cops Get Paid for Dangerous Duty, So Why Not Pay Kidney Donors for Relatively Safe Procedure?

A misguided law banning organ sales is preventing people from getting the kidneys they need and discouraging live donors, according to a nonprofit research analyst who is giving one of his kidneys to a stranger. Writing for the New York Times, Alexander Berger of GiveWell points to a recent federal…

Dec 7, 2011 12:00 PM CST