Health Law

Insurers Outraged at Law Firm’s Suits to Collect Very Small Amounts of Money

A Florida law firm doesn’t have many friends amongst insurance companies with a presence in Broward County. That’s because LaBovick & LaBovick has been suing them. Since forming its own collection agency last summer, it has filed more than 1,200 such lawsuits in the Fort Lauderdale-based court, most of them…

May 3, 2010 10:41 PM CDT

Supreme Court Rules Against Family of Immigrant Suing for Delayed Cancer Treatment

The U.S. Supreme Court has held federal medical officials are shielded from personal liability for failing to diagnose the penile cancer of a Salvadoran immigrant who died after being released from custody. Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote the unanimous opinion (PDF), the Associated Press reports. The officials are exempted from personal…

May 3, 2010 3:24 PM CDT

Seeking Support for Core Issues

Economics a factor as ABA’s federal governmental advocacy focuses on 10 priorities

May 1, 2010 8:50 AM CDT

Lawyer Takes Pay Cut to Save His Marriage and Help His Epileptic Son

A Fort Worth, Texas, lawyer expects his salary will nearly double after the new federal health insurance law takes effect. Andrew Griffin took a pay cut at the law firm he joined two years ago so he could qualify for health insurance coverage for his epileptic son under a Texas…

Apr 29, 2010 11:00 AM CDT

Woman Claims She Was Fired Over Increased Breast-Cancer Risk

A woman whose genetic makeup may put her at increased risk of breast cancer has reportedly filed first-of-its-kind administrative complaints in Connecticut alleging that she was illegally fired from her job at MXenergy last month because she tested positive for the BRCA2 gene. Pamela Fink says in complaints filed with…

Apr 28, 2010 6:18 PM CDT

‘Tip of Iceberg’: Inspector Never Tested 200 Properties for Lead & Asbestos

A guilty plea yesterday in Manhattan federal court by a 68-year-old safety inspector who reportedly never looked at more than 200 properties he certified to be free of asbestos and/or lead contamination is only “the tip of the iceberg,” an unidentified “official” tells the New York Times. Authorities are now…

Apr 27, 2010 10:46 PM CDT

Feds Waited Too Long to Pursue In-House Lawyer in False Claims Act Case, Judge Rules

On the eve of trial, a judge dismissed a False Claims Act case against a onetime general counsel of Tenet Health Care Corp., finding that the government waited too long to pursue its case against Christi Sulzbach. A whistle-blower had accused the then-corporate integrity officer as far back as 1997…

Apr 22, 2010 3:58 PM CDT

Using Thalidomide to Treat Cancer Was My Idea, Ex-Skadden Lawyer Says in $300M Suit

A federal judge in New Jersey is giving a former lawyer for Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom a chance to prove that it was her idea to use thalidomide as a cancer drug. Chappaqua, N.Y., pharmaceutical lawyer Beth Jacobson claims in a $300 million lawsuit that she gave Celgene…

Apr 20, 2010 11:00 AM CDT

Hospital Cleared Doc in ‘96 Complaint Who’s Now Charged in 529 Patient Sex Offenses

In 1996, a Delaware hospital conducted an internal investigation of a pediatrician accused of inappropriate conduct with young patients and concluded he had done nothing wrong. Hence, administrators reportedly never informed the state’s medical disciplinary board or law enforcement authorities of the allegations. Now Dr. Earl Bradley has been criminally…

Apr 20, 2010 12:09 AM CDT

Lawyers and ‘Suited Geeks’ Turn Out for Cannabis Convention

Lawyers hoping to find new clients were among those attending the Colorado Cannabis Convention this past weekend. More than half a dozen lawyers that are gaining experience in medical marijuana law showed up at the convention, the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel reports. Medicial marijuana dispensaries started springing up like weeds…

Apr 6, 2010 11:00 AM CDT

Federal Judge Strikes State-Law Ban on Hormone Treatment for Transgendered Inmates

Setting the stage for an appellate court showdown, a federal judge in Wisconsin has struck down as unconstitutional a state law that reportedly is the only one in the nation banning prison inmates who were born biologically male but identify as female from receiving hormone therapy. The law violates the…

Apr 1, 2010 11:59 PM CDT

Roeder Gets Harshest Possible ‘Hard 50’ Life Term in Kansas Abortion Doc Murder

Updated: Facing a mandatory life sentence for the murder of a Kansas abortion doctor in a Wichita church, Scott Roeder got the harshest possible sentence today—life with the possibility of parole only after 50 years. Alternatively, Sedgwick County District Judge Warren Wilbert could have given Roeder a sentence allowing parole…

Apr 1, 2010 10:05 PM CDT

Wellness Program

Medical-legal partnerships pinpoint the legal causes of patient ills

Apr 1, 2010 5:40 AM CDT

Stocks Lower After Judge’s ‘Pigs Fly’ Ruling Striking Down Gene Patents

Many biotech stocks fell after a federal judge’s ruling Monday striking down patents for genes linked to breast and ovarian cancer, even as some observers said the long-term impact could boost genetic research. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Robert Sweet of New York was such a surprise that the…

Mar 31, 2010 2:12 PM CDT

Man Sues Neighbor Over Bad Vibes, Says She Must Turn Off Electronics

A man who says he suffers from “electromagnetic sensitivities” has sued a neighbor and now former friend in New Mexico state court, seeking $530,000 in damages and a court order requiring her to turn off her wireless electronic devices. The plaintiff homeowner, Arthur Firstenberg, 59, says he asked defendant Raphaela…

Mar 30, 2010 6:47 PM CDT