PA's Murder Trial; Doc's Manslaughter Charge; Cardiologist's Kickback Settlement

— A weekly roundup of healthcare's encounters with the courts

MedicalToday
Legal Break over a blindfolded Lady Justice statue holding scales.

New York physician assistant Jacob Klein is in a murder trial in which he is accused of killing Philip Rabadi, also a physician assistant. (Times Union)

Nebraska doctor Mark Carlson, MD, has been following a high-speed car crash that killed a 22-year-old woman. (KETV 7)

The family suing Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida over Beata Kowalski's death has dropped , Catherine Bedy. The Kowalski family previously settled with Bedy's employer, DCF Suncoast, and with the company's child abuse pediatrician, Sally Smith, MD. The family's push to hold the hospital and healthcare professionals accountable was featured in the Netflix documentary, "Take Care of Maya." (FOX 13)

A New Jersey appeals court agreed with a lower court that the diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome is based on "." (New Jersey Monitor)

New Hampshire physician Robert Soucy, DO, was that he wrote prescriptions for fentanyl and other drugs without a legitimate medical need. (WMUR 9)

New York cardiologist Klaus Peter Rentrop, MD, will pay $6.5 million to settle allegations that he paid millions in kickbacks to other doctors and their practices for patient referrals, .

Indiana's attorney general, Todd Rokita, that he filed a lawsuit against IU Health, alleging the health system didn't train employees to protect personal health information. The move follows a long battle between the attorney general and ob/gyn Caitlin Bernard, MD, who performed an abortion on a 10-year-old rape victim and later spoke to the press about it.

Philadelphia-based Thomas Jefferson University Hospital , a federal judge ruled. The judge denied a motion brought by Alliance Cancer Specialists, a medical practice with 36 oncologists, which alleged the health system is trying to monopolize cancer care in the area. (Becker's Hospital Review)

Physician staffing firm American Physician Partners that it has filed for bankruptcy. The company said over the summer that it would shut down by the end of July.

The California legislature has that would require board investigators to interview patients or their families before closing a complaint, among other parameters more favorable to alleged victims. (Los Angeles Times)

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    Kristina Fiore leads MedPage’s enterprise & investigative reporting team. She’s been a medical journalist for more than a decade and her work has been recognized by Barlett & Steele, AHCJ, SABEW, and others. Send story tips to k.fiore@medpagetoday.com.