Docs' Ketamine Scheme Accusation; Texas Doc Wins Snake Case; Maternal Death Suit

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

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

Two doctors in Missouri have been charged with illegally administering ketamine and fraudulently billing Medicare, .

The Texas Supreme Court has Kristy Marsillo, MD, in ruling she can't be held liable for not immediately giving antivenom to a teenager who was bitten by a rattlesnake. (Bloomberg Law)

Michigan physician Scott Cooper, MD, was for prescribing opioids for nearly 3 years to a patient in prison, without having any contact with the individual. (Detroit Free Press)

Former U.S. Navy doctor Michael Villarroel, DO, was sentenced to just over a year in prison for filing that were based on exaggerated or fake injuries and disabilities, federal prosecutors said.

And a New York man was sentenced to 7 years in prison for pulling a gun at a children's hospital and threatening to kill his wife as she held their 2-year-old, who had just come out of surgery, .

Ohio anesthesiologist Jose Torres, MD, was charged with during a motor vehicle stop. (WKBN)

A woman reportedly used a to get hired as a sonographer at Granville Health System in North Carolina. (WRAL)

The family of a woman who died after a C-section at Woodhull Hospital in New York is , seeking $41 million in damages. (ABC 7)

An Oregon hospital system and one of its doctors have agreed to pay $430,000 to settle allegations that they submitted false claims for some cardiothoracic procedures -- including catheter replacements, pericardiectomies, mediastinal mass resections, and patent foramen ovale and atrial septal defect closures -- knowing they didn't meet the criteria for reimbursement or were otherwise improper, .

A former nurse from Massachusetts pleaded guilty to and using the drug on herself. (Boston 25 News)

The family of a prison nurse who was killed during an attempted jailbreak has accusing the state of Iowa of being negligent for failing to prevent her death. (Des Moines Register)

A New Jersey laboratory will pay more than $13 million to settle allegations around , federal prosecutors said.

A new lawsuit alleges that Cigna-owned pharmacy benefits manager (PBM) Express Scripts colluded with rival PBMs Prime, Benecard, and Magellan to fix pharmaceutical reimbursement rates, a law firm .

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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.