Can you prescribe for family? What happens if a payer demands a refund three years later? Our Legal Blogs tackle routine yet critical issues—self-prescribing, contract renewals, sham peer review defenses, and medical record ownership—using real complaints, board orders, and court opinions as teaching tools.
When an appellate court clarifies peer-review immunity or a state supreme court limits punitive damages, we translate the opinion into practical next steps: adjust bylaws language, revisit informed-consent language, or refine incident-reporting practices. Posts avoid dense legalese and focus on how rulings might influence documentation, credentialing, and professional liability.
From negotiating call-coverage stipends to spotting restrictive non-compete clauses, articles guide physicians through employment and partnership contracts. We also examine corporate-practice-of-medicine rules, covering management-service agreements, fee-splitting prohibitions, and telemedicine ownership structures.
The blog discusses board investigations stemming from social-media missteps, substance-use allegations, and documentation irregularities. We help physicians respond promptly, assemble supportive records, and protect due-process rights.
Expect discussions of Stark, Anti-Kickback Statute safe harbors, Medicare enrollment revocations, and false-claims liability—presented with examples relevant to office-based specialists and hospital-employed physicians alike.
Not all relationships are designed to last forever. Some relationships end in divorce. Some doctor-patient relationships need to be terminated. The guiding principle for terminating a doctor-patient relationship is to give 30 days’ notice, make records available to the patient, and give them a reasonable alternative for follow-up care. Following this road map helps defend … Read more
Attorneys sometimes use the media to direct public pressure on defendants to settle cases that never should have been filed. These are weak cases. Strong cases generally work the way through the court system. Strong cases do not need the media to distract. Weak cases do. In one recent case, a post-surgical patient experienced wound … Read more
Most physicians in the US carry $1M in professional liability coverage. That works for most situations. Does that mean a patient, now a plaintiff, will not attempt to sue for more, putting your personal assets at risk? No. In most states, patients can sue for economic damages and non-economic damages. Economic damages include lost wages, … Read more
We all periodically blow off steam. In a high stress medical practice, not all patients are delighted with their care. Or service. Or cost. Or parking. The list is long. They may make their unhappiness known by raising their voice in person or on the phone. Writing rotten reviews. And more. Often the problem is … Read more
Most physicians have a single medical license allowing them to practice in one state. Still, one can collect quite an assortment of licenses. There are 50 states in the United States. There’s the District of Columbia. And five inhabited territories (American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, and Northern Mariana Islands). Do the math. … Read more
On January 7, 2025, plastic surgeon Dr. Elisabeth Potter posted a video claiming that UnitedHealthcare called her mid-surgery to justify an inpatient stay for a breast cancer patient receiving reconstructive surgery. Dr. Potter posted on X.com: On January 13th, counsel for United Healthcare sent Dr. Potter an unpleasant letter. “Re: Your Defamatory TikTok and Instagram … Read more
Remember Stormy Daniels? This post is not about her, but her attorney, Michael Avenatti. And a case he propelled against Nike. He is incarcerated for felony fraud and extortion. There’s a fine line between aggressive demand letters and extortion. In [the] federal court complaint filed in the Southern District of New York, the government accuse[d] … Read more
If a driver experiences a generalized tonic-clonic seizure while driving – with minimal to no warning aura, the likelihood of a serious accident is not insignificant. Such an accident could injure the driver and passengers of that car, pedestrians, people in other vehicles, and property. Bad things could happen. Three professional societies (the American Academy … Read more
Physicians are humans. Like humans, some subset of the doctor population drinks to excess, impairing function. Most doctors who drink alcohol are not in this subset. They drank sparingly, in moderation, and/or socially. If function is impaired, then arguably patients are put at risk. So, hospitals, healthcare organizations, and licensing boards have a legitimate interest … Read more
Living wills (advance directives) help physicians navigate thorny healthcare decisions – particularly with respect to how much care is desired. And delivered. A “living will” (LST) is a legal document that outlines a person’s preferences for medical treatment in the event they become incapacitated and unable to communicate their wishes, detailing which life-sustaining treatments they want … Read more
