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.
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
The North Carolina Medical Board just proposed a revision to its current policy on self-treatment and prescribing to family members. It does not look dramatically different from prior policy statements. The updated policy draft was posted for comments (below). Not surprisingly, our colleagues have strong opinions. One commenter wrote: “This is my position that physicians … Read more
Can ChatGPT craft a legal demand letter? Yes. A Medical Justice member on the west coast recently received a legal demand letter. I cannot prove it was crafted by a large language model. But it does not appear to have been written by a lawyer. At all. Some background. A plastic surgeon performed a breast … Read more
Stem cells offer tremendous promise. Some clinicians have put the cart before the horse, selling the treatments after making bold claims. There’s a lot of money to be made servicing the demand. Here, the Federal Trade Commission and Georgia Attorney General said enough is enough. This is how the case was captioned. CIVIL ACTION NO. … Read more
Physicians regularly complete new and renewal applications for all sorts of things. Medical licenses. Hospital privileges. Employment. In-network status with insurance carriers. Professional liability coverage. The list is long. The longer you have been in practice, the more complicated the applications. The questions cast a wide net. As exemplified in an Ohio Appellate case, Zedaker … Read more
Utah’s new law on informed consent & transgender care for minors may have unintended consequences for surgeons Buyer’s remorse. We’ve all had it. Who hasn’t wanted a do-over? Assorted states acknowledge it. In North Carolina, certain purchases trigger a “right to cancel.” There are others. These made the list because the Attorney General’s office received … Read more
