Legal

Everyday Legal Questions Physicians Ask

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.

Current Cases & Court Commentary

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.

Contracts, Employment, & Corporate Practice

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.

Licensure & Professional Discipline

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.

Administrative Law & Compliance Basics

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.

Troubles in Kansas

August 15, 2024May 18, 2011 by Jeffrey Segal, MD, JD

Michael J. Sacopulos, Esq.

On May 4, 2011, the United States District Court in Kansas allowed a plaintiff to insert an administrative negligence claim against a hospital administrator. The claim arises out of alleged permanent injuries to the newborn child of Sandra and Edwin Deya. The Deyas claim that a hospital administrator failed to create, develop, and refine policies and protocols for newborn care at Hiawatha Community Hospital. The Deyas went on to argue that the absence of appropriate policies and protocols contributed to the injuries suffered by their newborn child.

Hiawatha Community Hospital moved to dismiss this claim based on the fact that there was no physician patient relationship between the hospital administrator, Dr. Rosa, and the Deyas’ child. The defense cited the Kansas Supreme Court’s position that absent a physician patient relationship there can be no liability for medical malpractice.

How We Do It

August 15, 2024May 11, 2011 by Jeffrey Segal, MD, JD

Medical Justice is sensitive to the fact there are legitimate claims by patients who have been harmed by negligent care. But the fact remains that the majority of medical malpractice cases are ultimately deemed without merit. We harness the principles of medicine, law, and business to defeat dishonest plaintiffs, unethical medical malpractice attorneys, and unscrupulous expert witnesses.

Medical Justice Members are licensed to use Medical Justice’s intellectual property; deterring meritless legal actions, creating a critical practice infrastructure to strengthen the future use of legal remedies should a frivolous suit be pursued.

A Bad Day for Allergan

August 15, 2024May 5, 2011 by Jeffrey Segal, MD, JD

Michael J. Sacopulos, Esq.

A federal jury on Thursday awarded 67-year old Douglas Ray Jr. of Fredericksburg, VA a $212 million verdict. This award included $200 million in punitive damages against Allergan. Ray Jr. claimed injections of the wrinkle-smoothing drug Botox to treat hand tremors and writer’s cramp left him brain-damaged and disabled.

Douglas’s wife said that her husband of 43 years requires around-the-clock care. She has in-home nursing help four hours a day, four days a week. Douglas’s wife also said she is grateful for doctors who testified for her husband.

A company spokesperson for Allergan who manufactured the Botox said the verdict “is inconsistent with the credible scientific and medical evidence supporting the efficacy and safety of Botox,” which she said has been used for two decades to treat 21 separate medical conditions.

Study Confirms Hungover Surgeons Make More Mistakes

August 15, 2024May 4, 2011 by Jeffrey Segal, MD, JD

Jeff Segal, MD, JD, FACS

The April edition of Archives of Surgery confirms the answer to a nagging scientific question. Can hungover surgeons perform adroitly? I had guessed that a metaphorical ice-pick in the temple would have an impact. Now we know the answer. It matters.

The study was performed in Ireland – focusing on minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery. The test involved a surgical simulator the day after drinking (or for the control group – day after abstinence).

The experimental group was allowed to drink as much as they wanted. The only rule: each participant needed to show up to a group dinner with at least one investigator to “determine intoxication levels.” I suspect this was a subjective interpretation.

“Film” Stars Privacy Breached

August 15, 2024April 26, 2011 by Jeffrey Segal, MD, JD

Michael J. Sacopulos, Esq.

Recently, we read of the release of approximately 15,000 individual’s (read more Fox News) private health information. These individuals happened to be involved in the “adult entertainment” industry.

Always one for public health, the adult film industry utilizes the “Adult Industry Medical Health Care Foundation” listing of performers current test results. The idea is that a film producer could

Complimentary Membership Program for Residents and Fellows

August 15, 2024April 21, 2011 by Jeffrey Segal, MD, JD

A Message to Residents from Jeff Segal, MD, JD, FACS I was a resident not too long ago – although it was longer ago than I want to admit! I remember what it was like. I spent 6 years learning how to operate as a neurosurgeon. One mentor explained – you spend your entire residency … Read more

One Murder; Two Medical Malpractice Claims

August 15, 2024April 19, 2011 by Jeffrey Segal, MD, JD

Michael J. Sacopulos, Esq.

Jeremy Pompeneo, a recovering methamphetamine addict, sporadically went to the Verde Valley Guidance Clinic in 2005 and 2006 for counseling and prescriptions for psychiatric medication. Additionally, he went to another facility for inpatient psychiatric care because of “psychotic episodes induced by amphetamines,” that had been prescribed by the Clinic’s staff.

After seeing his therapist on October 17, 2006, Jeremy Pompeneo (“Pompeneo”) went home, stabbed his girlfriend to death and then attempted suicide by taking an overdose of medication.

Pompeneo was indicted for first-degree murder.

Isn’t the Pot Calling the Kettle Black?

August 15, 2024April 15, 2011 by Jeffrey Segal, MD, JD

I must confess. I’m flattered. First I learn that a professor of Internet law at an Ivy League School referenced the Medical Justice agreements as a final exam question. I am a regular reader – and fan – of Eric Goldman’s cyber-law blog. Earlier this week, lo and behold, Professor Goldman featured Medical Justice on a site he’s created about us.

If you believe every argument Professor Goldman makes, you’d believe that all doctor review sites are wonderful, accurate and completely truthful. He won’t yield an inch in acknowledging that there might be a small problem with at least 1 of the more than 60 sites dotting the cyber-landscape. C’mon. Toss us a bone.

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