Nurse Sentenced in Child's Death; Cardiologist Accused of Murder; VA Sex Assault?

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

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

Former home health nurse Judith Sobol was sentenced to 30 to 75 years in prison after a 3-year-old child in Michigan died in her care while she was under the influence of methamphetamine. (ABC 57)

A German cardiologist was arrested on murder charges for allegedly giving high doses of a sedative to two seriously ill patients in intensive care who later died. The cardiologist had been suspended from Berlin's Charite Hospital in August 2022. (Reuters)

Georgia Veterans Affairs (VA) physician Rajesh Motibhai Patel, MD, was accused of sexually assaulting four female patients during routine exams, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia.

Florida nurse Luke Waski was arrested for allegedly taking a patient's phone and sending himself nude pictures and videos. (News4JAX)

RaDonda Vaught, the former Tennessee nurse who was convicted of homicide last year after a deadly medication error, is petitioning the state's nursing board to get her license back. (AP)

Advanced practice nurse Kelly McCallum pleaded guilty to charges alleging she had sex with two patients in her care while prescribing them controlled substances, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Minnesota's Essentia Health System will pay $19 million to the family of a newborn whose meningitis was misdiagnosed, leaving him with brain damage. (Star Tribune)

Almost a third of physicians in the U.S. have been sued during their career, according to a new analysis from the American Medical Association.

Yale New Haven Health and Northeast Medical Group will pay $560,000 to resolve claims that its Bridgeport Hospital overbilled for services during a 6-year period. Prosecutors alleged the groups billed for services performed by physicians when they were actually performed by advanced practice providers, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Connecticut.

Abortion providers in three states sued the FDA in federal court in an attempt to cut its restrictions on how the abortion pill mifepristone can be prescribed. (AP)

Two transgender children, their parents, and two healthcare providers sued Montana over its gender-affirming care ban. (AP)

The federal government lost its patent infringement lawsuit against Gilead regarding its HIV prevention drugs. (New York Times)

Kaiser Permanente faces a proposed class-action lawsuit charging it allowed third-party tracking tools to access and collect private patient data. (Becker's Hospital Review)

Kansas doctor Gautam Jayaswal, MD, pleaded guilty to a telemedicine scheme involving alleged unnecessary ordering of genetic testing and orthotic braces. (KAKE)

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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. Follow