AHLA's Speaking of Health Law

The Lighter Side of Health Law – July 2020

July 30, 2020 AHLA Podcasts
AHLA's Speaking of Health Law
The Lighter Side of Health Law – July 2020
Show Notes Transcript

AHLA's monthly podcast featuring health lawyer and blogger Norm Tabler's informative and entertaining take on recent health law and other legal developments. Sponsored by Coker Group.

To learn more about AHLA and the educational resources available to the health law community, visit americanhealthlaw.org.

Speaker 1:

Support for A H L A and the following message comes from Coca Group, a national healthcare advisory firm working with hospitals and physician groups. Coca Group assists healthcare providers in their pursuit for a sound business model and an enhanced patient experience. For more information, visit coca group.com.

Speaker 2:

Hi, I'm Norm Taber with this month's edition of the Lighter side of Health Law Lake Wobegon Children's Hospital. Remember Garrison Keer on a Prairie Home Companion when he reminisced about his fictional hometown, lake Wobegon, Minnesota? He always described it as the town where all the children are above average. Lake Wobegon came to mind when I read the recent announcement by US News and World Report that it had corrected the scores of three children's hospitals to move them up in the national rankings. In the same announcement, the publication stated apparently with a straight face that quote, no other rankings have changed. You heard correctly, three hospitals have moved up in the rankings but not have moved down. It's that way. At Lake Wobegon High School, when the principal corrects your child's GPA to move up in class rankings, no other student's ranking goes down. A wife's burning desire to help. Melissa Cooper loves her husband Mark. So when the Fed's charge, mark was submitting 10 million in false claims through his Texas Center for Orthopedic and Spinal Disorders. Melissa had a burning desire to help, literally a burning desire. She put Mark's clinic records in the couple's fireplace and lit a fire. And to her credit, Melissa was successful at destroying the records. Actually too successful, she burned down the couple's 1.6 million mansion. In the process, I know what Elvis would've called Melissa a hunka burn in love, a Hunka Hunka Burn in Love, family planning tip of the month. This month's family planning tip comes from the New England Journal of Medicine by way of Becker's Hospital Review. And it's a simple one. The tip is arrange to have your baby in the last four months of the year, September through December. Why? Because babies born before September are more likely to come down with the flu. And that's because flu vaccine isn't available before September. And when it becomes available, parents generally won't take the baby to the doctor just for a flu shot. So remember birthday September through December, good birthday, January through August, bad the price of ditching work. All of us have at some point considered calling it sick when we were perfectly healthy. Well, the next time you have that urge, consider the fat of Santine Davis of Georgia. One fine day. Santine didn't feel like going to work. He texted his supervisor that he had tested positive for Covid 19, and he followed up with an email attaching a letter confirming that he had been admitted to Wealth Star Medical Center and should be quarantined for 14 days. The supervisor took the letter at face value and acted accordingly. Leer though HR became suspicious because the letter had no letterhead was unsigned and showed a discharge date earlier than the admission date. If you think Santine lost his job over this episode, you severely underestimate the trouble he's in the US attorney noting that the email traveled through interstate commerce on its way to the company has charged Santo Juan with wire fraud, which carries a penalty of up to 20 years. The criminal complaint notes that the company's damages were not limited to losing Santo Juan's services, which probably were not worth much if his letter forging is a measure of his skill. You see, Santo's letter caused the company to shut down and clean the facility while continuing to pay all Santo Juan's fellow employees at a cost of some$100,000. So the next time your alarm goes off and you're considering calling in sick, think of Santine in an orange jumpsuit. The case is US versus Davis, Northern District Georgia. Finally, something we can all celebrate. These are trouble times with our nation divided in countless ways. That's why it's so reassuring, even heartwarming to come across a news item that we can all enjoy. Something to please every faction. The FCC has announced a record$225 million fine of telemarketers John Spiller and Jacob Meers for assaulting the public with 1 billion robocalls. That's billion with a B using fake phone numbers. Robocalls are inherently offensive, but these were even worse and not just because they knowingly targeted people on the do not call list. The content of the calls was fraudulent. The recorded message claimed to offer plans from big name health insurers like United Health and Aetna. But if the consumer pressed the key for details, the call was switched to plans that had no relation to those companies. And what about those big name companies named in the recorded message? They were swamped with angry calls complaining about the robocalls. One company's call system crashed because of the number of angry calls. Wouldn't it be a shame of spiller and mirrors were put in a cell with a phone that constantly rings with robocalls? Wish I hadn't said that. All of us have said things we later regretted. That's certainly true of former medical device CEO Lawrence Garns. Lawrence is in prison awaiting sentencing for embezzling millions from the medical device startup. He lit. He scared to death. He'll contract covid 19 while in close confinement with all those prisoners. So he requested release on bail while awaiting sentencing and on its face the request did not seem unreasonable. After all, it was a white color crime and didn't involve any violence. But then there are those regrettable things Lawrence said about prosecutor Robin Harris in telephone calls with his brother and in letters. What were the regrettable things? He said only that he plans to kill Robin, that he knows where she lives and that he'll do it when she gets home from work. The government opposes Lawrence's request and the judge says, COVID 19 not withstand that. He just can't ignore those pesky death threats. The case is US versus Garons, Northern District California indentured servant md. Remember how indentured servitude worked? Back in the bad old days, the indentured servant was bound by contract to the master until a debt was paid off. Maybe the price of passage to America. But what if the master refused to release the servant even when the servant offered a fair price? Well, as of July one, the servant did not worry about that provided the servant is an Indiana doctor and the master is an employer trying to enforce a non-competition covenant after the employment has ended. The new law says that from now on, all such contracts must contain a provision requiring the employer to release the doctor. If the doctor offers a quote, reasonable price for the release, how do you determine reasonable price? That's why we have health lawyers. Well, that's it for this month's edition of the Lighter Side of Health Law. I hope you enjoyed it. Check your A H L A Weekly and Connections Magazine for the next edition.