Recent Medical Legal News
Current Issue - March/April 2012
Super-Human Brain Technology Sparks Ethics Debate
A British ethics group has launched a debate on the ethical dilemmas posed by new technologies that tap into the brain and could bring super-human strength, highly enhanced concentration or thought-controlled weaponry. With the prospect of future conflicts between armies controlling weapons with their minds, the Nuffield Council on Bioethics launched a consultation on Thursday to consider the risks of blurring the lines between humans and machines.
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Medicare Criminal Fraud Case Alleges $375 Million in
Unnecessary Home Health Services
On February 23, 2012, a Dallas-area physician and his office manager, as well as the owners of three home health agencies, were indicted on health care fraud and conspiracy charges stemming from $375 million in allegedly fraudulent Medicare and Medicaid claims relating to home health services. According to the indictment, between 2006 and 2011, the parties engaged in various schemes whereby the home health agents would recruit patients to be certified as in need of home health services by Dr. Jacques Roy (the physician). Dr. Roy would falsely certify the patients, generally without ever seeing the patients, and the home health agencies would then bill the Medicare program for the unnecessary home health services provided to those patients (as well as for services not provided at all).
Is The New Patient Safety Effort Working?
The Medicare program is betting on a new course of action to curb what one medical journal has dubbed an "epidemic" of uncontrolled patient harm. The effort is pegged to the success of a little-known entity called a "hospital engagement network" (HEN). In December, the government selected 26 HENs and charged them with preventing more than 60,000 deaths and 1.8 million injuries from so-called "hospital-acquired conditions" over the next three years. That would be the equivalent of eliminating all deaths from HIV/AIDS or homicide over the same period.
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