Health

Lawsuit Challenges Recent Amendment to Illinois Health Care Right of Conscience Act

A recently enacted law amending Illinois’ Health Care Right of Conscience Act (HRC Act) is the subject of a new lawsuit claiming the change unlawfully limits the conscience rights of health care personnel by requiring them to refer patients to other providers for procedures they object to on religious grounds. SB 1564 requires health care facilities to develop protocols that …


Emerald Isle Lawsuit Could Be ‘Detrimental’ to Crystal Coast Economy

A real estate lawsuit out of Emerald Isle is headed to the North Carolina Supreme Court and some say the result of the case could spell disaster for Crystal Coast tourism. “It would kill us from a tourism standpoint that is the number one industry in the economy,” said Carol Lohr, executive director of the Crystal Coast Tourism Development Authority. At center of the controversy are the Nies …


Lawsuit Settlement: Cricket Hollow Zoo Lions Transferred to Colorado Sanctuary

Two lions at the Cricket Hollow Zoo were transferred this week to a wild sanctuary in Colorado as the result of a lawsuit settlement between an animal rights group and the Manchester zoo owners. The Animal Legal Defense Fund of California said in a news release Wednesday the two lions, Jonwah, 16, and Njjara, 18, were transferred on Monday to …


Trinity Health Settles Church Pension Suit for $75M

Trinity Health Corp. will pay $75 million to settle class action claims that it underfunded its pension plans by improperly treating them as “church plans” exempt from federal law (Lann v. Trinity Health Corp., D. Md., No. 8:14-cv-02237-PJM, motion for preliminary settlement approval filed
8/1/16).


Advocate to Pay $5.5 Million Over Data Breach: Record HIPAA Settlement

Advocate Health Care will pay $5.55 million to settle allegations it violated federal patient privacy law — the largest such settlement paid by a single entity. The settlement with the federal government follows an investigation that began in 2013 when Advocate reported three separate data breaches involving its physician-led medical group subsidiary, Advocate Medical Group. The breaches …



Lawsuit Alleges Overbilling by Some at UPMC

Neurosurgeon J. William Bookwalter was examining a colleague’s patient who had back troubles when he made an unusual discovery: The operation that his colleague billed Medicare for was far more extensive than the one actually done, according to allegations contained in a lawsuit. A review of two more back operations performed by UPMC neurosurgeon Ghassan Bejjani on another patient yielded the …


Pomerantz Law Firm Announces the Filing of A Class Action Against Halyard Health, Inc., Kimberly-Clark Corporation and Certain Officers – HYH; KMB

Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Halyard Health, Inc. (“Halyard” or the “Company”) (NYSE:HYH), Kimberly-Clark Corporation (“Kimberly-Clark”) (NYSE:KMB) and certain of the companies’ officers. The class action, filed in United States District Court, Southern District of New York, and docketed under 16-cv-05093, …


Lawsuit Against Bridgewater State Hospital Can Move Forward

A Massachusetts judge has ruled that a lawsuit filed against the state over concerns regarding treatment at Bridgewater State Hospital may move forward. The suit alleges that state officials discriminate against the most severely mentally ill men by sending them to a facility run by the Department of Correction, not the Department of Mental Health. Attorney General Maura Healy argued that the …


Fitbit Lawsuit Alleges Heart Rate Count Off

An ongoing class action lawsuit against the makers of the wildly popular health tracking device known as Fitbit alleges the heart rate monitor on several models is off by a noticeable amount.
Attorneys who paid scientists at California State Polytechnic University say their findings show …