This weekly roundup features arrests, criminal proceedings, and other reports alleging improper or questionable conduct by healthcare professionals.
A Missouri corrections nurse was charged with first-degree murder and arson for fatally poisoning her husband and setting their house on fire. Prosecutors said she told a convicted killer in the prison where she worked that they could now get married since her husband was “out of the picture.” (Fox 13 News)
The Idaho nurse suspected of throwing away a cell phone belonging to a Colorado mother who disappeared Thanksgiving Day and is thought to be dead pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence and will testify against the mother’s fiance, who was charged with her murder. (NBC News)
More on Ohio’s Mount Carmel Health System scandal: in administering high doses of pain medication, William Husel, DO, frequently overrode EHR warnings and bypassed pharmacist pre-approvals that were supposed to be required, a state review found. (The Columbus Dispatch)
In “Operation Second Chance,” undercover agents posing as teen girls made contact with men on a “dark web” site used for prostitution. A California physician was among several men arrested in the operation, which also rescued two young girls being sold for sex. (The Fresno Bee)
In another sting investigation, a Florida man was arrested for practicing medicine without a license after he diagnosed an undercover agent with diabetes and said he could cure it for $2,000, according to the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office.
A Hawaii doctor and his deputy city prosecutor sister were indicted on 54 counts of drug crimes, including illegally distributing an “immense” number of powerful opioids, sometimes to trade for cocaine. The sister, whose husband is a former Honolulu police chief, faces other fraud charges and was accused of using her position to cover up their crimes. (Honolulu Civil Beat)
Another sibling pair, including a former Miami doctor and his sister, were “on the run” from authorities after 10 of their associates were charged with stealing doctors’ identities and illegally obtaining insurance information to bill $42.7 million in fraudulent claims. (News Press)
A woman who formerly ran an addiction clinic — sometimes out of a Panera Bread restaurant — was charged with illegally distributing drugs and committing healthcare fraud with a Pittsburgh physician who pleaded guilty in October to conspiracy in the case. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
Six employees at a Cleveland drug-rehab center were indicted for Medicaid fraud and opioid violations, among other charges. Nearly $50 million in fraudulent Medicaid claims were filed, prosecutors said, and the center’s owner was accused of laundering $6.2 million of proceeds — spending some of it on a $158,000 “Batmobile” and a $140,000 Cadillac hearse like the one in “Ghostbusters.” (The Vindicator)
A holistic medical marijuana doctor in Michigan was charged with writing opioid prescriptions to be exchanged for cash, weed, and cocaine, while court documents show he had previously given up his medical license in Kansas and California and also faced criminal charges in Iowa that resulted in a loss of licensure. (WZZM-13)
Source: MedicalNewsToday.com
