Peds Fellow Fired After Child Porn Charges; Jury Awards Doc $2M; Nurse Gets 9 Years

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A weekly roundup of healthcare’s encounters with the courts

by
Kristina Fiore,

Director of Enterprise & Investigative Reporting, MedPage Today,


July 25, 2024

Christopher Sheerer, DO, a pediatric cardiac anesthesiology fellow at Boston Children’s Hospital, who was accused of possessing and distributing child sexual abuse material, was fired from his job. (NBC Boston)

A jury awarded former California prison psychiatrist Anthony Coppola, MD, almost $2 million in a case in which he claimed the state retaliated against him for taking his vacation time to work another job. (Cal Matters)

An Australian nurse was sentenced to 9 years in prison for the attempted murder of her husband. (ABC News Australia)

Texas doctor Kenneth Haygood, MD, was indicted on six counts of sexual assault — relating to seven different female patients who accused him of sexually assaulting them during visits — and one count of practicing medicine without a license. (KLTV)

A Massachusetts woman was sentenced to 3 years of probation for calling in a fake bomb threat at Boston Children’s Hospital as it faced harassment over its transgender surgery program. (AP)

Alaska rheumatologist Claribel Kohchet Chua Tan, MD, and her husband are accused in a $10 million healthcare fraud scheme that reportedly involved injecting patients without consent. (Anchorage Daily News)

Precision oncology company Guardant Health will pay more than $900,000 to resolve allegations that it made false claims for lab tests, according to federal prosecutors. The case centers on a physician in Austin, Texas, who upped the number of tests ordered from Guardant after the company hired the physician’s family friend and a relative.

Kentucky physician and former medical board member Michael Fletcher, MD, was convicted of unlawfully distributing opioids to pain patients, in part so he could “perform and bill for lucrative and often medically unnecessary procedures,” according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Misleading ads that lure people with cash and other promises play a key role in helping rogue insurance agents switch people from existing Affordable Care Act plans without their permission, a lawsuit alleges. (KFF Health News)

Robitussin manufacturer Haleon will pay $4.5 million to settle a consumer lawsuit that alleged its “non-drowsy” cough and flu medicine caused drowsiness. It will also remove the claim from Robitussin packaging and marketing. (Reuters)