Carissa Kohne, Class of 2022, Belmont Law In 1946, congress passed the Federal Torts Claim Act (FTCA). The purpose of the FTCA was to allow citizens to recover from the government when a government employee engaged in tortious activity.[1] Prior to the FTCA, sovereign immunity barred individuals from receiving compensation for the tortious acts of …
From Paper Restraints to Electronic Ransoms
Shane Richards, Class of 2023, Belmont Law Just shy of one year ago, the nation’s largest fuel pipeline was ground to a halt because of a criminal ransomware attack. In May 2021, Colonial Pipeline’s system transported 100 million gallons of gasoline per day, supplying gas for 50 million people in America’s southeast and meeting about …
Eight Individuals Defrauded Walter Reed of More Than $3 Million and Are Now Facing Federal Indictment
Sarah Powell, Class of 2023, Belmont Law. Eight individuals have been charged by a federal grand jury with conspiracy to commit health care fraud, wire fraud, and other related charges resulting from fake medical coding contracts with Walter Reed Military Medical Center and the Defense Health Agency (DHA). Those charged in the indictment are …
Dangerous Precedent: Criminal Mistake in the Nursing Industry
Will Brandt, Class of 2022, Belmont Law For an industry that is understaffed and overworked, should tragic medical errors of nurses result in jail time? As of March 25th, in the Davidson County Criminal Court, that answer appears to be yes. Former nurse, RaDonda Vaught, was found guilty of criminally negligent homicide and abuse of …
Modern Hurdles to Privacy: Necessary HIPAA Updates
Maddie Gilmore, Class of 2023, Belmont Law. HIPAA (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996) was first enacted more than twenty-five years ago. As such, the drafters of that legislation could not foresee the proliferation of new and emerging technologies that collect and process private health information of users which exists today. On …
Recent Developments in Combating the Opioid Crisis: Purdue Pharma Settlement and MMUs
David Brust, Class of 2022, Belmont Law On Wednesday, March 9, 2022, Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain gave tentative approval to the Purdue Pharma bankruptcy settlement. Members of the Sackler family, who founded Purdue Pharma (the creator of OxyContin), are set to pay an estimate $5.5 billion to $6 billion as part of the settlement. The …
NFTs in Healthcare
Will Brandt, Class of 2022, Belmont Law If you believe that problems and opportunities in healthcare are largely centered around data, including patient sovereignty over data, Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) may have a critical role to play in the advancement of the healthcare industry and legal framework surrounding that industry. In the current state of the …
Former Drug CEO Could Face Life Sentence for Allegedly Defrauding the DEA
Maddie Gilmore, Class of 2023, Belmont Law. Laurence F. Doud III, former head of Rochester Drug Co-Operative Inc., could very easily face life in prison for his role in conspiring to distribute controlled substances and defrauding the DEA. A Florida jury convicted Doud of one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, carrying a mandatory …
The Potential Cost of Medical Price Transparency
David Brust, Class of 2022, Belmont Law In recent years, the call for price transparency for medical care has increased. People often go to the doctor for non-routine medical care with no idea what it could end up costing them. In response to this, Congress passed the No Surprises Act which “protects people covered under …
TEFCA Goes Live
Will Brandt, Class of 2022, Belmont Law After five years of work, the Office of the National Coordinator of Health (ONC) has released the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA). TEFCA is essentially a plan for an interoperability framework between healthcare information networks that was mandated by the Twenty First Century Cures Act of …