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Blue Cross Must Pay $4M for Dropping Patient-Advocate Doc
Yellow Pages
Written by TAC Staff: Yellow Pages   
Saturday, 25 May 2013 15:28
aroundtheworld
A doctor who claimed health insurer  retaliated against him for being a strong patient advocate, has won a $3.8 million verdict against the insurer.
 
Jeffrey Nordella, a family-practice and urgent care doctor, used to be a preferred provider on the Anthem Blue Cross network, a unit of insurance giant WellPoint Inc. During that time, Nordella challenged the insurer’s decisions to deny his patients claims for coverage. He often protested Anthem’s denial of coverage because it wasn’t “medically necessary” and he even met with top Anthem officials in 2001.
 
When he applied to be a provider again in 2010, the insurer rejected his application.
 
Nordella sued Anthem, arguing that the reason he was not allowed in the network was in retaliation for sticking up for his patients.
 
Anthem claimed it did not need any more family practitioners because it already had 137 primary-care doctors in its network within 10 miles of Nordella, who was medical director of an urgent-care clinic and family medicine in southern California.

But at trial the insurance company could only name seven doctors, according to Nordella’s attorney, Theresa Barta. Barta argued that in order to lower costs and boost its profits, Anthem intentionally cuts doctors from its network to make it harder for patients to get care.
 
The jury found that Anthem denied the doctor’s right to a “fair procedure” with “malice, oppression or fraud,” and originally awarded Nordella $4.49 million. However, the jurors found he was 15 percent to blame for his loss of income and which cut down the award to $3.8 million.
 
The second phase of the trial began on Apr. 12. Barta argued that the jury should punish Anthem based on a portion of its profits of $525 million in 2010. If the jury agrees, Nordella’s award could be increased. 

Source: lawyers.com
 
Chiropractor Sued for Damaging Breast Implant
Yellow Pages
Written by TAC Staff: Yellow Pages   
Saturday, 25 May 2013 15:25
aroundtheworld
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA  A judge in Sydney, Australia, awarded a woman $51,137 in damages after her chiropractor dislodged one of her breast implants while he adjusted her back in 2008.
 
Amanda Jurkovic, 33, claimed the damaged implant destroyed her sex life and led to the breakdown of her marriage, the Daily Telegraph reports.
 
Judge Michael Finnane ruled chiropractor Paul Hubbard was negligent because he failed to ask her if she had prior surgery or medical problems before "compressing her breasts" against the treatment table, the newspaper reported.
 
Jurkovic, a beautician from Winmalee, said her deformed breast caused her to be too embarrassed to have sex with her husband and led to their separation.
 
"She is a young, fit looking and attractive woman to whom her appearance is very important. She is entitled, in my opinion, to substantial compensation," Finnane said.

Source: Toroto Sun
 
Feds, SD Chiropractor Association Reach Settlement
Yellow Pages
Written by TAC Staff: Yellow Pages   
Saturday, 25 May 2013 15:23
aroundtheworld
SIOUX FALLS, SD The U.S. Department of Justice says it has reached a settlement with a chiropractor association in South Dakota over fixed prices. The department's Antitrust Division filed a civil lawsuit against Chiropractic Associates Ltd. of South Dakota. The association comprises approximately 80 percent of all practicing chiropractors in the state. 
 
The Department of Justice says the association negotiated at least seven contracts with insurers that set prices for chiropractic services, which caused consumers to pay higher fees.
 
The proposed settlement will prevent the association from establishing prices or terms and from negotiating with insurers on behalf of competing chiropractors. It must still be approved by the court.

Source: Rapid City Journal
 
 
Two Years Later Chiropractor Charged With Groping Patient
Yellow Pages
Written by TAC Staff: Yellow Pages   
Thursday, 25 April 2013 23:02
aroundtheworld
Seattle, WA: A Federal Way chiropractor alleged to have sexually assaulted three patients now faces a criminal charge in one purported groping.
 
More than two years after the first woman went to authorities, King County prosecutors have a chiropractor with indecent liberties, a felony sex offense.
 
The chiropractor has been charged with groping one patient in September 2010. At least three other former patients have filed complaints against him with the state Department of Health; two of those complaints have been detailed publicly.

The charges against the chiropractor filed earlier this month stem from a complaint by a 51-year-old woman alleged to have been groped b at his office.
 
The woman initially went to police and Department of Health authorities shortly after the September 2010 incident. Her complaint was at first rejected by a state disciplinary board, a board that reversed itself after two other women came forward with complaints.
 
Writing the court, a Federal Way detective said the initial complainant met with Summers at the chiropractor’s office. The D.C. is alleged to have reached up the woman’s shirt and fondled her breasts during the visit.

Concerned by the chiropractor’s behavior, the woman filed a complaint with the Department of Health later that day. She contacted police a week later.
 
Department of Health investigators reviewed the woman’s complaint and in January 2011 submitted their findings to the Chiropractic Quality Assurance Commission, an oversight board comprised primarily of licensed chiropractors.

The board found the evidence presented by investigators did not support a finding and did not take any action against the chiropractor, a Department of Health spokeswoman said Tuesday. The Chiropractor was allowed to continue his practice until November, when the board suspended his license after receiving additional information from the woman and two other purported victims.
 
The allegations now made against Summers through the state process are more severe than those currently offered by King County prosecutors.

In addition to the first woman’s claims, Department of Health investigators detailed two other former patients’ complaints in their report to the chiropractic board. A fourth patient has also complained to the Department of Health about Summers.

According to documents filed by the state, one of the more recent patients claimed Summers touched her crotch and offered himself as a sexual teaching tool. A third woman claimed Summers touched her inappropriately after offering to massage her internally.
 
The complaints against Summers were not made public until November, two years after the woman’s initial complaint that Summers had groped her. Summers’ medical license has been suspended by the chiropractic board.

Summers was charged Friday with indecent liberties. He has not been jailed in the case.

Source:  SeattlePI.com
 
 
D.C. Burglarizing Tucson Area
Yellow Pages
Written by TAC Staff: Yellow Pages   
Thursday, 25 April 2013 22:58
aroundtheworld
Tucson, AZ - A string of businesses burglaries throughout the Tucson area in a 3-month period. There's been well over 60 cases in the Tucson area. Pima County Sheriff's Burglary detectives say they may have a break in the case but they need your help.
 
Detectives are looking for Charles Spear a former chiropractor no longer in practice. Detective Hans Goritz says he wears a black surgical mask due to a facial deformity and he may be living out of his Ford Explorer. "We have forensic evidence that ties him specifically to one break in at the chiropractic office on Oracle Road."
 
A string of burglaries followed. News 4 Tucson obtained surveillance video of another suspect investigators are hoping you can help identify. Det. Goritz describes the video, "You actually see the rock getting thrown through the window a white male subject wearing dark clothing coming in crawl in thru the window. He hops over the counter." He's seen rifling through drawers of an east side dental office grabbing what he can. He hops back over the counter and leaves. All this in 65 seconds.
 
Detectives say he stole $4.00 and change. "In this particular case, the damage is far exceeding what he gained out of it."
 
Last month, there was a special operation to try and catch the burglars in the act. The target area, North Oracle Road from River to Magee.
 
The Sheriff's Department is determined to find the burglars wreaking havoc on businesses, not knowing if the suspects could be dangerous. Detective Jesus Banuelo says, "You prepare as if they are the most dangerous person especially at night." He says the motivation for the burglaries "is typically drug related. It always comes back to somebody trying to get quick money to get their quick fix."

Source: KVOA News
 
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