The Ohio Medical Board has suspended the license of Rudel Saunders, MD, a University of Cincinnati physician and clinical instructor in internal medicine, who allegedly conducted unlicensed genital examinations of patients in his apartment, Fox19 reported Feb. 15.

Robert Spadoni, former vice president and COO of Rush Oak Park (Ill.) Hospital, has been indicted for allegedly defrauding the hospital out of $622,000. He is charged with three counts of mail fraud and three counts of money laundering. 

Washington, D.C.-based St. Elizabeths Hospital settled a federal class-action lawsuit over the hospital's mishandling of its October 2019 water crisis and 2020 COVID-19 procedures, DCist reported Feb. 14.

A Taunton, Mass.-based mental health provider and two of its former owners have agreed to pay $940,000 to settle allegations they submitted fraudulent claims to the state's Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program. 

New Orleans-based LCMC Health and Shreveport, La.-based Willis-Knighton Health System have been accused of using a tracking code in their websites that shares sensitive patient data without patients' knowledge or consent.

From a judge dismissing a physician's defamation case against Houston Methodist Hospital, to a judge ordering Northern Light Mercy Hospital to pay the parents of a man who died from Lyme disease, here are nine hospital lawsuits and settlements Becker's has reported since Jan. 27. 

Florida Cardiology, P.A. and 10 physicians have agreed to pay $2 million to settle allegations they submitted inflated claims and for billing while the physicians were out of the country. 

Rural hospitals around the U.S. are facing a financial crunch, and some states are proposing legislation to attempt to fix the problem.

The Connecticut Supreme Court is hearing a case of a woman who died of a heart attack while waiting on the results of a COVID-19 test in March 2020. The court will determine whether hospital immunity granted by the state applies to her death, The CT Mirror reported Feb. 12.

Two people recently filed suit against Walmart and three pharmaceutical companies over the sale of eye drops that the CDC has linked to one death and five cases of blindness. 

A 28-year-old man was arrested after allegedly bringing a gun into Peterborough, N.H.-based Monadnock Community Hospital, the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript reported Feb. 11.

Martin Shkreli asked a federal judge to not hold him in contempt for failing to provide the Federal Trade Commission with information requested to determine whether he has violated a lifelong ban from working in the drug industry, according to Feb. 10 court filings obtained by Becker's. 

A Mississippi physician was sentenced to five years in prison and ordered to pay $15 million after being convicted in a hospice fraud scheme, SuperTalk reported Feb. 9. 

A federal jury convicted a Virginia pharmacist Feb. 9 for his role in a prescription drug scheme that aimed to defraud Medicare of $1 million. 

Cindy Sue Norgren, the former accounting manager at a Livonia, Mich.-based Trinity Health hospital, was charged with embezzling $2 million from the Michigan health system, mlive.com reported Feb. 9.

An Arkansas Senate committee approved a bill that would allow rural hospitals to apply for Rural Emergency Hospital designation, opening them up to new sources of federal funds, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported Feb. 9. 

The Iowa Legislature has approved a bill that would cap noneconomic medical malpractice damages to $2 million in lawsuits against hospitals and $1 million in lawsuits against clinics and individual physicians, the Des Moines Register reported Feb. 8.

A Chicago man was charged with four counts of aggravated battery after he allegedly punched four nurses, Fox32 reported Feb. 8.

The former director of Maine Task Force One, a disaster medical assistance team, has been found guilty of federal program fraud and wire fraud and sentenced to five years in prison with two years of supervised release. 

From 23 Michigan residents being charged in an alleged $61.5 million scheme to the sentencing of a Louisiana clinic owner who billed Medicaid after misdiagnosing children, here are 11 healthcare billing fraud cases Becker's has reported since Jan. 20: