Here are three lawsuits involving physicians and physician groups Becker’s has reported on in the last month:
1. Three former leaders and three physicians at Charlottesville, Va.-based UVA Health are being sued for alleged retaliation and fraud in a lawsuit filed Oct. 3 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia. Four UVA Health physicians and two widowed spouses are suing former health system leaders and affiliated entities, claiming a pattern of fraudulent practices and racketeering endangered patients and led to at least two preventable patient deaths. Defendants include K. Craig Kent, MD, former CEO of UVA Health; Melina Kibbe, MD, former dean of the UVA School of Medicine; Wendy Horton, PharmD, former CEO of UVA Health University Medical Center; and three current UVA Health physicians: Allan Tsung, MD; Ourania Preventza, MD; and Kim De la Cruz, MD.
2. Heritage Provider Network, a physician-owned integrated healthcare group, agreed to a $49.99 million settlement to resolve class-action litigation regarding a cyberattack. The lawsuit stems from a December 2022 data breach that affected more than 3.4 million individuals. Hackers gained access to Heritage’s servers containing patient data and removed sensitive data such as names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers and healthcare information.
3. John Murphy, MD, an OB-GYN, filed a lawsuit against Bend, Ore.-based St. Charles Health system, alleging it forced him into closing his practice. The lawsuit alleges that the health system tried to sabotage his practice by poaching one of his colleagues and that it discriminated against Dr. Murphy by not hiring him, despite a previous understanding that it would do so. Dr. Murphy has since decided to close his practice.
