Question of the Week

Question of the Week: How Badly do you Want to Stop Animal Trafficking?

Last week, the Department of Justice indicted a New York man, Christopher Casacci, for illegally importing and selling dozens of African wild cats.  Doing business as “ExoticCubs.com,” Casacci brought into the United States and sold dozens of caracals (Caracal caracal) and servals (Leptailurus serval). Caracals, known as the “desert lynx,” are wild cats native to Africa, and grow to approximately 45 pounds....

Question of the Week — Should Drug Companies that Defraud the Government Lose Their Patents?

Settlements between drug companies and the government are commonplace these days. Just last week the DOJ announced another settlement with a pharmaceutical company, Mallinckrodt, for allegedly paying kickbacks to doctors to induce them to prescribe more of the company’s drug. The company was accused of violating the Anti-Kickback Statute, which generally prohibits medical providers from paying or receiving...

Question of the Week — Is the use of public nuisance law against J&J for its role in the opioid crisis appropriate?

The landmark $572M opioid verdict in Oklahoma against Johnson & Johnson stemmed from a single claim: “public nuisance” under state law.  Other cases against opioid manufacturers, including whistleblower cases, involve claims for fraud, unlawful marketing, improper prescriptions, kickbacks, violating the Controlled Substances Act by failing to report suspicious purchases, and even flooding the black market.  But...

Question of the Week — Should Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) be allowed to deny patients access to essential life-saving drugs prescribed by their doctor?

As described in a recent article in The Fresno Bee, thousands of patients nation-wide have been denied access to essential life-saving medications by pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) under the guise of ensuring that patients receive the most appropriate and cost-effective treatment. PBMs are the quintessential “middlemen” in the healthcare system, standing between patients and their physicians on one side, and...

Question of the Week — Should the SEC expedite its review of whistleblower claims?

Good things come to those who wait—at least that’s what most experienced whistleblowers will tell you. Whether they filed a complaint in court or submitted evidence to a regulatory agency, those who have reported fraud know firsthand that the legal process can take a great deal of time. Whistleblowers often wait several years before ever seeing the proverbial fruits of their labor. So when it comes to the...

Question of the Week — Should providers who defraud Medicare be excluded from it?

Sometimes, though rarely, when a medical provider settles a False Claims Act case or is found to have violated the FCA at trial, they are excluded from participating in healthcare programs as a condition of resolving the case. Often, this is a limited-time ban that is meant to incentivize providers to follow Medicare’s rules in the future and to deter other providers from committing fraud. Between Medicare,...

Question of the Week — Is it time for a legislative fix to limit sky high air ambulance costs?

As rural hospitals continue to shutter, accessible emergency medical care is out of reach for an increasing number of Americans. When health emergencies arise, patients in rural communities often must rely on helicopter ambulances to get them quickly to care. But the Government Accountability Office reported the median cost for a helicopter ambulance ride was over $36,000 in 2017. The problem will likely continue...

Question of the Week — Should the Medicare Fraud Hotline or HHS OIG Reward Informants?

Opioid manufacturer Insys Therapeutics agreed to a $225 million settlement related to allegations that it unlawfully marketed its drug Subsys and paid kickbacks to providers through “speaker programs” that rewarded providers who prescribed Subsys. We previously asked whether our readers thought CEOs should be more liable for corporate wrongdoing after the Insys CEO was convicted for participating in a criminal...

Question of the Week — Should institutions return past donations from Big Pharma executives and their family members implicated in the opioid crisis?

The New York Times recently reported that the Metropolitan Museum of Art has decided to stop accepting gifts from members of the Sackler family linked to Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, one of the drugs at the center of the opioid epidemic that has killed more than 200,000 Americans in the past two decades. The Met’s decision follows that of other museums and universities, including the Tate Modern, the...

Question of the Week — Did the Flint Jury Get it Right in Natasha Henderson’s Whistleblower Retaliation Case?

In yet another chapter of Flint, Michigan’s ongoing water crisis saga, a jury sided with the city and against its former City Administrator, Natasha Henderson, in a whistleblower retaliation case regarding water crisis donations. Henderson alleged she was fired by Mayor Karen Weaver for questioning Weaver’s use of the donations. Weaver claimed she fired Henderson after she learned Henderson was warned of a...