Business Law Health Law Committee

Megan Espinoza died of cardiac arrest during surgery with Dr. Carlos Chacon at Divino Plastic Surgery clinic. Her husband and children sued Divino, Chacon, and the assisting nurse for, among other things, medical malpractice, intentional misrepresentation, promissory fraud, and battery. Read more

Kasondra Torres filed a class action lawsuit against Hanford Community Hospital, seeking declaratory relief that the hospital’s nondisclosure of its intent to charge a $3,200 emergency room evaluation and management service (EMS) fee, in addition to fees for each treatment and service provided, violated the Consumer Legal Remedies Act (CLRA). Read more

A Dignity Health hospital dismissed Dr. Noushin Khoiny after her second year of a three-year internal medicine residency. Read more

Critical access hospitals provide 24-hour emergency services at remote rural locations. They are limited to 25 inpatient beds. They may not provide nonemergency inpatient care for more than 96 hours; persistently sick patients must be transferred to a larger hospital. Read more

Jet Rescue transported two Kaiser Medicare Advantage enrollees by air from Mexico to a Kaiser hospital in the United States. The enrollees assigned their claims for benefits under Kaiser’s plans to Jet Rescue. Read more

Dr. Arnold Scheer filed whistleblower claims under Labor Code section 1102.5, Government Code section 8547 et seq., and Health and Safety Code section 1278.5 against the Regents. H Read more

Aurora Vista Del Mar, LLC, a psychiatric hospital, employed unlicensed mental health workers to monitor and assist patients. One worker, Juan Valencia, sexually abused two Aurora patients. Read more

Ricardo Saldana died from COVID-19 while living at a Glenhaven nursing home. His relatives sued Glenhaven in superior court for elder abuse, willful misconduct, negligence, and wrongful death. Glenhaven removed the case to federal district court, which remanded for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Read more

Two physician assistants (PAs) failed to timely diagnose a malignant melanoma on an infant who later died. Marisol Lopez, the infant’s mother, sued the PAs and their supervising physicians for medical malpractice and wrongful death. Read more

Providing wound care (but not basic needs) to an elder does not establish the custodial relationship required for Elder Abuse Act liability.Oroville Hospital nurses provided Eyvon Ambrose with in-home care for her pressure injury. Ambrose’s granddaughter provided for her basic needs, such as dressing, eating, taking medications, and using the restroom. When her pressure wound worsened and she sustained additional wounds, Ambrose was admitted to the hospital where she ultimately died. Ambrose’s heirs sued Oroville Hospital for neglect, recklessness, and… Read more