Recidivist sentencing enhancement statutes continue to be declared unconstitutional based upon relatively recent US Supreme Court cases. In 2000 the U.S. Supreme Court decided State v. Apprendi. There the Court states a criminal sentence must be based upon facts the...
Criminal Defense
Pennsylvania Suspends Certain Licensure Requirements for State Board of Psychology, and State Board of Social Work, Marriage and Family Therapy, and Professional Counselors
March 22, 2020 Pennsylvania Suspends Certain Licensure Requirements for State Board of Psychology, and State Board of Social Work, Marriage and Family Therapy, and Professional Counselors In order to increase the number of health-care practitioners available to...
Covid -19 and Health Care Disciplinary Process
Covid-19 and the Practice of Law and Pending Health Care Disciplinary Cases
DWI and DUI Charges for Sleeping in a Car
Sleeping in a car while drunk is a DWI/DUI.
Pennsylvania’s New DUI Laws – Penalties and Grading
I am reading the changes to 42 Pa.C.S.A. 9763, Pennsylvania's new DUI law. Mandatory minimum sentences are now mandatory sentences! Mandatory house arrest/work release/rehab? The DUI sentencing law seems almost eviscerated. It also seems to conflict with the 3806...
Notice of a Federal Criminal Investigation into a Medical Practice
If a prescription is issued but fails to satisfy those standards to prescription, it is not valid under 21 USC § 842(a)(1), 21 USC § 829(a). These violations provide for a civil penalty under 21 USC § 842C1A of not more than $25,000 per prescription or no more than a total of $64,820 for all violations after November 2, 2015. The physician was also notified that if Medicare paid for any of the prescriptions under a federal healthcare program, the physician was subject to False Claims Act triple damages under 31 USC § 3729.
PA docs risk penalty for overprescribing opioids
As the opioid crisis prevails, states have taken strict measures to reduce the use of these dangerous drugs. Attempts include limiting who may prescribe them, to what patients and in what doses, says Pharmacy Times. Massachusetts became the first state to restrict...
Reckless Prescribing and Death By Prescription
Every day medical practitioners confront complex and serious medical cases. Patients and their doctors face death every day of the week. In this opiate use and abuse environment, death is one pill, snort, injection, toke away. Doctors that prescribe heavy doses of whatever medication the patient request can be convicted of manslaughter.
Federal and State Laws Regarding Prescription Fraud
When the federal law is read in conjunction with Pennsylvania’s Code governing appropriate medical practices, prescriptions written without a medical basis or therapeutic need but for which the physician bills federal, state, or private insurance companies for both visits and reimbursement, the physician is exposed criminal liability. The criminal liability is both for insurance fraud and violation of the federal drug act.
Professional license suspension due to moral turpitude
If you are a licensed medical professional in Pennsylvania, criminal charges can completely upend your personal life and career. Regardless of whether it relates to your practice, a criminal charge or conviction could result in the suspension of your professional...